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After the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the oil crisis which caused the price of fuel to skyrocket, now darkening the skies of the recovery of air transport in Europe are the problems with the engines of Pratt & Wittney, a metal powder which shape in these new generation engines, mounted on the new “green” Airbus A321neo. The consequence is that the aircraft must be parked in the hangars for the period of the overhaul, approximately 6 months. In the case of the Hungarian company Wizz Air, this revision will force it not to use 45 A321neo aircraft on which the revisions will begin from mid-January as requested by Pratt & Wittney.
The impact
The carrier, which said it had already been partially compensated by the manufacturer, took action by recovering other engines to replace, extending leasing contracts and reducing aircraft rotation times. All useful solutions, but in the words of the CEO, Joseph Varadi, “if you have fewer planes available you fly less” with an impact on growth forecasts for next year. According to RTX, Pratt’s parent company, approximately 3,000 engines will need to be removed from the global fleet for inspection and possible repairs, a process expected to take at least 18 months.
The retouching
In publishing the results for the first half of the fiscal year ended in September, the airline revised downwards its year-end net profit forecast of between 350 and 400 million euros, while in June the outlook had been set at 450 million euros, against the red of 564.6 million euros in the 2023 financial year. The company’s stock has suffered a decline of over 9% and has fallen by 2 percent since the beginning of the year.
In the first six months the carrier reported a net profit of 400.7 million euros after a loss of 384.3 million in the same period last year, with turnover rising by 39% to 3.05 billion euros. Passenger numbers rose nearly 25% to 33 million and occupancy improved to 92.6% thanks to expansion in markets such as the Middle East, while flights to Israel will be suspended later this month. Bookings during the winter low season “are good,” Varadi said, adding that the low-cost carrier will benefit as consumers sense the economic crisis and spending power is under pressure “and that’s good for us,” he said .