Wizz Air profit slumps on grounded planes, shares tumble

By Joanna Plucinska and Chandini Monnappa

(Reuters) -Budget carrier Wizz Air's grounded planes that are awaiting engine repairs took their toll on annual profits on Thursday, sending the shares down 23%.

Wizz Air had 37 aircraft grounded as of May 9. By the end of the first half of its 2026 financial year, it expects 34 aircraft to remain grounded, with a repair shop visit expected at around 300 days.

The planes have been affected by problems with RTX-owned Pratt and Whitney engines, limiting the airline's ability to increase capacity. It has issued two profit warnings in the past year.

"You look at the performance of the supply chain, of the industry, and there are cracks all over the place," Chief Executive Jozsef Varadi told Reuters in an interview.

Varadi previously said he expected the airline to be impacted by the engine repair issues for another two to three years.

"We have the benefit of more than a year of experience operating under these unique circumstances – conditions airlines would never experience when demand exceeds supply," he said in the statement on Thursday.

Operating profit for the financial year ended March 31 fell 61.7% from a year ago to 167.5 million euros ($191 million), missing the 246 million euros projected by analysts polled by LSEG.

The London-listed shares fell 26% to 1,227p at 0910 GMT, having dropped 48% year-on-year to continue the carrier's streak as the worst stock performer among European airlines. Wizz Air has subsidiaries in Hungary, Britain, Abu Dhabi and Malta.

That appeared to weigh on other airlines, with Lufthansa, easyjet and British Airways-owner IAG down 1.5-2.7%.

European airlines have warned of longstanding delivery delays and uncertainty around maintaining a boom in post-COVID demand amid economic turmoil tied to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff threats.

The sector has, however, benefited from lower fuel prices. Wizz said ticket prices were slightly lower than last year.

Analysts have pointed to other potential rising costs. In particular, costs due to the retiring of Wizz's A320ceo fleet projected for next year.

The company said it would not provide guidance for 2026 at this stage of the year, citing limited visibility.

However, it noted that its delivery schedule from Airbus had also been pushed back.

"Given lease returns, the fleet is now forecast to grow from 231 aircraft as at the end of March 2025 to 305 aircraft as at end March 2028; this compares to the previous forecast of 380 aircraft at that end date," it said in the statement.

($1 = 0.8767 euros)

(Reporting by Joanna Plucinska in London and Chandini Monnappa in Bangalore; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala, Aidan Lewis, Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Elaine Hardcastle)