Wizz Air — Flights, Punctuality & Cancellations in 2021

Wizz Air — Flights, Punctuality & Cancellations in 2021

After we’ve analyzed some of Europe’s biggest flag-carrier, such as Lufthansa, British Airways, or Air France, we continue the most detailed airline analysis with Hungary’s Wizz Air. Therefore, we analyzed Wizz Air’s flight performance in 2021: Flight rankings, punctuality reports, and cancellation rates. Moreover, we benchmarked the airline’s flight performance against regional and global averages. Here’s what’s contained in detail:

Flight Analysis
Monthly Flight Overview
Global & Europen Ranking By Number of Flights
Pre-COVID Benchmark

Flight Punctuality
Monthly Punctuality Overview
Global & European Ranking By Punctuality

Flight Cancellations
Monthly Cancellation Overview
Global & European Ranking By Cancellation Rate

Wizz Air — Flight Analysis

Let’s start the analysis with details about Wizz Air’s flights from February to June 2021. Then, on top of the overall numbers, we also provide information on the airline’s share in terms of EMEA traffic and the carrier’s ranking compared to other European and global airlines. Finally, and as the icing on the cake, we compare Wizz Air’s performance in 2021 to pre-COVID results from 2019. So let’s dive into it!

Monthly Flight Overview

Like many other European airlines, Wizz Air operated a meager number of flights at the beginning of the year. With 2,500 flights in February, Wizz Air was miles away from pre-COVID performances. However, the Hungarian airline continually increased its flight schedule during the following months. Moreover, Wizz Air was able to add a significant amount of additional flights every month. Especially in June, the airline almost doubled its schedule and operated more than 11,000 flights.

Month	No. Flights	vs. prev. Month
February	2,514
March	3,571	42.0%
April	4,534	26.9%
May	5,896	30.0%
June	11,441	94.0%
Avg. ’21	5,591	48.2%

The below chart on the right side perfectly illustrates Wizz Air’s enormous flight growth in the first half of 2021. Accordingly, and as shown on the left, Wizz Air’s share in relation to total EMEA flights has grown steadily from 1.2% in February to 2.7% in June. In other words: Wizz Air was able to increase its traffic much faster than other EMEA airlines!

Global & European Ranking By Number of Flights

Based on the discussed flight growth, the low-cost carrier has steadily climbed the airline ranking by the number of flights. Having started at position 25 in February, Wizz Air knocked on the door of EMEA’s top ten airlines by flight number in June. Moreover, from a global point of view, Wizz Air improved its rank by almost 40 positions, from 75 in February to 36 in June.

Pre-COVID Benchmark

The comparison to pre-COVID figures is probably one of the most exciting parts of our airline analysis. However, the below table speaks the same language as the results above. Due to its steady and robust growth rates, Wizz Air has reduced the gap compared to pre-COVID figures steadily. Whereas in February, Wizz Air’s traffic was down almost 79%, the carrier reduced the gap to 35% in June.

Month	Flights 2021	Flights 2019	’21 vs. ’19 (abs)	’21 vs. ’19 (%)
February	2,514	11,756	9,242	78.6%
March	3,571	13,637	10,066	73.8%
April	4,534	16,712	12,178	72.9%
May	5,896	17,198	11,302	65.7%
June	11,441	17,670	6,229	35.3%
Avg. ’21	5,591	15,395	9,803	65.3%

Wizz Air – Flight Punctuality

In the following chapter, we take a deeper look at Wizz Air’s flight performance regarding punctuality. Again, we benchmark the airline’s results with EMEA averages and provide a domestic, regional, and global ranking.

Monthly Puncutality Overview

In terms of on-time performance, Wizz Air achieved a solid result. With 83.5%, the carrier’s on-time performance is similar to the EMEA average and 4 pp better than the global average. However, compared to other big European carriers (Ryanair >92%, Aeroflot >92%, KLM >90%), Wizz Air’s results in terms of punctuality seem to have room for optimization.

Wizz Air Flights — Global & European Ranking By Punctuality

Based on the average performance, the carrier ranks in the midfield from a global point of view. Moreover, compared to EMEA airlines, Wizz Air ranks on positions 58 on average.

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Wizz Air Flight Cancellations

In the last chapter of this report, we take a detailed look at Wizz Air’s flight cancellations. Similar to the previous chapter, we put results in relation to regional averages and provide rankings.

Monthly Cancellation Overview

With a monthly flight cancellation average of 0.7%, the low-cost airlines did a fantastic job so far. The airline’s result is much better than the EMEA average (3.9%) and miles ahead of the global average (7.5%). However, in May and June, the cancellation rate slightly increased to 0.8%. Therefore, it will be interesting to monitor how Wizz Air’s flight cancellation rate will develop in the following months.

Wizz Air Flights — European Ranking by Cancellations

Compared to other EMEA airlines, Wizz Air ranks 44th on average. From a global point of view, Wizz Air ranks 76th on average.

Used Data

The shown information is based on OAG data and internal data sources. Rankings only included airlines that operated more than 500 flights in the respective month. However, the global benchmark includes all tracked flights. On average, 200 airlines are included in each month’s analysis. Whenever stated, EMEA refers to airlines based in Europe, the Middle East, or Africa.

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