Wizz Air - History

History

The airline was established in September 2003. The lead investor is Indigo Partners, an American private equity firm specialising in transportation investments. The first flight was made from Katowice on 19 May 2004, 19 days after Poland and Hungary entered the European Union and the single European aviation market. The airline carried 250,000 passengers in its first three and a half months, almost 1.4 million passengers in the first year of operations and to date, 10 million passengers. In 2007, Wizz Air carried 2.9 million passengers on its Polish routes.

The airline's CEO and chairman is József Váradi, former CEO of Malév Hungarian Airlines. The company is registered in Pest County (Hungary) with operating subsidiaries in Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria. Wizz Air Bulgaria was established in September 2005. Váradi won the Ernst & Young award of the 'Brave Innovator' in 2007. The prize recognised the breakthrough in the airline business in Hungary and the region, the business model and the business conduct of Wizz Air.

In summer 2008, Wizz Air became the first low cost carrier in Ukraine.

In 2011, Wizz Air carried 11 million passengers (15% more than in 2010), including 4.2 million passengers on Polish routes (only 2% more than in 2010). In recent years Wizz stopped developing its network of connections from Poland and opened new bases in Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Romania, Lithuania and Serbia. However, Poland is still the largest capital market for Wizz Air.