Ryanair takes aim at Wizz Air and predicts competitor’s collapse

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary has launched a blistering attack on rival airlines, predicting a fresh wave of bankruptcies across Europe and declaring that Wizz Air “has no future” as the Irish low cost giant intensifies competition in the region. Wizz Air, which will be the largest carrier across the former Yugoslav markets this coming winter, has begun to grow again this year following almost two years of downsizing, with the planned reopening of its Tuzla base and expansion in Macedonia and Serbia. “The problem in Europe is that there are many airlines pretending to be low cost, but they have a high-cost structure. PLAY never made a profit. And there will be other small operators struggling in the market. There will be more bankruptcies before Christmas. I also think Wizz Air is in trouble. I don’t think it will collapse in the coming weeks, but I think it’s inevitable that at some point it will either fail or be acquired by someone.”, O’Leary said.

Speaking to Italy’s “Corriere della Sera” daily, Mr O’Leary noted, “They [Wizz Air] jeopardised their own future. During Covid they sold their aircraft and leased them back at high rates. In recent years, they expanded their fleet by buying jets from their main shareholder. Then they turned to a bank to refinance them with these costly sale-and-leaseback deals. Over the past five years, Wizz has booked profits from these transactions in their accounts, like some sort of Ponzi scheme. The more you grow, the more profit you make. But now growth has stopped, and they can’t do that anymore”. He added, “They’re all over the place. Five years ago, they wanted to expand in Italy, then Vienna. And they vanished. Then they were supposed to become the number one airline in the Middle East. And they shut down their Abu Dhabi base because… there’s sand in the bloody desert. Quite the surprise for everyone. Now they want to go to Kazakhstan, grow again in Poland. But it’s too late to grow in Poland, because we’re already investing there. Overall, it looks like they won’t even make a single euro of profit. While we’ve got European airports lining up asking us to grow with them. And you know why? Because they quietly tell us, yes, Wizz flies from here, but they fear they’ll be gone next year”.

Ryanair surpassed Wizz Air to become the largest carrier in the former Yugoslav region during the summer of 2024 and has maintained that position since. The airline holds a dominant presence in Croatia and overtook its low cost rival in Bosnia and Herzegovina the same year. Conversely, Wizz Air remains the leading budget airline in Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. Earlier this year, the Macedonian government ended months of negotiations with Ryanair, citing the carrier’s “impossible” demands. Meanwhile, Ryanair has ruled out launching services to Ljubljana and Belgrade, arguing that both airports are too costly to operate from.