Bad situation at Wizzair?

[Pander216]

All foreign pilots are running to other companies due to bad situation. F.O.'s can buy themselves a position: pay for type and pay for 500 hour's (No salary) Will they go belly up soon?!? (good luck to all paying F.O.'s....)

According to PPJN, Wizzair in not doing very well...

Is this an objective representation of the current situation at Wizzair or just a lot of nonsens?

[LTNman]

From LTN's website

On Monday 18th April the One Millionth passenger to use Wizz Air's European network flew through London Luton Airport.

[infernettto]

Dear Pander216,
it is definitely bullsh**. I`m in that company since a while. It is true, that you pay for your rating, but you don`t fly for free ;-). And last not least, Wizz is far from going down. I think we`ll prosper in the future even more than now.
There are a lot of opportunities for airbus drivers, but I don`t see a reason to leave.

[Powerjet1]

Wizz have announced that they will commence 4 x weekly flights between Luton & Poznan commencing 18 September.

[CAP670]

Some accurate Wizz info:

"UK retail giant Tesco has branched out into air travel by linking up with European budget airline Wizz Air. It will sell flights through the tobacco shops at its 42 hypermarkets in Hungary.

Under the scheme, aimed at customers who do not have internet access or are afraid to book online, Tesco customers can buy flights over the counter to a range of destinations.

A Tesco spokeswoman said the Wizz Air tickets will be sold on a trial basis. 'We'll see how it goes,' he said. He added the group is 'not ruling out' extending the service to other countries in Europe, including the UK.

Wizz Air, formed less than a year ago, is currently flying to 17 destinations in central and eastern Europe. In its first 11 months of operations it flew over 1 million passengers, including 400,000 through its London Luton airport hub in the UK.

Wizz Air launched its initial service from the southern Polish city of Katowice, rather than from Budapest. By July 2004, the airline had carried over 100,000 passengers and after finalizing its landing charge deal with Budapest’s Ferihegy airport, it became Hungary’s largest budget carrier, now vying for the title of largest low-fare airline in Central and Eastern Europe.

This was achieved in a little more than one year, since its CX Josef Váradi first floated the idea of a no-frills service to investors in London last September, soon after he left the helm of Hungarian flag carrier, Malév. Ferihegy-based Malév, whose admittance into an alliance has been in abeyance for some time, once scoffed at the idea of Wizz Air becoming a reality. Now it is being forced to eat its words as Wizz Air embarks on a major expansion plan.

Wizz Air is jointly financed by US venture capitalists Indigo Partners and local shareholders."

As infernettto says, these rumours of demise are all a load of bull***t...

:\

[Pander216]

I allready thought these comments to be to bad to be true......

Thanks for clarifying !


P.s. why would anyone right such B.S..??:\

[Visual27]

Gentlemen,

Unfortunately this is NO bul**hit! :(


Altough Wizz is getting some good loads on SOME flights, others are doing quite bad. They do have Indigo partners backing them at this moment and that is a big plus. However howmuch and how long are they sticking with Wizz is the question. The Financial Times listed them recently to be likely bankrupt in December 2005.

Biggest problem they have is that they are not expanding as they had planned to grow to over 20 airplanes by the end of this year. They only still have the 6 that they started of with and maybe 1 or 2 more MIGHT follow this year.

In the last 11 months of operation 17 foreign pilots left, out of a total of +/- 60 pilots.

I understand because of:

* Schedules are only published less then a week in advance, for the next week, and continious changes follow.

* First working day you always start early morning (reporting around 5 a.m. and you end late evening on day 6 so you have to travel in your days off (so travel 2 days out of the 4 you get, if you are so lucky to get 4 days)

* No food and drinks for flight crew (not even a glass of water!)

* No accomodation provided

* Salary arrives 2 weeks in to the next month

* Low salary if employed directly by Wizz.

* Cadet pilots coming that will pay for a full package, including their flight time.

I got this info from several pilots working at Wizz, because I was thinking going to work for them. Decided not to do it.....:hmm:

[Ibis]

Visual27, you are spot on

you better stay where you are now:=

[ProfJackRabbit]

any truth to the rumours that some orange guys have been checking out Wizz these days?

[Doug the Head]

I thought that was old news...

[ACP]

Anyone flying with Wizz? I need some info. Thanks

[LTNman]

Seems to have good loads through Luton

[onedaymaybe?]

Yes there are some guys who are paying for Type ratings and then doing flying with wizz for hours

but fact:

1) They have all accomodation paid for. In either a fully furnished appartment or a 4 star hotel.

2) They recieve some money each month. (in fact the money they recieve is enough to buy food and drink in KTW.)

Surely this has got to be a better Cadet scheme than 'some' other companies offer.

Passenger loads are good, more aircraft are coming, and more destinations and routes are being introduced.

The reason why some FO's are leaving is purely because they are finding work closer to home. Not because of Wizz.

Wizz offers good flying, its got good people working for it, and the atmosphere is positive at the moment.

Its still a young airline, and has given many people a great opportunity.

[7006 fan]

Part of the competition comes from Malev no doubt, has one seen some of the Malev fares, and they manage the full service as well.
Brill
:ok:
Not flown Wizz so cannot comment upon their service standards.
There is a lot of bad press about the E. European airlines at the moment, but I find the service standard high quality, customer service very good, business lounges excellent and so forth but they may be from a bygone age, I sincerely hope not. Butin this age where air travel is cheaper than a UK coach trip, then...
:{

[OPEN DES]

what onedaymaybe? says is spot on.
i am one of the cadets and i am very positive about the whole scheme. indeed the allowance we get is about enough to buy food and drinks in KTW. roster is very comfortable. and people are great.

[neidin]

WizzAir currently has plenty of access to Capital through their principal shareholder Indigo Partners which is ultimately the company of David Bonderman - who made a real fortune from Ryanair, Continental, Amercia West etc.. He is also initial investor in Tiger Ex Singapore.

An interesting side spat is the aggressive expansion by FR into Poland and Eastern Europe. MOL was very unhappy that Bonderman set up initial financing for WizzAir.

[King Pong]

I see that after a year of operations they can still only make Cat 1 approaches.

[OPEN DES]

"I see that after a year of operations they can still only make Cat 1 approaches"

NOT TRUE

Cheers

[kooyheier]

indeed the allowance we get is about enough to buy food and drinks in KTW

No offence; But you don't need to be payed big bucks to have a decent living in bloody KTW. Trust me with the salary you get at Wizz you wouldn't be able to have a decent living in the UK.. Let alone pay off your debt's... So maybe for Poland the salary is good.... but it aint gonna be something special for the rest of western europe.....

[King Pong]

Didn’t hear all the Wizz arrivals a couple of days ago but the ones I did hear mentioned they were only CAT 1 at a misty Luton

[OPEN DES]

kooyheier:
we're talking about a cadetship, not a permanent contract.

king pong:
some F/Os who are in line training do not have a low vis qualification yet. both crewmembers are required to have it in order to perform low vis operations. so on some occasions it might be true that wizz is unable to do anything more than CAT1, however this goes for all airlines.

cheers

[Mr @ Spotty M]

Wizz must be in a bad way, have just signed a agreement for a purchase of 12 firm and 12 option aircraft to be delivered in 2007-2008 and 2008-2010.
The deal should be signed in Sept 05.
They are to lease 3 new A320s to be delivered in OCT 05, NOV 05 and APR 06.

[ACP]

Hi OPEN DES, please check your PMs, thanks