Wizz Air CCO on recovering the cost lead, offering Wi-Fi, and hedging fuel

On March 25, 2026, Wizz Air announced that it had signed a deal with Barcelona-based inflight technology provider Immfly to deploy a digital cabin ecosystem, which will include connectivity, onboard retail, and operational data services. 

The announcement was made the same day as the airline began to phase out its fleet of A321ceo aircraft. 

This is the latest in a number of momentous strategic decisions announced by the European low-cost carrier over the course of the last 12 months. These include the closure of its Abu Dhabi base, its refocus on Europe, and the downsizing of its outstanding A321XLR order. In Q4 2025, the airline also welcomed the arrival of its 250th aircraft and launched a new premium seating product called Wizz Class. 

In parallel to this, Wizz Air has also obtained the necessary permits to be able to fly to the US in the near future should the opportunity arise, although it doesn’t appear to be in a rush to go transatlantic. 

AeroTime sat down with the airline’s new Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) Ian Malin, on the sidelines of Aviation-Event CLJ 2026, which took place in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, on March 20, 2026. We received the latest insights on the airline and tried to better understand what the current strategic standing of Wizz Air is and the main drivers guiding its future steps. 

Exiting the Middle East 

Malin stated that while Wizz Air could not foresee there would be such a massive conflict escalation, it anticipated the environment in the region was going to get challenging and wanted to limit its exposure to those risks. 

“There were a number of challenges that we assessed when looking at our exit from Abu Dhabi,” he said. “The geopolitical instability we had seen over the last few years meant that our business was on-off, on-off all the time, and that volatility reduced our ability to deliver a reliable airline operation.”  

“We want to become Europe’s reliable, low-cost airline, and we can’t be a reliable airline if we are having to constantly cancel flights based upon external factors,” he added. “So, we need to identify regions where there is less of a risk of that happening.”   

However, geopolitics was not the only factor considered.  

“The engines facing a more challenging environment in that region was another factor, as well as the overall competitive landscape,” Malin said. 

He also underlined that in order to be a reliable airline, you need to manage risk. This is the rationale behind Wizz Air’s fuel hedging policy and its renewed focus on its core markets. 

“This is where we can grow without exposing the airline to unnecessary risks,” he stated. 

Capping the storm 

The conflict in the Middle East is causing massive direct disruption to airlines exposed to the region and indirectly via the increase in fuel prices. 

Wizz Air appears relatively well positioned to mitigate those risks. On the one hand it has an important presence on some of the markets that ought to absorb some of the leisure traffic demand, such as southern Europe.  

“The war is modifying the leisure patterns of Europeans a little bit, but not dramatically,” he explained “I think overall, the message is that we’re open for business. That’s exactly what we have been working towards: making sure that we are able to provide passenger options irrespective of what’s going on in the world.”  

“A lot of the capacity that we reallocated out of the Middle East has gone into Spanish and Italian flows, but also into Eastern Europe,” he continued. “We encourage everyone to buy Europe.” 

On the other hand, Malin highlighted that the airline already hedged the vast majority of its fuel needs to this year. 

“We are going to be less exposed to the fuel situation because of our prudent risk management policies,” he confirmed.  

Maling also revealed that Wizz Air has hedged 86%, 71% and 61% of its fuel needs in Q1, Q2 and Q3 2026, respectively, and that it was 57% covered for the full year. Thanks to this hedging, Wizz Air only pays $700 per metric ton of jet fuel, while, at the time this interview took place, the market price was around $1,700. 

Here, Malin took the opportunity to reiterate Wizz Air’s well-known fuel efficiency credentials. 

“We are also the most fuel-efficient airline out there, which means that we consume less of the expensive fuel,” he said. “Ultimately, if everything else is getting more expensive in the world, including airfares, because legacy carriers add fuel surcharges, we will encourage those customers to try Wizz, because, ultimately, we allow you spend less on the airfare so you have more money left for when you’re on the ground.” 

Building the Wizz Air brand 

While it has grown to become Europe’s third largest airline, with more than 250 aircraft as of March 2026, Wizz Air has not achieved the brand visibility some of its arch-rivals such as Ryanair and easyJet. 

Malin admitted that Wizz Air is not yet where it would like to be in terms of brand recognition. 

“We can see from our surveys that in certain markets Wizz Air is not understood, as it should be, as an incredibly reliable and safe airline with the newest technology and a nice product and crew,” he said. “We would like everyone to be able to try us.” 

This issue is particularly acute outside of the carrier’s original core markets in Central and Eastern Europe. 

“In certain Western European markets, such as Italy, Spain and the UK, we’re just not really understood,” Malin explained.   

However, the airline is heavily invested un reversing this. “In Spain we’re rapidly building brand recognition, and in Italy we have a partnership now with AS Roma [one of Italy’s major football clubs – ed. note], which has millions of fans. So, our brand recognition is increasing and that’s very exciting.” 

Italy is a growth market for Wizz Air, where it is on track to becoming the second largest airline in terms of passengers this year and expanding its locally based fleet. In this regard, Maling explained how the airline is increasing the number of aircraft based in Rome (to 17 aircraft) and Milan (10 aircraft). Part of this growth is driven by domestic flights.  

“Just like we’re geared to be Romania’s, Hungary’s and Albania’s hometown airline, and any markets’ hometown airline, we’re also looking to become one of Italy’s hometown airlines,” Malin said. 

The engine issue

Wizz Air is one of the airlines that have been severely affected by the issues experienced by Pratt & Whitney GTF engines.  

On this topic, Malin struck an optimistic note. Not only did he express his confidence that the issue would be fully fixed by 2027, but also his expectation that the airline would be able to jump ahead of its competitors as soon as the new “GTF Advantage” engines start entering service later this year. The “GTF Advantage” is an upgraded version of the GTF engine, which has been specifically modified to address some of the specific reliability and durability issues detected in the current engine generation. 

“There were two things happening with the existing GTF engine. One was durability. It burns at a hotter temperature, so in certain markets like the Middle East, where it’s hot, these engines have struggled to perform,” Malin said. “So, Pratt Whitney is spending a lot of money and doing a lot of research and development to be able to upgrade the engine and make it more robust.  

“When that engine arrives, we think it will be the best engine available on the market. All of our planes will benefit from that upgrade, and we will find ourselves using a much superior technology than we already have.”  

Malin confirmed that these new engines will not only equip all the new Airbus A321neos that Wizz Air will receive in the coming years, but they will also eventually be retrofitted into older aircraft.  

“We’re going to look at the overall cost of the retrofits,” he said. “But that’s certainly an option.”  

“It’s okay to have frills, just not for free” 

Besides cost discipline and operational improvements, Malin’s responsibilities at Wizz Air also include the generation of ancillary revenue, a fundamental element of the carrier’s business model. 

One area of particular interest because of its ancillary revenue potential and its effect on the overall passenger experience is that of cabin connectivity.  

At the time this interview was conducted, Wizz Air was preparing to disclose an agreement with inflight digital services provider Immfly and gateretail to digitalize several cabin services, such as on-demand in-seat catering orders.  

Interestingly, the deal, which was announced on March 25, 2026, also includes a six-month Proof of Concept connectivity test combining Immfly’s Equilux server with Iridium satellite connectivity. 

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While European low-cost airlines have been reluctant to offer inflight internet connectivity, to the point that Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary engaged in a very public argument with Elon Musk about the pros and cons of SpaceX’s Starlink system, the wind appears to be changing. 

Malin also named Starlink as one of the companies Wizz Air is currently in talks with in order to assess the suitability of offering inflight internet connectivity. The key, again, is to keep cost discipline or get the system to pay for itself. 

“Adding Starlink will add cost. There’s fuel burn because of the drag of the antenna, and there’s also some weight, and then you have to pay for the service,” he explained. “So, we will not do it if it increases the cost. We need to then figure out what’s the revenue benefit, if there’s going to benefit inflight sales.” 

Malin then proceeded to list several options under consideration which would make inflight connectivity financially interesting for Wizz Air. 

“I can offer more promotions on board, reduce credit card chargebacks, because you can see if the payment has gone through in real time,” he said. “There’s also maybe some fuel efficiency advantage from communicating more directly with the pilots. We can also offer more upsell opportunities on the plane.”  

“But none of that is guaranteed,” he added. “The one thing [that] is guaranteed is the cost. But the one thing we could do is collaborate with a partner and offer it as, ‘brought to you by this or that sponsor’ or perhaps place an advertisement or something that you watch. But even that is down to execution.  

“So, like I said, we’re looking at it,” he continued, “but we need to find a way to offset the cost, and we have some ideas as to how to do that.”  

Connectivity is not the only area in which Wizz Air is experimenting with its inflight offering. 

In February 2026, the airline also launched a premium seating option called “Wizz Class” which provides extra legroom and keeps the middle seat free, in addition to some additional services such as a complimentary drink and snack and extra baggage allowance. Malin explained why this new service has, for now, been rolled out in a limited way. 

“Wizz Class is something we have developed and are monitoring, but we are keeping it contained in the first row and not allowing it to go into the second and third rows for now,” he said. “It is very contained at this point. If it makes more money that way, then we should continue to do so, but we want to make sure that we ring fence it to make sure that we don’t allow our cost to creep.” explained  

Here, Malin highlighted that he takes particular care in keeping the main cost metrics in check.  

“If I take two seats out of my production by allowing someone to block it, that means I generate fewer ASKs [available seat-kilometer, a measure of the capacity being offered by an airline – ed. note]. You divide costs by the number of ASKs. The more ASKs, the lower my costs go. If costs remain the same and I create a product that eliminates ASKs, then my cost per ASK is going up.”  

Wizz Air is also experimenting with flight connections; something that not so long ago was considered a sort of heresy in the low-cost airline industry.  

The system that is now being tested has been developed by Dohop, an Icelandic company the technology of which facilitates the flight interlining, even between separate airlines or between airlines and other travel operators. 

So, people are now able to book connecting flights as part of one single itinerary, when in the past they had to buy two separate flights and hope all connections worked as expected. 

Malin admitted this adds some complexity to Wizz Air’s operations. So, like with Wizz Class, it is rolling it out quite carefully to better assess its benefits and mitigate any downsides. 

“If we start offering our own connecting product, we have to make sure we have a system for managing bags, disruptions, accommodation and so on,” he said. “It adds complexity and somebody has to manage that complexity, which means I need to hire more people to do so, and that drives costs up at the end of the day. It’s not core to our model.” 

“In terms of other opportunities, we’re spending a lot of time looking at the distribution space, as well,” he added.  

“How do we get our tickets sold? Obviously, we have our website, we have our app, but we are also looking at how we engage with the OTAs [online travel agents – ed. note] and providing them with APIs so they can access our inventory in exchange for them behaving in accordance with our rules.”  

When asked about the possibility that AI agents may be able to access this inventory to book passengers in the near future, Maling replied: “You see that in the in the retail space, a lot of people are now allowing you to buy stuff through ChatGPT, ultimately, I think that something that we will be looking at. But, again, the investment needs to be balanced with what we could normally do through our existing distribution channels.” 

The big European low-cost travel game 

Malin also talked about the role Wizz Air plays in the European air travel market, particularly in relation to close competitors like Ryanair. 

“We have an incredible amount of respect for Ryanair and so have they for us. We welcome the opportunity to compete, and by competing, it makes us a better airline,” he said. “It’s clear that Ryanair has a cost advantage over us and the way that we compete in our business is on cost. So, ultimately, we want to be cheaper than them. In order to be cheaper than them, we have to reduce our cost base, and that’s something that we’re focused on and actively developing.” 

 Malin said he believes this goal is within reach just as soon as Wizz Air leaves behind the GTF engine issues, which has forced it to ground part of its fleet and placed a drag on the airline’s performance. 

“We have parked aircraft and that’s a huge distortion to our cost,” he said. “We were also going through a fleet transition, which is also creating some exceptional costs. We have had cost advantage over Ryanair in the past, and we will regain that cost advantage structurally. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t.” 

Malin is placing big hopes on Wizz Air’s current fleet update program, which will see its transition to a fleet composed almost entirely of A321neo aircraft. On March 25, 2026, just days after this interview took place, Wizz Air announced it had started to withdrawal its older A321ceo fleet. 

“We fly a better aircraft with better fuel efficiency and higher gauge, with more seats,” he explained. “Once we get through the challenges of moving out of the Middle East and adjusting our network based upon how we want it to be, getting rid of our older aircraft and getting our fleet unparked, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be cheaper than them.” 

 Malin provided us with a time frame for this. “Okay, ‘it] should be five years, I would say, maybe even sooner than that. Because if you think about it, if the [aircraft] parking is undone by 2027 then that’s one issue solved. Then we get back to more efficiency. Because nobody would open a restaurant, and then, you know, block half the seats, right? If there’s a line out of the door, you want to fill the restaurant as much as possible and turn the tables as fast as possible. You wouldn’t close off the seats.  

“That’s effectively what we’re doing with our business right now with those aircraft which are not productive because they don’t have engines and can’t fly.” 

“So, by 2027 we’re going to, we’re going to lift the entire grounded fleet,” he continued. “By 2028 we’re going to be out of the [A320/A321] ceos, which are the higher fuel burn, smaller planes we have and the ones that cost more to maintain and we’re going to be mostly all [A320/A321] neos, which are high density, high seat count, fuel-efficient aircraft with the newest engines, as well. So, that will be structurally something that Ryanair can’t compete with because their [B737] MAX-10s, whenever they get them, maybe next year I believe, have only 228 seats, compared to our 239 seats. So, we will have an advantage on every flight just by having more seats on there.” 

What is the strategy to keep growing? 

Wizz Air will have more planes and seats per plane, but it will still need to fill them. How do you control this expansion without reducing the yield?   

“Right now, there are plenty of opportunities for us to build density in our existing markets. There’s no shortage of routes where we fly only twice or thrice a week, which become less reliable of an operation for people,” Malin said. “So, density is our first port of call. However, we will look at new markets if we see that the potential of the new market outweighs the potential from adding density and frequency in existing ones.” 

“So, we have added new markets,” he added. “This summer we added a number of Croatian routes, more connections to the Black Sea, a lot more domestic capacity in Italy, which we didn’t have before, more routes to Spain and so on. So, we’re balancing the combination of our existing network with new markets.” 

Malin explained that while Wizz Air does not have a traditional frequent flyer program like those of many full-service carriers, it values customer loyalty very much. One of his goals is, in fact, to get more business from existing customers. 

“We have plans like our Wizz Discount Club and things like that which allow us to provide additional discounts to customers in exchange for their loyalty, and we’ll continue to promote those,” he said.  “But, ultimately, the best way for us to generate loyalty is to be a reliable airline. It’s important that they have a good experience, that we provide reliable operations, we get there on time, and provide times that work, so that people keep coming to us. Because it’s a lot cheaper for me to retain a customer than to acquire a new one.” 

How does Wizz Air drive loyalty? 

“Legacy airlines are getting very expensive, and we have maintained our average fares sort of flat, despite a lot of the rest of the world getting a lot more expensive. So, I think when you start adding up travel costs times multiple people, if you’re a family of four, or whatever, travelling gets expensive. So, if we can help save money, that would be the number one way for us to attract loyalty.” 

“That’s why it’s important to have the right brand and the right network, to fly to the right destinations at the times that matter, and to also expand our franchise so we’re available for people that would normally fly premium, business travelers, leisure travelers, people visiting friends, labor migrants…We need to make sure that we’re seen as the go-to airline for any demographic.  

“In order to do that, we need to make sure we’re reliable and trustworthy,” he added. “And that’s why we keep on talking about being Europe’s reliable, low-cost airline.” 

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