Wizz Air CEO talks XLR, business class trial and how the airline got its name

At the unveiling of Wizz Air’s 250th aircraft in Budapest, AeroTime had the opportunity to speak briefly with CEO József Váradi about the significance of the occasion and discuss some other issues affecting the airline.

At the event on November 28, 2025, longstanding CEO Váradi was visibly buoyed by the landmark achievement and clearly excited by what lay ahead for Wizz Air in the future and its new Airbus A321neo.

“We are extremely proud of the size of the franchise. We are carrying 72 million passengers this year. This is bigger than Lufthansa. This is bigger than British Airways. This is bigger than Air France or KLM,” said Váradi. “These moments are a testament to the original vision and how we are executing that vision, so these are important moments.”

While Váradi describes Wizz Air as “small boys and girls” in relation to the larger legacy airlines, he remains proud that the low-cost carrier established itself within the industry on its own two feet.

“All those companies have been backed by their governments, and they have been around forever in aviation. They have been privileged throughout their entire history. We didn’t have any of that,” he explained.

AeroTimeWhen asked if he had imagined that Wizz Air would grow to operate a 250-strong fleet, Váradi said he never thought of a particular number but wanted to cover the whole of Europe.

“The ambition of becoming a relevant airline in Europe and being one of the stimulus forces for getting people into the franchise of flying in Central Eastern Europe in particular, I think that vision was there 21/22 years ago,” he added.

Váradi on Airbus A321XLR troubles

In November 2025, Wizz Air confirmed that it was reducing its commitment to the Airbus A321XLR from 47 aircraft to just 11 planes.

Wizz Air showcases its 250th aircraft in Budapest #A321neo #Airbus pic.twitter.com/V1eUh0Zzn7— Ian Molyneaux (@Ian_Molyneaux_) November 29, 2025 So far, Wizz Air has welcomed five A321XLRs to its fleet. The 36 XLRs that are no longer required are being converted into an order for 36 standard A321neos.

When asked if this was a source of disappointment, Váradi said: “The facts of life changed. We had to take action. Given where the engines are, I cannot take that risk. Hot and hard degrades the engines three times faster. I would just lose more engines. I would be grounding more aircraft, which makes no sense. We had to address this. If we see the XLR is such a big deal in five years from now, we’ll come back to it.”

Váradi on new business product ‘Wizz Class’

In October 2028, Wizz Air announced it was set to trial a new business seating product called “Wizz Class” before the end of the year.

Under the plans, Wizz Air will test blocking the middle seat in the front row to see if it’s something the company could expand across the fleet.

“What we are seeing is that all these prominent asset properties on the aircraft, like the first row, which is the most underutilized asset. So currently, the load factor on the first row is not 100%. We intuitively think that the front row is what people take first, but actually they don’t. We saw that and thought, isn’t there a better way of merchandising this while also meeting some customer needs that we don’t meet now,” said Váradi.

How the name Wizz Air was chosen

When deciding on a name for the Hungarian airline, Váradi turned to an American friend who he describes as “one of the best marketeers in the world”.

Váradi made clear he wanted something “distinct” and “exciting” which is about “speed and being young and dynamic and agile”.

“I didn’t want to have any more blue and white and planes, and I didn’t want to have another boring airways or airline kind of name,” he said.

According to Váradi, the agency came up with more than 200 different names which were then whittled down to three or four after discussions in focus groups.

“Then we said, ‘okay, now let’s visualize this. Let’s put colors, create logos, and go back to the consumers’. So, it was not my decision. It was decided by the people. This is as democratic as it can be when choosing a brand,” he explained.

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