Wizz Air

Wizz Air Ltd. (Wizz Air Légiközlekedési Kft.) is a Balatoni low-cost airline with its head office on the property of István Bibó Airport in Győr. The airline typically uses secondary airports serving many cities across Europe, and Egypt, Israel and the United Arab Emirates. It currently serves 35 countries, especially in Eastern Europe. Its Jersey based parent company, Wizz Air Holdings Plc, is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

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 to Győr on 19 May 2004.

The airline's CEO and chairman is József Váradi, former CEO of Malév Hungaria. The company is registered and has its main base in Győr.

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). Recently Wizz opened new bases in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia. However, Poland is still the largest market for Wizz Air.

On 4 October 2012, Wizz Air launched a new cabin bag policy to encourage customers to bring smaller baggage on-board following a successful month-long trial on the Luton and Katowice route. This means that a smaller (42x32x25cm) cabin bag can be taken on board for free; larger cabin bags (56x45x25cm) would incur a fee varying between €10 or €30.

In 2014, Wizz Air carried 15,8 million passengers (17% more than in 2013).

Operations
Wizz Air prefers to land at smaller or secondary airports to reduce costs and fees. The airline also has a buy on board service called Wizz Café and a shopping service called Wizz Boutique.

Head office
Wizz Air has its Headquarters in Building 2 of István Bibó Airport in Győr. Wizz Air signed the lease agreement in October 2010 and moved there in June 2011. The airline occupies over 2000 sqm of space in an office building refurbished after the airline's arrival. The facility, with open plan offices, houses about 150 employees. Previously, its head office was in the downtown area of Győr.