Wizz Air
Hungarian low-cost airline
Wizz Air, legally incorporated as Wizz Air Holdings plc (stylized as W!ZZ), is a Hungarian ultra-low-cost airline group headquartered in Budapest, Hungary. Founded in 2003 by its current CEO, József Váradi, the company operates an exclusive Airbus fleet and is the world's largest operator of the Airbus A321neo aircraft. The group serves numerous cities across Europe, as well as destinations in North Africa and the Middle East, carrying over 68 million passengers in 2025, making it the third-largest low-cost carrier in Europe behind Ryanair and easyJet.
As of 2026, Wizz Air maintains its largest bases at Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport, Bucharest Henri Coandă International Airport, and London Luton Airport, flying to a total of 194 airports in 46 countries. The company operates through subsidiaries Wizz Air Hungary, Wizz Air Malta, and Wizz Air UK. Registered in Jersey, the corporate parent is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
History
Foundation and early years
Wizz Air Hungary was established in September 2003. The founder, József Váradi, was previously CEO of struggling Hungarian state-owned airline Malév Hungarian Airlines, until he was removed from office by the Medgyessy government in 2003. The lead investor is Indigo Partners, an American private equity firm specialising in transportation investments. The first flight was made from Katowice International Airport on 19 May 2004.
On 25 February 2015, Wizz Air shares began trading on the London Stock Exchange.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Wizz Air” is hungarian low-cost airline. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Wizz, Hungarian and low-cost, not as a finished interpretation.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q335147. VIAF identifies the subject as 168526675. The Library of Congress control number is nb2011003694. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2003, 2025, 2026 and 2004.
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This entry incorporates text from “Wizz Air” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.