Wizz Air Holdings PLC

Wizz Air expects limited opportunities from airBaltic's bankruptcy and anticipates more European airline failures due to high fuel prices, CEO Jozsef Varadi said Monday. Speaking at a conference hosted by the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading, Varadi said airlines without fuel price hedges face severe liquidity problems from the recent oil price spike and "will be in a very difficult situation." He said airBaltic, which is state-owned by Latvia, is "just far too big for a tiny little market like Latvia" now that Russian traffic is gone, and that Latvia's location at the periphery of the European Union near the Russian border limits interest given current geopolitical conditions. Varadi said Wizz is hedged at half the market price across 80% of its fuel needs for the next 12 months, and that this year would be challenging as the industry deals with oil prices and geopolitics but could create opportunities, with the airline expanding capacity into Italy, Romania, Albania and other locations.

Five budget airlines controlled by private equity firm Indigo Partners will install SpaceX's Starlink internet service across more than 1,000 combined aircraft, with Frontier Airlines beginning the rollout in early 2027. The carriers—Frontier, Hungary's Wizz Air, Mexico's Volaris, Chile's JetSmart, and the Philippines' Cebu Pacific—moved together in a coordinated deal negotiated by Indigo Partners, which holds significant stakes and board control across the group. Frontier's entire 183-plane Airbus fleet will be equipped, a company spokesperson confirmed. The deal marks a shift in SpaceX's approach, as Wizz Air's earlier Starlink announcement omitted any mention of complimentary access, suggesting most passengers will likely pay for connectivity. Frontier is layering the Wi-Fi rollout onto a broader strategy of adding premium features to its low base fares, with shares recently trading near $6.48, up from a 52-week low of $3.02.