Wizz Air Holdings (LSE:WIZZ) carried 7.78 million passengers in September, up 24.2% year-on-year, as the Central and Eastern Europe-focused low-cost carrier continued to expand capacity faster than it could fill every seat.
Capacity rose 25.3% to 8.46 million seats, outpacing passenger growth and pulling the load factor down 0.8 percentage points to 92.0%, though the airline said this partly reflected a stronger pricing environment that improved markedly compared with earlier months.
That pricing strength fed directly into updated guidance: Wizz Air now expects second-quarter revenue per available seat kilometre (RASK) to be flat year-on-year, an upgrade from its previous guidance of a low single-digit decline, which it attributed to a stronger-than-expected summer.
The airline also confirmed it has trimmed planned second-half capacity by 5%, citing geopolitical and fuel-price volatility, though it gave no guidance for the 2027 financial year as a whole.
The update follows the airline's Capital Markets Day on 17 September, at which chief executive József Váradi set new medium-term targets for the 2030 financial year, including €10 billion in revenue, an ex-fuel cost per available seat kilometre of 3.00 euro cents, a 10% EBIT margin and a return to an investment-grade balance sheet.
"By F30, we intend to operate an all-neo fleet of 335 aircraft, carry 127 million passengers and deliver sustainable, industry-leading margins", Váradi said.
Over the rolling 12 months to September, Wizz Air carried 79.33 million passengers on capacity of 87.20 million seats, up 19.0% and 19.3% respectively, with the rolling load factor down 0.2 percentage points at 91.0%.
Monthly carbon dioxide emissions rose 17.1% to 611,334 metric tonnes, though emissions intensity per passenger-kilometre fell 1.6% to 49.0 grams, a figure the airline said excludes any benefit from its sustainable aviation fuel uplift.