Why Wizz Air Is So Keen On The 239-seat Airbus A321neo

Here's what its network chief had to say.


Photo: Wizz Air.

In helping to reduce seat-mile costs, short-haul LCCs/ULCCs revolve around high aircraft utilization, both block hours per day (12+ hours) and sectors per day (six+). The lower seat-mile costs enable and sustain the lower fares (and high load factors) for which they're famous. One thing impacting utilization is sector length. This partly explains why Wizz Air is keen to use 239-seat A321neos, according to the ULCC's Evelin Jeckel, Chief Network Officer, who spoke at CONNECT Route Development Forum in Tangier.

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Wizz Air: 28% longer routes than Ryanair

Analysis of the Wizz Air Group's full summer schedule using Cirium data reveals that its average sector length is 973 miles (1,565 km). Doing the same for Ryanair and easyJet indicates that it is 760 miles (1,223 km) for Ryanair and 755 miles for easyJet (1,215 km). Wizz Air's average sector length is 28% longer than fellow ULCC Ryanair and 29% longer than easyJet.

The difference is partly achieved by extending the operating day: Wizz Air often has more extra-early starts and very early morning finishes. It is also influenced by its wider geographic locations and spread, which Jeckel said made it much more entrepreneurial than Ryanair.

Significantly, its comparative lack of domestic operations, especially versus the two other carriers, clearly influences its longer average. This is so vividly seen in the figure below from Air Service One, based on June data.

Wizz Air on 239-seaters

According to ch-aviation.com, the Wizz Air Group has 173 passenger aircraft: 79 A321neos, 47 A320ceos, 41 A321ceos, and six A320neos. This mix means that Wizz Air has about 220 seats per flight. Speaking at CONNECT, Jeckel said. (Do note, though, that low costs and fares in themselves aren't enough, hence Wizz Air ending many routes.)

"When the A319 came, everyone said it was too big. When the A320 came, everyone said it was too big. They say the same about the A321neo now.

But, with the A321neo, we can stimulate more traffic [through lower seat-mile costs and therefore fares]. The propensity to travel in many places we serve remains very low, so this is very important.

We have longer stage [sector] lengths than Ryanair. Our A321neos are good for that length. I would say it is not an issue – you see it in our load factors [Wizz Air is a so-called 'LF active, yield passive' airline]. We will be back in the 90%s very, very soon."

Longer sectors...

It is logical to conclude that Wizz Air will, generally speaking, have fewer sectors per day than Ryanair and easyJet. Inevitably, it varies massively, partly on where aircraft are based and how many shorter routes it operates from a given airport. Generally, six sectors (three roundtrips) are often achieved in Central and Eastern Europe, often helped by longer operating days and sometimes some so-called 'W' flying.

Aircraft based at specific airports, like London Gatwick and Abu Dhabi, typically operate four flights (two roundtrips) daily. But again, this varies. For example, some of Wizz Air Abu Dhabi's A321neos operate six sectors, e.g., Abu Dhabi-Samarkand-Abu Dhabi-Dammam-Abu Dhabi-Kuwait-Abu Dhabi. The classic setup: two longer sectors (Samarkand) combined with four shorter (Dammam, Kuwait).

But...

Where it does operate four sectors, it is somewhat offset by higher-capacity aircraft. As Jeckel pointed out, longer sectors also influence the purchase of certain ancillary products, with ancillaries now accounting for around half of Wizz Air's total revenue. Combined with lower seat-mile costs, which help enable lower fares to grow demand, passenger volume, and LFs, ancillary take-up also increases. At least, in theory.