16 November 2023, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates: Wizz Air, Europe’s fastest growing airline and the winner of the CAPA Global Environmental Sustainability Award[1], announces today that it has achieved 51.2 grams per passenger/km[2] for its CO2 emissions intensity in the first half of fiscal year 2024 (H1F24), which is 8% less than in the same period of fiscal year 2023[3].
Wizz Air’s sustainability strategy is based on four pillars – environment, people, governance and economy. The airline is constantly working on its environmental footprint and carbon intensity reduction, employee development, socio-economic contribution to the regions, where it operates, and strengthening its corporate governance.
Wizz Air’s sustainability milestones in H1F24
- Fleet average age decreased to 4.2 years, remaining the youngest aircraft fleet of any European airline with over 100 aircraft.
- The share of new “neo” technology aircraft within Wizz Air’s fleet increased to 57%.
- Signed an agreement with Spanish Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) producer Cepsa for future supply.
- Made its first £5 million equity investment in a British biofuel company, Firefly, and participated in $50 million investment in CleanJoule, a US-based biofuel start-up.
- Became the first airline in Hungary to commercially test the SAF supply chain in collaboration with Neste, MOL and Budapest Airport.
- Launched fully electric turnarounds together with Aviation Services at Rome Fiumicino airport, allowing to reduce CO2 emissions from the ground handling process by up to 85% per aircraft compared to using diesel-powered equipment.
- Received recognition as the “Most Sustainable Low-Cost Airline” by World Finance Awards 2023.
- Launched a new, and first of its kind, WIZZ Sustainability Ambassador Programme for its cabin crew and office employees. Over 20 Sustainability Ambassadors have been selected, representing 13 countries of Wizz Air’s presence.
- The employee base grew to more than 8,000 with over 1,400 new hires and more than 100 nationalities in the entire workforce.
- Reached a 50%-50% female-male gender ratio throughout the entire organisation and 5%-95% female-male gender ratio in the flight deck.
About Wizz Air:
Wizz Air, Europe’s fastest growing ultra-low-cost airline operates a fleet of 191 Airbus A320s and A321s. A team of aviation professionals offers superior service and very low fares, making Wizz Air the preferred choice of 57.6 million passengers between October 2022 – September 2023. Wizz Air is listed on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol WIZZ. The airline was recently named one of the world’s ten safest airlines by airlineratings.com, the world’s only safety and product rating agency, and named Airline of the Year by Air Transport Awards in 2019 and 2023. Wizz Air was also recognised as ‘Most Sustainable Low-Cost Airline’ in the World Finance Sustainability Awards in 2021-2023, as ‘Airline Group of the Year for Global Environmental Sustainability’ by CAPA-Centre for Aviation Awards for Excellence in 2022-2023 and “Europe’s Leading Low-Cost Airline 2023” by World Travel Awards.
[1] According to CAPA – Centre for Aviation Sustainability Awards for Excellence 2022 and 2023
[2] For the rolling 12 months to 30 September 2023 Wizz Air’s CO2 emissions amounted to 51.6 grams per passenger/km
[3] For 1 April, 2022 – 30 September, 2022 CO2 intensity result was 55.6 grams per passenger/km