People
Environment
Economy
Governance
Care more Live more Be more
We believe that travel provides opportunities that can make life and the world around us better
Welcome to the Wizz Air Sustainability site!
At Wizz, Sustainability is one of our core values that is deeply embedded in our culture. The four pillars of our strategy are:
Wizz Cares is the umbrella above all the initiatives we have in place around people, the environment, the economy and the governance.
Customers are in the focus of everyone at WIZZ. We want to ensure we liberate the lives of our passengers through affordable travel. We ensure the best customer journey through innovation, excellent on-board service and a 7-star safety rating. Our employees are our biggest assets. Wizz Air is a company of diversity, inclusivity and infinite career opportunities. The dialogue between the management and the employees has been successful for the past 20 years. The Wizz Air People Council is a bridge to ensure that this two-way dialogue is successful and creates trust between senior management and the employees all around the network.
It has never been so important to care about the environment we live in. It’s the responsibility of everyone. Wizz Air, with one of the youngest aircraft fleets and one of the lowest CO2 emissions per passenger kilometre is already ahead of the industry. But this is not enough! This is why we have numerous initiatives to minimize our environmental footprint. These initiatives include investments in and the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuels, implementing fuel efficiency measures, qualifying future technology building blocks, and fostering industry partnerships for innovation and cooperation to enable decarbonization.
Wizz Air is a good corporate citizen. We support the local economies by connecting cities, regions, by promoting tourism, by ensuring freedom of movement, by indirectly and directly creating jobs. We continuously expand our network to ensure that we are the driving force behind the prosperity of markets.
Come and join us on this sustainability journey! We do all we can to reach these very ambitious goals. Sustainability is a collective responsibility, and this is why we need you on this journey!
We are committed
To making sure that everyone, everywhere can benefit from travel at the lowest prices, while keeping in mind the social, economic and environmental impact of our operations. Our strategy is built on low fares and a diverse network, supported by efficient and sustainable operations and high-quality customer service.
As one of the fastest growing airlines,
...our ultra-low-cost business model means that we are able to offer the lowest fares to our customers and make flying affordable for more people than ever before. At the same time, we are also conscious of the many economic, social and environmental developments impacting our communities and have a number of initiatives which show how WIZZ Cares is at the heart of our sustainability efforts.
People
has the opportunity to live up to their full potential.
Our people pillar consists of two parts – customers and employees. We believe in a future where everyone has the chance to realise their full potential. We work hard to develop our services, to enhance our customer experience and to empower our people while supporting the communities we serve. We have operations at 193 airports in 53 countries and it is our aim to build active relationships with the communities in each of our markets. Over the years, we’ve devoted ourselves to local community projects across our markets, an initiative which fosters a stronger bond between our employees and the communities in which we operate.
OUR EMPLOYEES
People development
We continue to deliver world-class training to our people. From COVID-19 and technical trainings for our crew to leadership trainings for our office employees, we are focusing on giving the right tools to our employees so they can own their development and progress in their career. In July 2021, Wizz Air introduced its internal training programme called WIZZ Academy, which aims to give employees the unique opportunity to gain knowledge about WIZZ strategic approaches and aspirations on a top executive level. The company has also partnered with LinkedIn to implement a new online educational platform, LinkedIn Learning, that will help employees to grow both professionally and personally, with unlimited access to interactive, engaging courses.
Wizz Air Pilot Academy
We run our own Pilot Academy which provides financial support, including partial sponsorship, to motivated cadets during their initial training. Pilot Academy cadets who successfully graduate from the programme can begin their employment at Wizz Air as Pilot Trainees.
Diversity and equal opportunities
Celebrating perspectives from every corner of the world is at the heart of our business at WIZZ, and with 109 nationalities across 33 base countries, we’re proud of our truly global footprint. We’re also committed to ensuring gender diversity in the workplace, with 48% female and 52% male employees and Women of WIZZ, which has been introduced to achieve significantly higher women representation in pilot positions within the next decade. In support of this aspiration, the She Can Fly Programme was launched on 8 March 2023 on International Women’s Day with a firm commitment to provide a unique, simple, and financially accessible path to becoming a commercial pilot at Wizz Air. The programme has envisioned to support female candidates as a requirement to increase women’s flight deck crew diversity well above the current average 5 per cent in the industry. Wizz Air is committed to bringing down gender stereotypes and supporting gender equality within this profession too.
Employee satisfaction
All engagement survey results are annually reviewed by the Board of Directors, which enables the Company’s highest decision-making body to also assess and monitor progress towards cultural objectives, identify priorities and set measurable goals for achieving the vision. Wizz Air also has a dedicated Board member who is responsible for overseeing engagement with employees. The three focus areas to improve crew engagement and the work environment at the Company level are: crew roster planning, quality and consistency; Operations Control Centre availability, resource and support; and operational logistics availability, resource and support. Engagement actions for office employees are also regularly reviewed. The main focus areas for the office workforce are: recognition, culture, career progression, reward, employee experience and leadership development.
Fatigue management
We continuously monitor and assess the risk of fatigue to guarantee safe flight operations. Our Crew Management system incorporates fatigue-related information into its decision-making to improve the identification of fatigue risk.
Cabin Crew to Captain Program
We introduced the industry’s first ever Cabin Crew to Captain Program to help aspiring WIZZ Cabin Crew turn their dreams into reality through extensive financial, travel and accommodation support, as well as a tailored work and study schedule. By breaking down a number of key barriers, we strive to support ambitious crew members on their journey to the flight deck.
WIZZ People Council
Established in 2018, our People Council regularly brings together employees representing all areas of the business to facilitate an effective two-way communication between the management and employees and to support the decision-making process on matters that affected all employees within the Company. The People Council is more than just another department within the Company, it is a place where the people of WIZZ feel safe to share their concerns, ideas, or suggestions. The Council continues to improve us both as an airline and as an employer.
Mental and physical wellbeing
We want our employees to feel valued and supported, which is why 24/7 professional counselling service (Employee Assistance Program) is available for all of our employees and their immediate family members. We also offer a pilot peer to peer support as well as online mental health and fitness training for all of our crew. In 2019, we introduced WIZZ Aid, an employee Emergency Fund, which is designed to provide financial support to colleagues who need urgent medical treatment or suffer from natural or man-made disasters. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, we have established a number of new processes to safeguard the wellbeing of our employees, loved ones and passengers. To ensure the highest level of protection for our crews and passengers during the peak of the pandemic, Wizz Air launched various key protocols, including enhanced cleaning and disinfection procedures and mandatory face covering policies, and established a vaccination policy for its employees in 2021. Due to the growing number of countries relaxing their travel and safety regulations, we have also made the decision to ease the mandatory mask-wearing requirement on our aircraft. However, we remain vigilant and proactive in our approach to health and safety and will reassess the related policies and processes as needed. After three challenging years marked by the pandemic, a war broke out in Ukraine, causing significant impacts on our customers, colleagues and operations in Ukraine, Moldova and Russia. Despite the difficulties, our employees have risen to the occasion, showing remarkable proficiency in supporting our affected employees and trainees, and their family members. Altogether, the support provided to our employees included the funds collected and distributed by the People Council, psychological support and employee relocation support to new bases, as well as new employment contracts in the new bases. Wizz Air also committed to continue paying the average salary for employees on Ukrainian employment contracts to provide financial security to our employees in this difficult situation. After a total of three months of emergency support, the absolute majority of our Ukraine-based employees have been evacuated and transferred to other bases within the WIZZ network.
Our customers
Mobility and active lifestyle
As a company, we keep ourselves lean and efficient – and we strive to give people across our network the chance to do the same. Because we believe that, just like affordable travel, a healthy and active lifestyle should be available to everyone. We are proud to sponsor several European running events, including the Budapest Half Marathon, our flagship event and races in Milan, Venice, Cluj-Napoca, Sofia, Skopje, Debrecen and London Hackney.
Disruption management
We are aware of the great extent that disruptions can have an impact on our customer satisfaction, therefore we are constantly updating our tools in order to inform passengers and local ground handling partners in the most efficient way. We have improved the handling of lost baggage, introduced push notifications and flight status updates in the WIZZ App, as well as rolled out electronic meal vouchers and a new automated system for hotel and transport arrangements for passengers who have to stay overnight due to flight cancellations.
Ground handling and airport
Our ground handling partners play a huge role in the success of the ULCC ecosystem, and we are maintaining an open dialogue with all of our local partners to deliver better customer service and communication. Wizz Air's customer journey has also been improved on the airport side. We introduced a new feature in our mobile application for the scanning of travel documents in 2021. Customers using this option are benefitting from a more convenient online check-in process, and they can expect a more seamless passenger journey at the airport as well.
WIZZ Youth Challenge
WIZZ supports the development of young graduates all across Europe. Our annual case study competition challenges university students to deliver a creative, forward-thinking solution to a real-life business problem. Qualifying teams are invited to Budapest for the finals, where they get the chance to network and share their ideas with top-level executives, a number of industry experts and brilliant young minds from across the network.
Personalisation & online experience
We are constantly working on improving the online experience on wizzair.com and our app to make them more personalised and easier to use. With several communication capabilities and advanced features, such as the price alert, auto check-in and personalised offers, we make it even easier to find, book and travel to dream destinations with us, while staying informed every step of the way. In 2021, Wizz Air introduced "Amelia", a new virtual assistant chatbot, which enables customers to quickly and conveniently get information about their flights, while also providing useful general information on services, flight disruptions, special assistance or voluntary flight changes. Amelia can provide support in English, Italian and German languages via the wizzair.com website and official Wizz Air Facebook Messenger. In addition, Amelia will soon be implemented within the WIZZ mobile application as well.
Pandemic response
During the coronavirus pandemic, Wizz Air offered immediate humanitarian support to those suffering at the hands of the unexpected crisis by launching various cargo and repatriation services. Over 120 flights were operated to transport critical medical supplies and stranded passengers safely back home. We were also one of few airlines never to cease operations and introduce an interactive Travel Planning Map to support passengers in navigating a complex travel environment. Wizz Air also introduced the scanning capability of the EU Digital COVID-19 Certificate QR code to enable customers to proceed directly to the boarding gate and avoid the need for physical COVID-19 document verification at the airport check-in desks and queueing.
ENVIRONMENT
It has never been more important for a company to be responsible for the environment. Protecting the environment is the responsibility of all of us, therefore we have taken our environment-protection steps to a next level. With one of Europe’s youngest fleet and one of the lowest CO2 emissions per passenger kilometre we strive to stay ahead of the industry. As of Financial Year 2022, carbon emission intensity is fully integrated into the reward structure of executives.
With the help of a great number of fuel-saving initiatives, including a mobile electronic flight bag, a fully paperless flight-deck and our continuously modernised fleet, we will further improve our operational metrics, continuously reducing our environmental footprint per flight in order to make air travel more carbon-efficient. Our sustainability measures include accelerating our actions to secure adequate Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) supplies for the future, more sustainable procurement processes, and an on-board waste sorting trial.
Wizz Air’s carbon emissions intensity
As a result of the numerous fuel-saving initiatives and constant modernization of our technology, we are proud to have one of the lowest emission intensity rates in the European aviation industry. In the 2020 Financial Year, carbon emissions per passenger kilometer were 57.28 grams, down from 59.9, which is almost half the industry average. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the lower load factors on our flights, our carbon efficiency was negatively impacted in Financial Year 2021. Since then, Wizz Air has witnessed a noteworthy improvement which was not present everywhere within the industry. In Financial Year 2023, there was continued progress as passenger load factors improved, consequently leading to a reduction in emissions intensity, reaching 53.8 g CO2/RPK. In the financial year 2024, Wizz Air’s carbon intensity continued to further improve. The F24 average annual CO2 RPK was 52 grammes, which is unique in the sector and the lowest ever carbon intensity reported by Wizz Air for a 12-month period. Read more in our recently published annual report.
Commitment to further reduce our environmental impact
Wizz Air is strongly committed to reducing climate change impact globally and locally alike. We support the Paris Agreement aiming to limit temperature rise below 1.5C as well as the European Green Deal and the Destination 2050 guidelines aiming to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
Wizz Air is proud to have one of the lowest CO2 emissions (G/RPK) in Europe. We commit to further reducing our CO2 emission by 25% until 2030 compared to 2019 levels and to further limiting other greenhouse gas emissions. The ambitious plan is driven by our latest technology fleet, fuel saving initiatives and usage of sustainable aviation fuel.
Alongside technology and operational improvements, alternative fuels are an essential part of decarbonising the industry. Wizz Air has established its SAF strategy, which includes securing offtake agreements with suppliers for the future. To support Wizz Air’s ambitious sustainability journey and ensure sufficient supplies of SAF to meet future blending mandates, the Company has signed Memorandum of Understandings with several SAF providers and has made two equity investments in SAF research and development projects.
Wizz Air is also committed to industry collaboration, engaging with key external stakeholders. During the sustainable aviation fuel test in Hungary in 2023, Wizz Air took off from Budapest Airport for the first time with a 37 per cent blend of Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel™ supplied by MOL. Wizz Air’s five aircraft were supplied with a total of 23.5 tonnes of a fuel blend containing 37 per cent pure SAF and 63 per cent Jet A1 fuel.
A321neo – a true game changer
OUR STRENGTHS
We use tablets in our flight decks, saving over
25,000 printed pages in each aircraft
Continuously investing in newer, lighter seats
We wash every engine twice per year – the cleaner they are,
the smoother they run, and therefore less fuel is needed.
Saving fuel by turning off one of the engines after arrival
Since 2012, we have implemented several projects including the improvement of
our flying speed and approach and optimised our network which add up to
nearly 100,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year (3% per aircraft)
Vortex generators reduce noise levels
These amazing inventions can reduce fuel burn by 2% and CO2 emissions by 600 tonnes per year per plane. The whole fleet will be equipped by 2024.
From 2020, all newly delivered A321neo aircraft have new break units that are 20kg lighter than the previous models.
Printed from lightweight recycled paper
When available, we use electricity from the ground (GPU) to power our aircraft
during turnaround at our destinations, which can save 200 kg of fuel per hour
Economy
Affordable air travel can improve the lives of many travellers, but it’s easy to forget how it can impact a city. Few things are as good for a city’s economy as direct air links – particularly when those air links are at Wizz Air’s lowest fares. As more and more people have access to affordable air travel, more travellers boost the local economy of the places they visit.
Supplier Code of Conduct
The Wizz Air Group is devoting special attention to environmental, social and economic responsibility during its operations and has introduced its renewed Supplier Code of Conduct as of April 2021. Wizz Air is committed to doing business with suppliers and partners who supply products and/or services to Wizz Air Group who share Wizz Air`s commitments towards an environmentally and commercially sustainable operation and operates with high social and labour standards. The Supplier Code of Conduct applies to all Suppliers of Wizz Air as well as their suppliers and sub-contractors and it forms integral part of all contracting packages and processes.
Directly making impact on 1 of The United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Economy
ACI guidelines
Airports Council International Europe (ACI) guidelines suggest that 750 on-site jobs are created for every 1 million passengers carried per year. Based on this calculation, we supported the creation of more than 46 000 local jobs in the financial year 2024, carrying 62 million passengers on our route network.
Boosting traffic and tourism
Across our network, there are several locations where no regular air services existed before our arrival, or where we made a significant difference in traffic numbers. After our Varna base opened in 2017, the airport saw a double-figure rise in passenger traffic. In North Macedonia, passenger numbers have trebled in the last 10 years, and in Kutaisi the airport’s traffic numbers have more than doubled with more than 75% of passengers served by us.
ULCC model
Due to our business model, we outsource many supporting tasks at all levels of the organisation to local, external partner, working in close collaboration with over 5,000 contracted service providers across our network.
Protection of honest and fair business
We have implemented internal procedures and measures designed to ensure compliance with all relevant anti-corruption regulations. Our Anti -Corruption Policy sets out the principles, prohibitions and practical guidelines relating to bribery or corrupt practices, for which there is zero tolerance. These policies are part of the mandatory annual training for all WIZZ employees, ensuring that all employees are up to date.
Governance
Board/Management, quality & integrity
Full board oversight via the Sustainability and Culture Committee. By 2026, we pledge to achieve a rate of at least 40% female representation in management positions (Heads, Officers, EVPs and CEO). For this, we have included the gender diversity of the Management Team in our reward structure as of financial year 2022. We have also made a strong commitment to close the diversity gap in our Board room, with the aim of achieving a 33% female board of directors by 2026, in accordance with the Hampton Alexander initiative.
Risk Management
The Board has a full oversight of the Enterprise Risk Management process (ERM), with a robust assessment of the principal risks related to the business model, future performance, solvency or liquidity of Wizz Air. We manage climate related and ESG risks through our corporate ERM framework.
Audit & Risk Committee
This risk management process feeds into the Risk Council, into the Audit and Risk Committee and into the Board of Directors and as such has strong support and priority in terms of driving our business plans and the actions to mitigate the risks.
As of Financial Year 2021, Wizz Air has aligned its external reporting with the TCFD recommendations.
People Environment Economy Governance