Wizz Air's Strategy Is Getting Complicated

Its CEO pushed back on analysts who wonder if the airline is straying from its model.

Dear readers,

I'm heading outside the United States with today’s newsletter. If you read my opening manifesto, you know I live in Los Angeles, and naturally, I have U.S.-centric interests. But this is not a U.S-only newsletter. Airlines throughout the world are innovating with their commercial strategy. Today's airline, Wizz Air, is among them.

In most industries, businesses must evolve and add lines of business, or they risk obsolescence. This is less true for airlines. Some of the most profitable airlines, like Ryanair, stick with what has always worked. Some airlines that change models too rapidly become like WestJet, which struggled as it morphed from a regional, all-Boeing 737 operator into a global one with turboprops and widebodies.

As I followed Wizz Air's earnings call this week, I sensed some analysts on edge. Wizz Air has been an investor darling for its disciplined approach to cost control and its ability to win over customers in Central and Eastern Europe with cheap short-haul flights.

Now, Wizz Air is diversifying.