Wizz Air Holdings PLC (AIM:WIZZ), the budget airline, saw a slight rise in passengers during May ahead of what investors hope will be a busy summer period.
During the last month, Wizz Air carried some 5.13 million passengers at a load factor of 91%, representing a 1.2% rise in capacity year-on-year.
Wizz Air’s load factor also increased by 0.7 percentage points from 90.2%, as overall passenger numbers lifted by 2.1%.
However, CO2 emissions rose by 1.5% to 52.9 grams per passenger/km during the month, largely caused by a “suboptimal fleet mix” regarding the grounding of some aircraft.
In total, over 472,500 tonnes of CO2 were emitted by Wizz Air during May, signifying a 1.9% jump compared to 2023.
It comes a day after industry group the International Air Transport Association (IATA) upgraded its profit outlook as passenger numbers look to hit record figures.
The air travel sector is now expected to make net profits of $30.5 billion at a 3.1% net profit margin in 2024, according to the IATA, up from an estimated $27.4 billion at a 3.0% net margin last year.
Wizz Air shares lifted around 3.5% higher as a result, despite having slipped 0.5% on Tuesday.