Wizz Air Holdings PLC (AIM:WIZZ) said its fourth quarter loss will be less than predicted as a recovery in the airline industry begins to "take shape."
The low-cost airline forecast an operating loss of between €210-€190mln for the quarter. This is ahead of the €213.6mln loss estimated when it reported third-quarter results in January.
Nevertheless, the company said it would post a net loss between €652-€632mln for the financial year ending March 31, 2022.
It told investors it is on track to ramp-up operations and crewing for the busy summer flying programme at the start of financial year 2023 and expects bookings to build significantly after Easter.
The situation in Ukraine, Moldova and Russia is being monitored, though flights fom these locations remain suspended.
"In F22 the aviation industry continued to be impacted by COVID-19. The latest virus variant, Omicron, proved to be of benign nature, which helped to relax government travel restrictions across a majority of our network. Distressingly, the war in Ukraine dented demand for air travel and destabilised commodity prices across the globe," said József Váradi, Wizz Air chief executive.
"Despite these developments we are starting to see recovery take shape as we move closer to the summer of 2022."
Wizz Air is to release its annual results on June 8, 2022.
The stock was up 7.12% at 3,098.00p in early trades.