Wizz Air has slashed its long-term growth rate as it seeks to avoid overcapacity that could hurt it operationally and weaken pricing, the airline has disclosed as part of its second quarter results. The carrier is now targeting a "more manageable" 10-12% yearly growth rate over the coming years, against a 15% target that it previously identified as core to its business. "Addressing around a 10% growth rate against 15% is taking some of the risks out of the equation" chief executive Jozsef Varadi told investors, with the company having suffered in recent years from problems with its Pratt & Whitney GTF engines, conflicts in Ukraine and Israel, poor performance in its Gulf joint venture and stiff competition in Western Europe. "Why not a [lower] 7-8% [growth rate]? If you look at our focus markets, Central and Eastern Europe needs more than this," adds Varadi, continuing: "We think this is a sweet spot." Wizz remains the fastest growing major airline in Europe, he notes. Varadi sees the past several months as representing a period of intense change at Wizz Air, with the company investing time and money to address structural challenges that have held it back since the pandemic. The result is that "we start seeing some sunshine", he told investors. This includes a pullback from its Wizz Air Abu Dhabi joint venture in the face of poor financial results, a change that he describes as "pretty much a done deal". Meanwhile, Wizz has renegotiated its delivery schedule from Airbus, with 88 Airbus A321neos for delivery to 2030 being deferred by three years, as announced earlier in the week. Wizz’s commitment to the medium-range Airbus A321XLR has been cut to just 11 jets due for delivery by the end of fiscal 2027, with the carrier converting 36 orders to the A321neo. Varadi adds that the equipment will only be deployed through its UK operation, and not the wider business. Adding to that, "you will see a new balanced way of financing our aircraft going forward," he explains, with the airline having trailed a switch away from sale-and-leasebacks which it sees as having dragged on its long-term financial performance. That will subtract initial inflows of cash from buyers on the sale side, but save on the need for expensive maintenance costs as the aircraft are handed back to lessors, the airline hopes. In terms of its network, Wizz’s shift back towards a focus on Central and Eastern Europe "is now kind of baring fruit," Varadi adds, amid expectations of market share in the region of around 29% through the first half of calendar 2026, up from 25% in the period just passed. The airline is adding significant capacity to the region where it believes it has the best financial performance, brand awareness, and where economic growth is the strongest. Combined, "I think we have affected the major challenges impacting the business," states Varadi, who adds that "you are going to be seeing more benefits materialising in the next financial year." Earlier decisions to reduce capacity growth have already delivered a boost to the business. For the three months to end-September, profit after tax came in at €285 million, surpassing the €262 million ($331 million) consensus from 18 analysts that cover the company, as compiled by Wizz. In early London trading, the stock rose by 13%, although that still leaves it down nearly a fifth year-to-date. Operating profit came in at €412 million, representing an increase on last year of more than a third, with a margin of 21.5%. This is despite ongoing cancellations to Tel Aviv airport and revenues per-ASK dropping by 1%. That was offset by a forex gain and flat operating expenses, with costs per-ASK down by 6% helped by lower fuel prices. Varadi comments that the positive results prove that under more benign conditions than it has faced in recent years, "the business produces very good results". As of 30 September, the carrier had 35 aircraft on the ground because of GTF-related inspections, around 14% of its fleet, down from 41 in the peak summer. It expects groundings to reduce to 25-35 across the year from next March.

German travel group TUI has delivered preliminary annual results to end-September that are comfortably above its guidance. EBIT earnings came in at €1.5 billion ($1.7 billion) at a growth rate of 12.6%, exceeding guidance of 9-11% issued in August which itself was up from a 7-10% range issued in March. The company says the results demonstrate, "the strength of TUI’s business model and successful conversion of investments into profitable growth." Revenue growth of 4.4% to €24 billion is however below August guidance of 5-10%. In September, the company said that it had seen steady sales and robust pricing through the summer, while winter 2025/26 had "continued its positive start". The company has a medium-term ambition of generating underlying EBIT growth of 7-10% and reducing net leverage below 1x. It will provide its full-year results on 10 December.

UK leisure carrier Jet2 will open a new base at London Gatwick airport next year and station five Airbus A321neos there. The expansion will enable new connections to mainland Spain, the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands, Greece, Turkiye, Portugal, Malta, Italy, Croatia, Bulgaria and Cyprus, notes the airline, specifying that it will serve 29 new destinations in total. Its first flight from Gatwick will depart to Tenerife on 26 March, just ahead of the Easter holidays. "This development marks a transformational next step in Jet2's ambitions, further underpinning and accelerating its growth strategy and expanding its presence in the south of England," says Jet2. Its move into Gatwick has been enabled by the release of extra capacity there. It has secured slots for six aircraft. In the fiscal year to end-March 2027, it will add three wet-leased aircraft to its operations, freeing up Airbus A321neo capacity for its new Gatwick base. The wet-lease capacity will then be replaced by new deliveries from Airbus in fiscal 2028. Jet2 foresees that its Gatwick operation can turn profitable in fiscal 2029 and deliver "meaningful profit growth thereafter". It will incur a "meaningful step-up in short-term investment" to firmly establish its position at the airport, it notes, including promotional and resourcing start-up expenses. Jet2 estimates that Gatwick serves a catchment area of 15 million people within a 1h reach, and that 85% of the UK population are within a 90min drive of an existing Jet2 base. "London Gatwick represents a key component of Jet2's longer term growth and value creation plan and we are pleased that this valuable opportunity has arisen earlier than management's original expectations," it adds. Chief executive Steve Heapy hails the move as an "incredibly exciting moment" for Jet2, and a "once-in-a-generation opportunity to accelerate our growth". He adds: "While establishing our holiday operations and service will understandably take time and investment in the short term, we expect to deliver meaningful profit growth in the longer term." Investment firm Goodbody sees the decision as a "very significant step forward for the carrier", saying: "It opens up a huge new market for Jet2, and it resolves the issue of where the additional capacity will be placed over the next few years." EasyJet currently operates the largest share of short-haul leisure connections from Gatwick, Cirium data indicates. In May 2026, for example, EasyJet operates 511 weekly flights to the leisure destination countries of Spain, Greece, Portugal and Turkiye, which, excluding the new capacity by Jet2, accounts for around half of the total number of flights to those countries. IAG joins EasyJet is potentially facing tougher competition as a result of Jet2's move. In combination, IAG carriers British Airways, Iberia and Vueling operate 317 weekly services from Gatwick to the four leisure-focused countries. In September, Jet2 disclosed that it would cut the number of seats on sale this winter and warned that full-year profits will be "towards the lower end" of analysts' forecasts, citing a "difficult" market and a growing trend for later bookings. It said that despite a strong summer, the trend to book tickets closer to departure had recently become "more pronounced". Given the less certain consumer environment, the carrier has reduced the number of seats on sale in winter 2025/26 to 5.6 million from the originally planned 5.8 million, and will "maintain attractive pricing" to stimulate demand. The company's share price has fallen nearly 23% over the past six months, but has edged up in 12 November trading.