Wizz Air CEO gets huge bonus despite tumbling shares and profit
The chief executive of Wizz Air saw his pay take off despite the airline’s profit tumbling during its latest financial year.
Jozsef Varadi took home a pay packet of €3.8m (£3.2m) for the Hungarian low-cost airline’s year to 31 March, 2025, according to its annual report.
The CEO’s remuneration was boosted from the €1.3m he received for the prior year after a controversial one-off restricted shares award worth €2.3m was granted in October.
Last year, Wizz Air suffered a huge shareholder revolt against its plans to hand its chief executive the bumper pay deal.
Almost 35 per cent of votes were cast against the move at its AGM in 2024 which gave Váradi a restricted shares award representing 300 per cent of his then £710,534 salary.
At the time, the listed company argued that Váradi’s compensation doesn’t reflect a unique “parade of black swan” events faced by Wizz Air.
Wizz Air raises CEO’s salary further
Wizz Air also set out plans for a further share-based reward which would amount to 500 per cent of his salary in 2026.
Váradi had been in line for a £100m bonus for the year to 31 March, 2024, but Wizz Air was hit by a variety of challenging including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Isreal-Hamas war.
The restricted shares award was granted to the CEO on 1 October, 2024.
Wizz Air said its intention was to ensure it “can maintain its focus on performance and the high profitable growth potential envisioned for the future, whilst ensuring that the chief executive’s remuneration is aligned with the company’s ‘one for all’ philosophy.”
In its latest financial year, the airline increased the base salary of its CEO by nine per cent but added that he would not be given a further raise this year.
In June, City AM reported that Wizz Air suffered a hefty drop in annual profit as it grapples with long-running supply chain issues and conflict in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Annual operating profit fell 51.7 per cent year-on-year to €167.5m (£141m), below analyst expectations, even as passenger traffic hit a record 63.4m.
Revenue rose 3.8 per cent to €5.3bn but the results saw its share price tank from 1,674p to 1,136p. Shares in Wizz Air are currently changing hands for 1,077p each.