Faced with sluggish demand for air travel, which has been undermined by the coronavirus pandemic, the carrier Wizz Air is trying to reinvent itself. It has just signed with CarTrawlerCarTrawler, a B2B provider of car rental and mobility solutions, has launched a platform that integrates flights and transfers for both departures and arrivals. CarTrawler already works with Emirates, KLM and American Express.
Wizz Air becomes the first low-cost airline in the world to have its our own taxi and private transfer booking platform in its iPhone and Android applications. Wizz Ride is branded in the airline's colours and is offered as soon as a flight is booked. It is like a "one-stop shop" integrating all the elements linked to mobility.
According to Aileen McCormack, Commercial Director of CarTrawler, "Wizz Air will transform the booking experience for its customers and revolutionise the way ancillary products are used by airlines".
For George Michalopoulos, Commercial Director of Wizz Air, the new service is a stress-free way to travel. It allows passengers to obtain a complete mobility service from a single application. "Our customers save time and money", he stresses.
Ancillary services are at the heart of the Wizz Air strategy
In fact, Wizz Air is increasingly working on a range of ancillary services. If these airfares remain extremely low, the airline earns its revenue from everything else. From reservations to baggage check-in, from seating next to each other to priority boarding.
For example, if a flight from Orly to Budapest on 12 January is sold at €12.99 - the lowest fare - it rises to €55.74 on the next fare, "Wizz Go". This includes baggage, seat selection and priority boarding. But that's without taking into account any other options...
This strategy is proving financially successful for the company. According to the results communicated by Wizz Air for the first half of the 2020/21 financial year, ancillary services now account for 57.2% of the airline's total revenue. This equates to an expenditure of €41.3 per passenger.
For the first half of its fiscal year (from 1/04/2020 to 31/10/2020), Wizz Air carried 6.5 million passengersa decrease of 71% compared with last year.
