Thank you for listening to the Flying high club podcast in association with the World Aviation Festival 2024 in Amsterdam. We've been delighted to be able to bring you this and it wouldn't have been possible without our sponsors Flyway. Flyware are experts in aviation and travel space providing tech outsourcing services focused on increasing revenue and making your operations more efficient. Without their support we wouldn't be able to bring you what we are bringing you today and more importantly what we need you to do is if you want to find out more about Flyware, please check the caption below for more details. Thank you for subscribing and keep following us, keep flying high. Hi everyone, welcome to the Flying high club and we're live at World Aviation Festival 2024. We're excited to launch our first podcast today and we're here with an amazing, amazing guest and I'm looking forward to as quick as we can delve into a little bit more about our CEO. We have Joseph Varadi with us who is the CEO of Wizz Air. Now a lot of people have heard about Wizz Air, we want to talk a bit more about Wizz Air and also about Joseph and what he's been up to and more importantly what he's thinking about as a CEO today. So welcome Joseph, how are you?
No, thank you, thank you for inviting me. I appreciate it.
No, it's a pleasure to have you. So look, we're going to kick off straight away. We're here at World Aviation Festival, why are festivals like this so important?
Yeah, look, I'm not a party guy coming to festivals, but this is kind of special, I would say, because I probably first came 10, 15 years ago here and I felt that the event made an impact on me, made me settle on a few things, and I'm kind of returning the favors. So when they invited me to come, I said okay fine, I'm coming, but I'm not the kind of guy who you will find at each of the festivals. There are CEOs like that, I'm not one of those.
Fair enough, fair enough. But like you said, it's a hive of activity. There's a lot of people here talking about products, the next innovations or matters that are important to our industry. So you know, I know you haven't had a long time cuz you've been up on stage and already being counted by people like us. What are you excited about when it comes to the technology that's out there and products that you're seeing currently as a CEO of Wizz Air?
I think any kind of innovation is important. I mean, the world is changing in a way, the consumer is changing, the consumer is demanding more, and I think we have to do a better job as an industry to serve our customers, our consumers. And anything that you can innovate, anything that you can digitalize, anything that you can systematically approach as opposed to going manual or labor-based, I think those are all good news. And I want to embrace those innovations, those processes. And I just want to make sure that I know what is happening and how to stay relevant for the future. Makes sense.
Okay, so if we move on to Wizz Air now, you guys are making serious waves in the industry, which is great to see. We see the name popping up everywhere from Europe, from the Middle East. What is Wizz Air's strategy right now? What is it that sets you apart from the competitive?
I would say that we are differentiating ourselves probably in two or three ways. I mean, certainly we have a different network footprint versus our competitors. So we have gone a kind of pan-Continental. So we are not only a European business, but we are kind of extending our arms and our wings towards the east. I'm very upbeat about the views and the future of the Middle East, the Gulf. I think economic developments there are transformational. Those economies are getting decarbonized and significant amount of wealth is getting reinvested into other industries. And we want to be part of that excitement and we want to take a fair share from that development and we want to contribute to that development. Having said that, we continue to remain focused on Central Europe. Central Europe we think is bread and butter. Those economies continue to converge, GDPs continue to grow, and as a result, airline growth opportunities will prevail and will be disproportionately better than, let's say, Western Europe. But at the same time, we are also excited about the West and we have made selective investment decisions coming to London Gatwick, entering Italy, and entering Greece. So we are just a lot more diversified business than probably any of our competitors. The second element I would say that sets us apart is our fleet approach. We opted for flying the Airbus A321 aircraft. I believe the Airbus A321 is the best aircraft currently available on the planet for short haul flying. And we have densified this aircraft to an extent possible to make sure that we produce the best economic efficiency and best environmental efficiency out of the operation of that aircraft. I think that uniquely differentiates us from our competitors. And thirdly, I would say that we have an organization which is very international, very multicultural. And in a changing world, when you are challenged to bridge cultural differences, I think this is the kind of organization you need, with its own diversity, to be successful and to remain adaptive in the future.
Yeah, sure, so absolutely being as diverse as your customers, making sure your company reflects that as well. Fantastic. So you talked about fleets. Obviously the talk of the town is how difficult it is to get hold of these aircraft. We all want these aircraft. What's your view in terms of how that may slow down these ambitious growth plans in terms of fleet delivery?
Well, you know, I think we are in a very unique situation by having 330 aircraft on order, firmed up to be delivered in the next six or seven years. I see how quickly that order stream will get actually delivered, but in any event, I think we will be in a lot better competitive position than the industry. Someone early in my career told me that with a manufacturer you can always have the best positions should you have an aircraft order on hand, because you are inside the garden while others are still just trying to get into the garden. And especially it is very important in today's environment when the supply chain is wobbling. I mean, clearly it is not as good as it used to be. Delays are expected. You know, we have issues with quality of materials, etc. So if you have a position on hand, you are already differentiating yourselves from your competitors. And this is what we have.
Okay, cool. And then in terms of you talked about the exciting plans that are coming out. I would love for you to share with our viewers anything exciting that you've got on the plan that you might be able to share, as customers or as perspective people looking at working at a place like Wizz Air. Things exciting plans that are coming up at Wizz Air currently.
I would say a few things. I mean, one is that for the younger generations, we are an incredibly welcoming organization. We are very agile, a very young, very international organization. Average age of the company is probably 28. So we much welcome all the new generation people coming into the job market. Importantly, we also try to differentiate ourselves by not just being transactional to hire someone for a job, but we want to hire people for careers. We are a fast growing business, one of the fastest growing airlines in the world, that creates a lot of career opportunities in the future. So you can create your own wellbeing through building your career at this. And we are investing a lot into office buildings, into infrastructure like pilot training, cabin crew training, etc. So I think we are a very welcoming environment when it comes to engaging with people and creating new opportunities for people to build their careers. From a customer standpoint, we have a very exciting, groundbreaking initiative out there called 'You Can Fly' or 'You Can Fly'. It's basically an annual pass that you buy and you can book against that pass on a nominal transactional value like €10 or something, unlimited in the last three days prior to travel. So if you are adventurous, if you have some flexibility, you are like a digital nomad, let's say, and you know you can be wherever you want to be, that would be an incredibly exciting opportunity. So we launched that pass a couple of months ago, and within 24 hours we were sold out on that. So we continue to bring up something that excites the market, excites the consumers.
Absolutely, and I think like you said, whether it's the digital nomads or that flexibility, the ability to be able to have a pass, know that you can go in and then find the flights that you want to fly to and destinations you want to explore is a great initiative. So we wish you the very best with that. You talked about people, which is great in terms of careers. We're always trying to inspire the next generation at the Flying high club. So I want to talk to you about your career very quickly. You know, you've had a phenomenal career coming through. You know, even with Hungarian Airlines, Procter & Gamble, you were nominated as EY's Brave Innovator of the Year previously as well. So in terms of your career, what have been your proudest moments so far?
I mean, probably if I had to choose one thing, I'm probably most rewarded by something I received at Procter & Gamble back in the really early stage of my career. So I was fairly fresh from university, I joined this monster big blue chip consumer giant called Procter & Gamble. I think at that time the company had like 130,000 employees. And in my third year in the company, they decided to uniquely recognize 50 people in the company on a global scale, and I was one of them. Amazing. And that made me feel very proud. And I felt something where you know, this is now a different dimension because you are not just measured in your home turf, but you were measured against a global environment, against global performance standards. So I think that was really good, and I would say that really was a moment of proving my ambitions and careers and inspirations.
Fantastic, that leads me on to my second question that leads with that. Because you clearly know what you want, which is really important and I think that's very hard to establish in your career. But what sets you apart? Because not everyone becomes a CEO of a bustling low-cost carrier. Not everyone will be one of those 50 recognized across the multi-blue chip company. What do you feel like? I know you seem like a humble guy, not going to try to say too much about yourself, but I'm really keen to understand what do you feel like that sets you apart in your career?
Well, look, I mean it's probably complicated because if it was easy, there would be zillions of such people. So it's probably a complicated matter. But I would say that the way I think about this is that obviously you have to be somewhat smart, so you have to kind of understand things how they come together and how contexts may drive certain issues or opportunities. I think you have to learn to lose. It's not just winning. I mean, you're going to be KO'd a few times. I had a few moments in my career when I was really on the ground, knocked out. And you have to have the capacity and the capabilities and the mental strength to stand up from that and go again. And I think many people kind of lose the spirit at that point. So you fail and you think it's over. I think when I fail, I think now this is a new chapter starting. And you have to be long-term focused. I mean, it's not just the day today, but you have to see through things on a long-term basis. If you are able to combine those things, you should do actually pretty well.
