WIZZ Air has recorded a dramatic rise in passenger numbers amid the recovery from the pandemic but posted hefty annual losses as flight disruptions and increased fuel costs weighed on the business.

The Hungary-based budget airline said it carried a record 50.1 million passengers in the year to March 31, up from 27.1m in the preceding year as it capitalised on strong demand for flights after covid restrictions on travel were ended.

Wizz operates direct flights from Edinburgh and Aberdeen to countries in Eastern Europe. It plans to offer flights from Edinburgh to Tirana in Albania from December.

The airline’s core market is central and eastern Europe. It has been expanding in Western Europe and in the Middle East, in which it sees significant growth opportunities.

READ MORE: Italian firm creates 90 jobs in Lanarkshire as Scotland lures inward investors

The increase in passenger numbers helped the company to grow revenues to €3.8 billion (£3.2bn) from €1.7bn.

Based on current trends the company expects to make further progress in the current year.

Demand remains strong across Wizz Air’s network, despite concerns about the impact of inflation on consumer spending around the world.

“Trading performance has been strong in the first fiscal quarter with attractive pricing and load factors above 90 per cent,” said chief executive József Váradi.

He reckons Wizz Air has reaped rewards for increasing capacity during the pandemic as many airlines retrenched.

However, Wizz Air saw operating losses increase slightly during the latest year, to €467 million, from €465m.

Mr Varadi said the effects of fuel price increases and structural capacity issues at airports remained features throughout the year.

READ MORE: North Sea oil field ban could increase emissions and cost jobs

Fuel prices increased amid the recovery from the pandemic and reached multi-year highs after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year. This compounded the challenges posed for Wizz Air by the conflict.

The company noted: “We faced unimaginable challenges in the Summer of F23, as we scrambled to redeploy our staff and capacity from Ukraine elsewhere … Air traffic controllers, affected by pandemic -related decisions, were in short supply, further complicating the limited airspace over our core central and eastern Europe market. We faced dramatically high jet fuel costs.”

A range of airports cancelled flights after finding they did not have the capacity to cope with the recovery in demand that followed the end of the pandemic.

Wizz Air is confident the scale economies it enjoys following its expansion will help it return to profit.

It predicted: “This availability will allow us to lay a foundation to return to profit next year, barring any unforeseen events such as impacts from the war in Ukraine, the pandemic or otherwise.”

READ MORE: Plan to restart production from vintage oil field off Aberdeen wins boost

 AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said the risk that Wizz Air had taken in expanding during the pandemic had paid off in terms of passenger numbers.

He cautioned: “It needs to have more bums on seats per flight, find additional ways to generate revenue beyond the cost of a ticket, and to keep a lid on costs.”

Mr Mould said Wizz Air might use acquisitions to accelerate growth and noted that easyJet has been seen as a logical target. easyJet grew passenger numbers by 41%, to 33.1m, in the six months to March 31, from 23.4m last time.

easyJet said recently that it would operate its largest ever flying programme from Scotland this summer. It launched new routes from Edinburgh to Catania in Sicily and Antalya in Turkey this month.

Ryanair grew passenger numbers by 39% in the 12 months to May 31, to 171.9m, from 123.8m.

It plans to run flights between Edinburgh and Tirana from this winter.