Wizz Air reported a 24% increase in passengers and revenue and near 17% increase in operating profit for the three months to December.
The budget carrier, which focuses on routes to and from Central and Eastern Europe, recorded a 26% increase in ticket revenue and a profit of €14 million in the quarter on revenue of €423 million.
The airline’s average load factor was up 1.4 percentage points to 89.4% year on year, reflecting a tightening of capacity on European short haul routes following the failure of Air Berlin and reduction in growth by Ryanair.
Wizz chief executive Jozsef Varadi hailed “a successful third quarter”, with the carrier on course to carry almost 30 million passengers in the 12 months to March, up 25% on the previous year.
The carrier announced it would base an eighth aircraft at its London Luton base, where it has taken over slots formerly used by Monarch Airlines which into administration last October.
Varadi said: “We increased our market share in Luton to over 37% through the acquisition of slots.
“We also signed our largest-ever aircraft order with Airbus for an additional 146 Airbus A320 NEO aircraft. We now have 256 A320 NEOs on order.
“These aircraft will underpin our growth plans for the next decade.”
The airlines currently has a fleet of 88 A320 and A321 aircraft.
Wizz has applied for a UK air operating certificate (AOC) to enable it to continue flying across Europe post-Brexit.