Hungarian airline, Wizz Air has registered a net profit of €182 million for the first six months of the year dated from March to September.

It represents an increase of €24 million or 15.2% on the same period last year.

Revenue for the period was up 15% to €836 million, with passenger numbers increasing an impressive 20% to 10.7 million people.

The load factor over the six months was 90.7%, up 1.6% on the same period last year.

CEO József Váradi announced the figures in Geneva, where he stated that the airline is the market leader in the Central and Eastern Europe region. Wizz Air claims 39% of the market share with Irish airline, Ryanair coming in second with 30%.

The future looks positive for the airline who operate in a market with plenty of room for growth. The presence of weak so called ‘legacy carriers’ and the relatively small proportion of travellers in the region compared to western Europe mean opportunities are in abundance.  In addition, GDP figures for CEE countries are predicted to grow at twice the rate of Western Europe in the long term.

Wizz Air profits look set to rise well into the future. The airline has 63 aircraft in its fleet with a further 38 on order.