By Marton Dunai
BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Central and Eastern European budget airline Wizz Air (L:WIZZ) is well placed for organic growth and will steer clear of mergers and acquisitions, its chief executive said on Tuesday.
The company was launched 11 years ago by a small group of Hungarian airline executives and listed on the London Stock Exchange in February after a long-awaited first attempt last year failed because of market turbulence.
"The IPO was a very important step for the company," CEO Jozsef Varadi told Reuters in an interview aboard a Wizz flight. "That is a great asset going forward because you have access to capital when you need it."
Varadi said he expected consolidation in the European airline market, but added his company was not interested in M&A, whether as a buyer or as a target.
"I think we are very well-positioned to be a long-term player in the European aviation industry," he said. "We are profitable, we keep growing, we have planted the seeds in a large number of markets in Europe. We can take it from there."
"This business is based on fundamentals of efficiency, simplicity," he added. "The moment you start acquiring or merging you start creating complexity and you move away from the core of the business model ... It doesn't come intuitively for us."
"As long as we can grow the business organically we will always focus on that growth. We will always prefer that kind of development."
Asked whether the airline was likely to move forward the way it did when Hungarian flag carrier Malev collapsed in 2012 and Wizz was one of several companies that moved aggressively to occupy the vacant market share, Varadi said that was likely.
"I think pretty much, yes, I think it is more logical. Weaker airlines either integrate into a larger business or go out of business, but more efficient capacity, more efficient players will replace them."