József Váradi

The native form of this personal name is Váradi József János. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

József Váradi
Born (1965-09-21) 21 September 1965[1]
Debrecen, Hungary
Alma materBudapest University of Economic Sciences
University of London
Known forCo-founder and CEO of Wizz Air

József Váradi (born in Debrecen 21 September 1965) is a Hungarian businessman, a co-founder of Wizz Air, and its chief executive officer (CEO) since 2003. He is also CEO at Wizz Air Hungary Airlines Ltd.[2]

Early life

Váradi was born in Debrecen, Hungary in 1965.[3] Growing up in difficult circumstances, his parents struggled with daily existence. His father took part in the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, so he had to go to jail and after it maintained his family for occasional work.[4]

Váradi moved to Budapest when 18 and earned a degree in economics from Budapest University of Economic Sciences in 1989.[5] He completed an LLM from the University of London in 2014.[6]

Career

Váradi worked for Procter & Gamble for ten years, rising to sales director for Central and Eastern Europe.[3] Since 1999 he served as CEO of the struggling Hungarian state-owned airline Malév Hungarian Airlines.[7]

In 2001, the government helped Malév's losses with HUF9.2 billion (32.8 million).[8] Váradi left the company in March 2003.[9]

Wizz Air

In 2003, Váradi started Wizz Air Ltd. With the low-cost carrier, he cut Malév's domestic market share by more than a third.[9][10] Wizz Air is headquartered in Budapest, based in Geneva. In 2018, it was the largest airline in Central and Eastern Europe, carrying over 34 million passengers per year. It had a fleet of 105 aircraft.[11][12]

Wizz Air has a separate Ukrainian[13] and entered the Austrian market in 2018.[14] Váradi told Italian daily newspaper La Republica on 23 January 2018, that he was interested in Italy's struggling carrier Alitalia, but only regarding short and medium-haul routes.[15]

Váradi launched a United Kingdom subsidiary of Wizz Air as part of Brexit contingence plans and met with UK Prime Minister Theresa May to discuss aviation concerns regarding the Brexit.[16] In November 2019, Váradi said that BREXIT would not have a significant impact on aviation, with London remaining the largest air travel market in the world.[17]

In the second half of 2019, environmental protection concerns about the flight, embodied in the "flightshame" movement, have been dismissed by Váradi as saying that Wizz Air is the greenest airline. This is based on the per-passenger emission level, adding that it will reduce emissions per capita by an additional 30 percent by 2030. At the same time, he has condemned inefficiency airlines -such as Lufthansa- offering business class and use outdated technologies, which cause far more specific environmental damage than Wizz Air.[18][17]

Awards

Other positions

Váradi is one of the Board of Directors at Wizz Air Holdings Plc. and Wizz Air Hungary Airlines Ltd. Previously he was employed as a Commissioner by PT Mandela Airlines, a member of the supervisory board at Lufthansa Technik Budapest Kft, a Chief Executive Officer at Malév Hungarian Airlines Zrt and a sales director in charge of global customers at Procter & Gamble Ltd.[2]

József Váradi is the 34th richest man in Hungary with a wealth of 33.5 billion forints in 2019,[22] while according to the Influence Barometer he is the 33rd most influential person in Hungary.[23]

Family

Married to Kinga Bóta (1977), world champion and Olympic silver medalist in kayaking; Secretary General of the Budapest Olympic Movement for the Hungarian Sport Foundation (BOM).

References
  1. "Wizz Air Limited". Companies House. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
  2. "József Váradi". THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  3. "How József Váradi Made Wizz Air Into One of Europe's Biggest LCCs". apex. 14 June 2018. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  4. Zrt, HVG Kiadó (2018-11-09). "Váradi József Wizz Air-alapító: Senki nem ülne a repülőgépen, amelyet én vezetek". hvg.hu (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2019-12-11.
  5. "Executive Profile: József Váradi". Bloomberg. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  6. "Váradi scholarships". University of London.
  7. "Seizing the right moment: the rise of Low Cost Carrier Wizz". JLS Consulting. 15 December 2014. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  8. "Time to pump European enlargement resources" (PDF). THE EUROPEAN WEEKLY. 5 May 2002. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  9. "Wizz Air, IPO in Flight Plan, Fights Ryanair in Eastern Europe". Bloomberg. 24 August 2005. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  10. "Startup Wizz Air Hopes For Breakeven After First Year". AVIATION WEEK. 14 May 2004. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  11. "Wizz Air offered to make flights to Uzbekistan". AZERNEWS. 16 July 2018. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  12. "Qantas named the best airline in the world by CAPA Centre of Aviation". NZ Herald. 28 November 2018. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  13. "Wizz Air CEO Jozsef Varadi". intercfax. 1 February 2018. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  14. "Wizz to launch new Tuzla, Ohrid, Niš flights". EX-YU Aviation News. 9 January 2018. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  15. "UPDATE 1-UK Stocks-Factors to watch on Jan 23". REUTERS. 23 January 2018. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  16. "GEE WIZZ: Budget airline sets up UK subsidiary as part of Brexit contingency plans". EuroWeekly. 7 May 2018. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  17. Tivadar, Körtvélyes (2019-11-13). "Váradi szerint a légiközlekedési iparág bűne, hogy business-en utaztat". AIRportal.hu (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2020-03-03.
  18. "Wizz Air CEO Blames Business Seats for Aviation's CO2 Headache". November 13, 2019 – via www.bloomberg.com.
  19. "Wizz Air - Best Low Cost Airlines For 2018 in the Central and Eastern Europe". novinite.com. 22 March 2019. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  20. "Jozsef Varadi Awarded CAPA Aviation Executive Of The Year Award". CAPA TV. 13 December 2018. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  21. "Wizz Air CEO in Entrepreneur of Year Final, Brazilian wins". BUDAPEST BUSINESS JOURNAL. 22 June 2018. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  22. "Itt az új lista! Ők a leggazdagabbak és a legbefolyásosabbak Magyarországon - Napi.hu". 2019-05-10. Archived from the original on 2019-05-10. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
  23. "Befolyás-barométer", Wikipédia (in Hungarian), 2019-10-16, retrieved 2019-12-19
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