Business 3 min read By Bethany Hadley
Wizz Air chief József Váradi says he would rather keep building than retire
The founder and chief executive of Wizz Air, whose father was jailed after Hungary's 1956 revolution, earned £3.3 million last year and has no plans to step back from the airline he launched in 2003.
József Váradi, founder and chief executive of Wizz Air, says he would rather keep building the airline than retire, a stance that comes as the budget carrier expands into one of Europe's largest aviation markets. Váradi, who took home a £3.3 million ($4.4 million) salary last year, told Fortune he would "rather keep building than sit on a beach".
Váradi grew up in Soviet-controlled Hungary, where his father had been jailed for his role in the 1956 revolution and was then frozen out of steady work for years. His mother took factory shifts to keep the family afloat. Váradi said his father's experience gave him a "healthy skepticism about taking things for granted", adding: "It showed me how quickly circumstances can change and how important it is to remain adaptable."
He did not set out to run an airline. Váradi won a scholarship to one of Hungary's leading universities, moved to Budapest at 18 and graduated as an economist from Corvinus University in 1989. He then worked briefly at a chemical plant and a paint factory before joining Procter & Gamble, where he spent a decade rising through commercial roles and became sales director for global customers across Europe.
In 2001 he joined Malév Hungarian Airlines as a manager. Five months later the airline's board declined to extend its chief executive's contract and offered Váradi the top job instead. The role ended in 2003 when a change in government forced him out. "Instead of focusing on what was lost, I focused on what could be created," he said. "At the time it was disappointing, but looking back, it was also the catalyst for building Wizz Air."
Within months he founded Wizz Air, betting that Hungary's accession to the EU, and the freedom of movement that came with it, would drive strong demand for cheap flights. The airline is now the most popular short-haul carrier in Central and Eastern Europe, operating 265 aircraft to nearly 200 airports in 50 countries and carrying more than 550 million passengers to date. This year it expanded into Spain.
Váradi, 60, spends more than 800 hours a year in the air, which he says amounts to around 33 days on a plane, more than the number of days he takes off work in a year. He has travelled to nearly every continent in the past year for business and pleasure. He still rises most mornings for a 30-minute treadmill run before 9 a.m., lives 15 minutes from the office and usually eats lunch in the company canteen, with no retirement plans in sight.
3
