József János Váradi (born 21 September 1965) is a Hungarian businessman, who co-founded
Wizz Air and has been its chief executive officer (CEO) since 2003.
Early life
Váradi was born in
Debrecen
Debrecen ( ; ; ; ) is Hungary's cities of Hungary, second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain Regions of Hungary, region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the large ...
, Hungary in 1965. 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.
Váradi moved to
Budapest
Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
when 18 and earned a degree in economics from
Budapest University of Economic Sciences in 1989.
He completed an
LLM from the
University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...
in 2014. Váradi also holds an international directorship degree from
INSEAD
INSEAD ( ; French: ''Institut européen d'administration des affaires'') is a non-profit business school with locations in Europe (Fontainebleau, France), Asia (Singapore), the Middle East (Abu Dhabi, UAE) and North America (San Francisco, USA ...
.
Career
From 2001 to 2003 he was CEO of the struggling Hungarian state-owned airline
Malév Hungarian Airlines.
Váradi was removed from office by the
Medgyessy government in 2003, and later that year founded
Wizz Air, the largest
low-cost airline in Central and Eastern Europe, with five businessmen. Since the founding of Wizz Air, as its chief executive officer (CEO), Váradi's life has been completely intertwined with that of the airline.
Wizz Air is headquartered in Budapest. In 2018, it was the largest airline in
Central and Eastern Europe
Central and Eastern Europe is a geopolitical term encompassing the countries in Baltic region, Northeast Europe (primarily the Baltic states, Baltics), Central Europe (primarily the Visegrád Group), Eastern Europe, and Southeast Europe (primaril ...
, carrying over 34 million passengers per year. It had a fleet of 105 aircraft.
Váradi told Italian daily newspaper ''
La Repubblica
(; English: "the Republic") is an Italian daily general-interest newspaper with an average circulation of 151,309 copies in May 2023. It was founded in 1976 in Rome by Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso (now known as GEDI Gruppo Editoriale) and l ...
'' in January 2018 that he was interested in Italy's struggling carrier
Alitalia, but only regarding short and medium-haul routes.
After meeting with
UK Prime Minister Theresa May to discuss aviation concerns regarding the Brexit, 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.
In the second half of 2019, environmental protection concerns about flying, embodied in the "
flight shame" 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 inefficient airlines -such as Lufthansa- offering business class and using outdated technologies, which cause far more specific environmental damage than Wizz Air.
In July 2021, Wizz Air made a bonus offer of £100 million (around 42 billion forints) to Váradi, which would be paid if the company's share value could be increased from the current level of around £45 to £120 within five years.
The bonus is also conditional on achieving a compound annual growth rate of 20%. If the growth rate is only between 10 and 20 per cent, the CEO could receive a bonus of between £20 million and £100 million.
Other positions
Váradi was one of the
board of directors
A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency.
The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...
at Wizz Air Holdings Plc. and Wizz Air Hungary Airlines Ltd in 2019. Previously he was employed as a commissioner by
PT Mandala Airlines, a member of the
supervisory board at
Lufthansa
Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), trading as the Lufthansa Group, is a German aviation group. Its major and founding subsidiary airline Lufthansa German Airlines, branded as Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. It ranks List of largest airlin ...
Technik Budapest
Kft, a chief executive officer at Malév Hungarian Airlines
Zrt and a sales director in charge of global customers at
Procter & Gamble
The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/con ...
Ltd.
Váradi was the 55th richest man in Hungary, with an estimated wealth of 42 billion HUF in 2023.
Váradi is the owner of Juliet Victor Winery in Hungary, which he founded in 2015. His son, Mark Varadi is the managing director since February 2023.
Personal life
Váradi is married to
Kinga Bóta.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Varadi, Jozsef
1965 births
Living people
Corvinus University of Budapest alumni
Alumni of University of London Worldwide
Alumni of the University of London
Chief executives in the airline industry
Hungarian chief executives
Hungarian economists
People from Debrecen
Airline articles by quality