An airline that bills itself as Europe’s greenest ultra-low-cost airline launched an all-you-can-fly subscription service last month. Wizz Air’s latest promotion invited travellers to pay €500 ($552) for 12 months of “unlimited flights to any destination on its network”.
According to the airline, all 10,000 passes sold out within 24 hours. “We have been overwhelmed by the extremely positive response for our new ‘All You Can Fly’ membership and are excited to start flying our new members,” a representative from Wizz Air Abu Dhabi, the company's Middle East subsidiary, told The National. “The membership allows frequent flyers to save money, visit friends and family more regularly and spontaneously visit off-the-beaten-track destinations.”
Travellers who purchased passes can now fly to destinations such as Maldives, Iceland and Italy, with no routes excluded from the membership. The airline has not said if it will sell more subscriptions in the future.
“The subscription is perfect for frequent, spontaneous flyers seeking deals, with any optional extras or add-ons available at the regular price,” the representative said. “As our network continues expanding, we expect greater interest in our unique and exciting products."
Travellers in the UAE can still purchase Wizz Air’s MultiPass, a 12-month subscription plan that allows subscribers to travel each month on eligible Wizz Air flights by paying a monthly fixed fee.
A golden ticket to unlimited flights
Wizz Air's all-you-can-fly passes sold out in less than a day, but is the membership a golden ticket to unlimited, year-round flights? While no specific destinations are excluded from the promotion, the airline doesn’t guarantee seats on any of its routes. “There is no specific percentage of seats reserved for non-subscribers/subscribers, this is a subject of availability,” the representative explains.
On every flight, the airline will determine if enough seats are available for All You Can Fly members. This could mean that during peak times such as public holidays, summer and Christmas, travellers who have paid for an annual subscription may need to spend more to guarantee a seat.
Under the membership, flights can only be booked three days before travel – so it’s not ideal for travellers who want to plan. “Wizz Air will determine ahead of the 72-hour period if enough seats are available to be booked via All You Can Fly memberships,” said the representative.
The membership claims to “offer unlimited ticket purchases”, which does ring true. However, travellers should not expect a free ride. Every flight comes with a flat booking fee of €9.99. And since return flights are only bookable if flights are within 72 hours of the initial booking date, most reservations are set to come with two booking fees as trips longer than three days will need to be reserved via two one-way flights. However, this doesn't apply to the first booking under the membership, which is complimentary.
These niggles are minor and unlikely to impact frequent flyers and those who are flexible about where they travel. However, the promotion has not landed well with environmental groups.
"Frequent flyer programmes are fuelling aviation’s unsustainable growth, giving some flyers a false sense of reality that we don’t live in a climate crisis. Unlike what some may think, flying is not an all-you-can-eat buffet," says Jo Dardenne, aviation director at Transport & Environment, Europe’s leading advocates for clean transport and energy.
Binge-flying or bargain airfares?
And while Wizz Air isn't the first airline to introduce a flight subscription service – US budget airline Frontier has a similar model – given that we’re in the midst of a climate emergency and that aviation is already struggling to meet its sustainability targets, the airline's campaign could be perceived as irresponsible. But that’s not so, says Wizz.
“The new product not only helps travellers discover Wizz Air’s extensive network but, in fact, contributes to maximising the load factor during the last 72 hours before the flight," the representative said. "High load factor is a crucial efficiency driver and leads to a reduction in emission intensity."
The airline, which operates one of the youngest fleets in the industry, is keen to highlight its efforts towards more sustainable flights. “Wizz Air is proud to have the lowest carbon emissions intensity among our airline competitors, making it the most sustainable flying option,” says the representative, highlighting Wizz Air's target of reducing CO2 emissions per passenger/km by 25 per cent by 2030 as well as the company's continuing investments in sustainable aircraft.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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