Budget airlines are expected to recover from the pandemic faster than their full service counterparts, the Wizz Air CEO told Asharq. The boss of the Abu Dhabi-based carrier also expects prices to fall as competition forces carriers to cut fares. “I expect the prices of airline tickets to decrease, as all carriers will be eager to return to the market, and the whole sector will want to motivate travelers to return to travel,” Varadi said. Regional airlines have axed thousands of jobs and pulled routes in response to a year of flying restrictions triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Now the industry is driving efforts to encourage governments to open the battered sector. Wizz Air cut staff numbers by almost a fifth last year and also reduced salaries while returning older leased aircraft to drive down costs. Passenger numbers at Wizz Air plunged 87 percent in February compared to a year earlier.