Wizz Air has become the latest carrier to be hit by the rising price of fuel, downgrading its forecast for full-year profits.

The European carrier also pointed to a summer marred by air traffic control strikes and congested airports for the cut.

Wizz, which mainly serves passengers in central and eastern Europe, guided that net profit for the 12 months to March 31st next year would now come in between €270-300 million.

The previous forecast has been €310-340 million.

The airline said today the rising price of oil plus the cost of disruption over the summer would result in an €80 million hit.

Jet fuel is nearly a quarter more expensive that it was 12 months ago.

Wizz also said that it had decided to grow capacity at a slower rate over the current six-month period, adding 14 per cent more capacity compared with an earlier plan to add 18 per cent.

The decision was designed to help boost ticket prices.

For its first-half period to September 30th, Wizz posted profit of €292.2 million, an increase of 1.2 per cent.

Wizz Air is the largest low-cost airline in central and eastern Europe and operates a fleet of 105 Airbus A320 and Airbus A321 aircraft.

The carrier offers more than 600 routes from 25 bases, connecting 142 destinations across 44 countries.