The Hungarian low-cost airline, Wizz Air, has become the fifth-largest European airline. Its CEO, József Váradi, mentioned in an interview with CNN’s Richard Quest that it would expand its fleet. In 2024, it will be able to operate 8-hour-long flights. A Bangladesh newspaper revealed which South Asian country Wizz Air might conquer next.
We wrote before that Hungary’s low-cost carrier, Wizz Air, performs better in the East than in the West. Recently, we have heard about new flights mostly to Eastern destinations, and the airline created its third biggest base in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. Gossip has it that they would like to expand towards the East to even Uzbekistan and India. Now, a Bangladesh newspaper revealed the next South Asian country Wizz Air would like to conquer: Bangladesh.
Bangladesh is the world’s eighth most populous country, located “between the two arms” of India. Dhaka Tribune, a local newspaper printed in the capital, said Wizz Air might receive all permissions to operate flights to Dhaka in two weeks. G7.hu wrote that the Hungarian low-cost airline, expands swiftly in the Middle East. It operates flights from Budapest to Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, from their centre in Abu Dhabi, they do so to the Maldives, Oman or Uzbekistan.
Wizz Air CEO told CNN’s Richard Quest last week that their new planes will begin arriving in 2024. As a result, they will be able to operate 8-hour-long flights instead of the current maximum 6-hour-longs. If that happens, they would enter the Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi markets. Interestingly, 2 billion people live in the South Asian region, but the passenger traffic between India and Europe is only 2.3 million every year. That number is 1/5th of the overall traffic of Budapest’s Liszt Ferenc International Airport. And Budapest is not one of the largest European airports.
Mr Váradi said in the interview that they would not like to expand towards the Transatlantic region. G7.hu wrote that Wizz’s competitors do so, but the Hungarian airline would go to the Middle East and Central and South Asia instead. And there is potential in such flights because of the large number of guest workers.
Wizz Air’s Abu Dhabi base has become crucial in that regard, since many South Asians work in the Middle East. Therefore, they would like to increase the base’s crew twofold by 2024. Meanwhile, direct flights between Europe and South Asia could help guest workers aiming for Europe and the broadening of the region’s middle-class seeking travel experience.
Considering capacity, Wizz Air is Europe’s fifth largest airline, even preceding British Airways and Air France. And it is expanding the quickest among its competitors in the European top 10.
However, Wizz Air still struggles with delays. In the United Kingdom, Wizz was the worst airline, considering delays at UK airports. However, Mr Váradi said they learned from their mistakes.
“Quest means business” – a phenomenon in the business world and Richard Quest is now in Budapest, Hungary. Of course, he did several interviews, including an exciting piece with József Váradi, the CEO of the Hungarian low-cost airline, Wizz Air.
Quest asked first about Wizz Air’s brand new service, the multipass allowing passengers to travel with Wizz multiple times just like it happens when you buy a metro season ticket. Mr József Váradi said that they were not short of passengers. Instead, they respect the people who choose them and would like to reward their loyalty with the multipass opportunity.
About questions concerning the difficulties of the operation environment, Váradi acknowledged that strikes do not do good for the business. But he added that they “learnt their lessons”. They invested hundreds of millions of dollars to improve resilience, “build more buffers, more spares, more slacks.” There may be delays even this summer, but they will not have to cancel flights.
Quest asked which direction Wizz Air plans to expand. India or the USA? Váradi said they do not want to go to the States and said nothing about moving to India. But he highlighted that currently, their maximum flight time is six hours. In 2024, that will increase to 8 hours. Mr Váradi added that one should look on the map between London and Abu Dhabi, Wizz Air’s two main bases and will find that there are still a lot of dots to connect in that area.
Concerning aircraft, he said they have 180 now, and that fleet will grow above 500 soon because they ordered 360 Airbus planes. He said Wizz Air was profitable and growing, and their capacity was the most economical and sustainable.
Okosutas.hu, a Hungarian travel news outlet, wrote an unbelievable story about a Wizz Air plane that took off in Budapest and carried its passengers to Berlin. During the hard landing in the German capital, the cockpit’s door surprisingly opened, but that was not the only weird moment during the travel.
Okosutas.hu begins its article with how much the Hungarian low-cost airline, Wizz Air, was late last year. They wrote that, compared to other airlines, Wizz Air had a hard time dealing with such situations on many occasions. Last summer saw extreme delays and flight cancellations, but the airline promised to organise this summer’s flights better and with higher time margins. As a result, theoretically, it will not happen that, due to the delays, a flight would not take off since the destination airport closed or the crew’s working time ended. That happened multiple times last year: the last round of a Wizz plane was omitted due to the daily lags.
Okosutas.hu wrote about a plane that could not take off from Budapest Airport because the pilot did not arrive in time. The plane arrived from Athens with a one-hour delay, and the company changed its crew for the next flight to Berlin. Before, Wizz Air used the same crew for that four sectors. The modification is probably the consequence of the aforementioned changes aiming to improve service quality and minimise delays.
Wizz Air plane had no captain, cockpit door opened
However, there was no captain, so they needed to wait. The news outlet laments that if Wizz Air needs to carry out such short notice modification regarding the personnel during the preseason, we should expect worse situations in the high season. But the captain missing was not the only odd part of that travel from Budapest to Berlin. During the hard landing in the German capital, the cockpit door opened. Theoretically, that needs a code to open, so such events should not happen because of a touchdown. However, the crew reacted professionally. Two of them jumped to their feet and closed the door instantly.
The flight could not make up for the delay it collected in Athens because of the missing captain later that day. Even the evening flight to Barcelona arrived with a delay. Okosutas.hu says Wizz Air still has problems with keeping turnaround times. Therefore, passengers should calculate with such delays in the case of Wizz Air flights.
It is not clear when civil aviation over Ukrainian airspace will be restored, regardless of the date of the end of the war with Russia. Meanwhile, three planes of Hungarian low-budget airline Wizz Air are stuck in Ukraine.
Three planes of Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air are still stuck in Ukraine, Világgazdaság reports. It is unclear, when or how could they leave Kyiv. It is possible, that they will be stranded in Ukraine even after the end of the war.
The problem of closed Ukrainian airspace
The European Aviation Safety Agency has forecast that the current restrictions on Ukrainian, Russian, Belarusian and Moldovan airspace are unlikely to be lifted in the period under review. With the long periodicity of reviews, it could mean that the Ukrainian airspace will be closed until 2029.
Even if the war ends in the coming months/years, Eurocontrol is calculating that the airspace over Ukraine closed on 24 February last year would not be immediately free, as it would probably take a long time to restore the infrastructure that had been destroyed or damaged. It is also uncertain for how long the bans will remain in place for political reasons, for example, the expulsion of Russian aircraft from the European Union.
The Ukrainian State Aviation Administration denied Eurocontrol’s assertions to Euractiv. They claimed that the organisation does not issue or use military forecasts. The assertions for the years 2023-2029, according to the Ukrainians, are based on estimates that do not take into consideration how long geopolitical tensions may remain and what other economic developments may occur that could either progress or hamper the recovery of air transport.
When contacted by Világgazdaság, Wizz Air said it had been forced to cancel 140 flights a week to and from Ukraine due to the war.
“Wizz Air is continuously monitoring the events and remains committed to Ukrainian passengers, so as soon as the airspace is safe again, the airline is ready to return to the country,” a spokesperson told vg.hu.
But until then, Wizz Air faces another challenge. Three of the airline’s planes are actually stuck in Kyiv. Wizz Air must accept that it is up to the course of the conflict and the Ukrainian authorities to decide when they can be flown to Hungary. The Airbus A320s are reportedly intact but would obviously need a thorough overhaul and maintenance before they could be transferred.
Wizz Air said in a Facebook post that earlier this year they launched a competition to design a new sustainability-inspired livery for their Airbus A321neo aircraft. The aim was to raise awareness of the Hungarian low-cost company’s commitment to reduce their CO2 emissions intensity by 25 percent by 2030.
“We received over 500 entries, but there’s one which #WIZZed into 1st place and passed with flying colours. Congratulations Éva Kerényi! Éva is a Museum Curator in Rimavská Sobota (Slovakia), her passion is an Exhibition Design. While we can’t reveal the winning design just yet, we thought you’d love to see some of the amazing submissions we receive”, Wizz Airwrote.
Wizz Air visions an Open Skies treaty between the EU and India as it is ramping up its efforts to enter the Indian market.
Wizz Air was among the airlines present at a historic aviation summit between leaders of the European Union and India, which also supports the development of air connectivity between the regions via an Open Skies agreement, according to a statement sent to MTI on Wednesday.
Among the objectives of the event was the establishment of a comprehensive aviation agreement between the participants for the liberalisation of traffic rights and harmonised regulation, including the acceleration of emission reduction initiatives between the two regions.
Wizz Air participated in the meeting to facilitate the negotiations and to demonstrate the mutual benefits that can be achieved through open skies agreements. In the airline’s experience, agreements such as these offer passengers a wider choice and more affordable fares.
“The relationship between India and the European Union goes back a long way. We need to build on this foundation to promote greater connectivity, trade and investment,” said Jyotiraditya Scindia, the country’s aviation minister, who stressed the need for greater cooperation.
Wizz Air is ready to tap into the Indian market
The summit was attended by several airline CEOs, including József Váradi, CEO of Wizz Air. József Váradi expressed his support for opening new routes and crossing the current horizontal framework. He highlighted the opportunities and efficiency gains that an opened sky would bring to the travelling public, noting that direct connections between regions have stagnated since 2009. This is why there is a need for low-cost airlines to enter the market and meet the demand.
“Wizz Air welcomes the opportunity for increased competition and greater access to new markets. The opening of the skies between Europe and India provides Wizz Air with the opportunity to expand its ultra-low-cost operations, offer better fares to its passengers and create new jobs in both regions,” said József Váradi, CEO of Wizz Air.
As we have previously written, Wizz Air agreed to receive the necessary permits to fly to Pakistan. This is an important step for the low-budget carrier as it wants to enter the market in the Indian subcontinent.
For the time being, Wizz Air would like to connect India and Europe via its Wizz Air Abu Dhabi subsidiary, but that is just a temporary solution.
“In the longer term, we are interested in connecting India directly to the European network, and Wizz Air is the most suitable operator for this destination among European airlines” – Mr Váradi is quoted by vg.hu.
Márton Nagy, Hungary’s minister for economic development, announced at the International Investment Forum in Tashkent that a direct flight will connect Budapest and the capital of Uzbekistan.
The Tashkent Times wrote about the agreement yesterday, and Budflyer, a Hungarian travel news Facebook page, summed up the article’s content. According to Mr Nagy, the first direct flight will take off between the two cities in the second half of this year.
He said the relationship between the two countries is of increasing importance, the two states move closer despite the 4,000 km separating them. Márton Nagy added that the new direct flight is part of the bilateral economic relations. Budflyer wrote that the decision was not out of the blue. We wrote in March that Uzbekistan opened an embassy in Budapest, so all member states of the Organisation of Turkic States have a diplomatic representation in Hungary. The Hungarian OTP Bank is the 5th biggest player in Uzbekistan’s banking sector, having more than 1.6 million customers.
The new flight is not out of the blue
Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s foreign minister, announced then that a direct air link would be established between the two capitals by the end of this year. That is what Márton Nagy confirmed now. The minister for economic development added that Wizz Air has good chance to operate the air link. The president of the Hungarian low-cost airline, Robert Carey, is currently in Uzbekistan holding talks with the chairman of the directorate of the Uzbek airports. Daryo, an Uzbek online portal, wrote that Mr Carey is negotiating a flight to Hungary.
Meanwhile, a Budapest-Hangzhou direct cargo flight will be launched soon. The operator will be Wizz Air, and an Airbus A330F will commute between the Chinese metropolis and the Hungarian capital. The official opening of the route was on 27 April. The plane of the Hungary Air Cargo will serve it four times a week. The aircraft will deliver Chinese products to Europe strengthening Budapest Airport’s role as a logistics hub concerning goods distribution between China and East Europe.
As we wrote, Sichuan Airlines operate another direct cargo flight between Hungary and Chinese Chengdu. According to Buflyer, new passenger and cargo flights are expected to start operation between Budapest and China thanks to the strengthening commercial and touristic ties.
The Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air has been successfully competing with other Romanian airlines and will soon acquire more than half of the country’s air travel market. Its market share is 40 percent now, but by the end of this year, that figure will exceed 53 percent. But it is imaginable that the rate will be even higher. The Hungarian airline seems to become Romania’s “national” service provider.
According to turizmus.com, the Hungarian Wizz Air will operate on the routes of the former Blue Air, the communications manager of the Hungarian low-cost airline said at an online press conference. Valeria Bragarenco said Romania is a crucial market for Wizz Air. 33 planes of the 180 are in the country. By 2030, that number will reach 500, meaning a considerable increase in the number of aircraft stationed in Romania.
Apart from cheap tickets and quality service, Wizz Air would like to become a protagonist in local life. That is why they will organize the Wizz Air Marathon in Bucharest and Transylvania’s capital, Kolozsvár (Cluj Napoca).
Furthermore, the company will launch new flights from Bucharest and Cluj Napoca to Türkiye (Antalya). Moreover, they will fly from the newly-built Brasov (Brassó) International Airport to London-Luton and Dortmund. Expanding the number of flights and destinations from Brassó is among the company’s short-term plans, but they did not want to share further details due to the ongoing talks.
In 2022, Wizz Air had 8.5 million passengers in Romania, and 50 percent of their flights arrived or departed in time. 80 percent of the delays were below 15 minutes, Ms Bragarenco added.
She said that their crew does not lack workforce in Romania, but they plan new recruitment waves. In March, the number of pilots working for Wizz Air in Romania stood at 300. 900 flight attendants were working for the company in Romania in March. Blue Air terminated service last year. Its shares are now in the ownership of the state.
The CEO of the Hungarian low-cost airline, Wizz Air, talked about the company’s plans at a lunch of the English Aviation Club.
Regarding Wizz Air’s return to Ukraine, he said that the Hungarian company would be the first to reenter the marker when the war was over. We wrote before that when the Russian invasion started, Wizz Air had four planes in Ukraine, three in Kyiv, and one in Lviv. Last September, the aircraft in West Ukraine could escape from the war-torn country and flew to Katowice in Poland. However, three Airbuses are still in Kyiv, and it does not seem they will be able to get out soon. Anyway, the company plans to return to the Ukrainian market as soon as the fight is over, Budflyer wrote.
Mr Váradi told his audience in the English Aviation Club that they would expand their fleet with brand new Airbus A321XLR planes from 2024 year-end. But they will not commute from Hungary. Their base will be in the United Kingdom and the Middle East.
József Váradi:
Wizz Air ready to conquer the East instead of the West
He added that the Middle Eastern market is changing, and Wizz Air would like to be part of that. “There are a lot of opportunities to expand in the region and Central Asia”, he highlighted. He said they would like to continue to expand towards the East.
He also mentioned the hardships concerning air traffic. He said this summer would be difficult, but they prepared for the warm season to avoid the high number of cancellations like in 2022. He believes that the biggest challenge of 2023 will be European air traffic control. That is because there is a staff shortage, and capacities are narrow because of the war-caused closures. Furthermore, military air traffic increased, restricting commercial flights.
The Hungarian-rooted airline Wizz Air offers season tickets for certain flights.
MultiPass will be the name of the subscription service that WizzAir is launching. This new feature will be introduced for the first time on flights to and from Poland and will be available on flights within Italy.
According to an email sent to users, the service is available for a fixed monthly price, but the exact price has not been disclosed by Wizz Air yet. It is not clear when the service will be launched. What is certain is that it will be a separate service, hvg.hu reports. There will be several versions, and the fixed tariff will be paid for six months.
After paying the fee, subscribers will receive tokens, which will be available for specific flights. According to the prospectus, there is no need to pay for anything other than the fixed fare, but Priority and/or 20 kilo dispatched parcel charges can be added as an add-on.
Few airlines in the air transport sector do this. In the US, Alaska Airlines was the first major airline to introduce a charter service last year. It was available for USD 49 a month, but with the important restriction that you had to book 90 days in advance. If you didn’t change your ticket, the price could go up to USD 749.
Many passengers complained about the Hungarian low-cost airline for frequently cancelling flights. Some even speculated that Wizz Air intentionally cancels its particularly cheap flights. However, the root of the issue can be found elsewhere.
According to okosutas.hu, Wizz Air weekly modifies its schedule. Members of the editorial staff of the media outlet noticed a message concerning the cancellation of a Budapest-Dubai flight. However, that was only conspicuous because they expected a modification in their schedule.
Dubai is a popular destination, so the Hungarian low-cost airline continuously increased capacities. Therefore, it seemed unrealistic that they would cancel such a high-demand route. A modification was rather likely since one of Wizz Air’s most important bases is now in Abu Dhabi. Thus, it was imaginable, though unlikely that they would redirect all the flights there.
Interestingly, after the cancellation, the flight remained reservable. Many readers of okosutas.hu wrote that they bought cheap tickets for the flight, and Wizz Air probably messed with them by cancelling it. However, that was also unrealistic because the cancellation allowed the passengers to book other flights with their already-purchased tickets. The price actually increased due to sellouts as it was surprisingly low at the beginning.
According to utazomajom.hu, another Hungarian travel news media outlet, Wizz Air passengers received false information about the cancellation of their flight due to a technical error. The airline said they noticed the problem and worked on finding a solution. The company apologised for the inconvenience and wrote that they would notify all passengers affected in emails about the next step.
Wizz Air timetable more stable this year
Now Wizz Air realised that there was a technical problem behind the cancellations. A group of passengers received a notice yesterday that their flight’s status had changed, and they could travel to Dubai. If somebody re-routed because of their previous cencallation notice, they may opt back to their ticket to the original date. According to okosutas.hu, the rate of cancellations and modifications has dropped recently. Having said that, a couple of weeks prior, the airline again modified their June Stockholm flight. As it turned out, there will be no Monday flight, so people must extend their accommodation for one more day. Nevertheless, the Hungarian travel news outlet admits the situation is not as chaotic as it used to be in 2022. The schedule of Wizz Air seems more stable this year.
Passengers were left hoping that summer holiday flights would not be modified. Last year, it occurred multiple times that Wizz Air did modifications, weeks before the actual departures.
The Wizz Air plane reached Tenerife but could not land because of the strong winds. Therefore, the aircraft turned back to Budapest. And they even have to pay to cancel their reservation on the return flight. People are outraged and keep highlighting that the Hungarian low-cost airline destroyed their holiday and turned it into a nightmare because of their wrong decisions.
According to Szeretlek Magyarország, passengers wanted to go to Madeira at the beginning of April. But the plane could not land at the island’s airport due to the strong winds. Therefore, they went to Tenerife. People who wanted to spend time on the island of eternal spring could not reach their destination. Meanwhile, those who wanted to travel back to Budapest on that flight remained stranded in Madeira.
One of the passengers told her story to the Hungarian news outlet. The airport named after the island’s world-known footballer, Christiano Ronaldo, is one of the most difficult for pilots since there are not too much flatlands on the island. Therefore, part of the runway is built on concrete pillars. On the one side, there is the ocean, while on the other side, there are the hills. Moreover, ocean winds are regularly strong. Thus, landing is always hard. Here is a video:
Wizz Air’s plane tried to land several times but was unsuccessful. Thus, the 223 passengers landed in Tenerife instead of Madeira. Anna, the passenger writing her story for Szeretlek Magyarország, said the plane did multiple circles above the airport. That took one hour, and some burst into tears during the manoeuvres.
After they landed in Tenerife, information leaked slowly and hours passed. Finally, they learned that the low-cost airline hired buses and would take the passengers to local hotels. Moreover, ground crew said their Madeira flight would depart at 5 AM. As a result, Anna slept only 5 hours and could not eat properly. However, instead of taking off, they waited 8 hours at the airport the next day, and Wizz Air provided them with no additional information about how long they would have to wait.
They announced only at 2 PM that the plane would take off to bring them back to Budapest. Passengers had one hour to decide whether they would remain in Tenerife and pay for every cost or travel back to Hungary. They did not even have time to search for a ferry between the two islands. Finally, many of them decided to remain. The others were taken back to Budapest, where they landed at 10.35 PM.
The passengers created a Facebook group to share information. One wrote that people who remained stuck in Madeira were provided food and accommodation. But they needed to spend 7-8 hours at the airport for three days. Finally, their ‘rescue flight’ arrived on Friday. Many who chose to remain in Tenerife could not get back their luggage.
According to the passengers, Wizz Air could have managed the problem better. They should have waited for a day because the Madeira airport was able to take planes just hours after their unsuccessful attempt. Thus, they should have taken the passengers to Madeira the next day and taken home those who needed to remain the day before.
Szeretlek Magyarország asked Wizz Air, and the airline said their operations centre needed to make a quick decision harming as few passengers as possible. If the plane did not return to Budapest the next day, multiple other flights would have been cancelled due to the lack of aircraft. Wizz Air added they regularly provided information for the passengers and helped them with accommodation, and catering.
Passengers want compensation for their losses. In one example, that reached HUF one million (EUR 2671) since the harmed would have changed to an ocean cruiser on Madeira. However, Wizz Air does not want to pay, so some people would like to bring the case to the consumer protection authorities.
Anna is very dissatisfied and frustrated, but she will try to get to Madeira again this Saturday with Wizz Air.
A recent study has ranked the Hungarian low-cost airline as the worst large airline in terms of delays at UK airports. For the second year in a row, Wizz Air has won this less than honourable recognition.
Wizz Air delays in the UK
According to a recent survey, Hungarian airline Wizz Air had an average delay of 46 minutes, 6 seconds in 2022. The data from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) was researched by the Press Association. Wizz Air is the worst performing of the major airlines.
The Hungarian airline already won this less than honourable distinction last year. It’s not a good sign that the airline’s figures have worsened compared to 2021, with delays of more than 46 minutes almost three times as bad as the year before.
A consumer group called Which? described the data as “worrying”. They also believe it demonstrates the need for the CAA to be given stricter powers.
TUI came in second with an average delay of 40 minutes, while Qatar Airways came in third with an average delay of 31 minutes and 48 seconds. Norwegian Air Shuttle is on the other side, with an average delay of just 13 minutes 42 seconds.
Interestingly, most delays occurred in May and June. The Daily Mail explains this by the fact that the airline industry was unable to cope with the sudden surge in demand for travel after the lifting of the coronavirus restrictions.
‘These figures are worrying, but will be no surprise to passengers who’ve had to endure shoddy treatment from airlines for years” said Rory Boland, the editor of Which? Travel magazine.
Boland says stricter regulation is needed. “To better protect passengers, the Government must give the CAA effective powers to clamp down on poor airline behaviour, which includes the ability to hand out hefty fines when they continually flout the law” said Boland.
Another problem is that court cases can drag on for years. The UK government consulted on greater powers for the authorities in early 2022, but no decision was taken.
CAA consumer director Paul Smith said “[w]e’ve already raised concerns about Wizz Air and are working closely with the airline to improve outcomes for consumers”.
The CAA already indicated in 2022 that Wizz Air was often late in paying refunds. While travel demand is not decreasing, everyone hopes that the delays are a thing of the past, but strikes can still cause disruption for tourists.
Major airlines based on flight punctuality from UK airports in 2022
Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air could start a new direct route between Hungary and Pakistan. Wizz Air also has ambitious plans to enter the Indian market.
Hungarian budget airline’s subsidiary, Wizz Air Abu Dhabi could have obtained the appropriate permits to fly between Budapest and the Pakistani capital Islamabad, Budflyer reports.
Direct flight two years in the making
Péter Szijjártó, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, visited Pakistan in April 2021 and met with then-Pakistani FM, Shah Mahmood Qureshi. The two politicians pledged to strengthen business cooperation between the two countries.
As Budflyer writes, at the time, Wizz Air CEO József Váradi was part of the Hungarian delegation, and he held talks with the Pakistani Minister of Transport.
The plan for 2021 was to open a direct route between Hungary and Pakistan and connect the two capitals, Budapest and Islamabad.
Two years later, the plan could finally be realised, as according to Budflyer, the Pakistani authorities could have granted the necessary permits to Wizz Air Abu Dhabi. The starting date of the flight, which is set to connect Budapest with its easternmost destination with a low-budget carrier is still unknown.
Wizz Air Abu Dhabi is also set to launch flights to India soon, as one of the main goals for the company is to tap into the growing low-cost market of the Indian subcontinent.
Robert Carey, President of Wizz Air, also mentioned during the March CAPA Airline Leader conference in Budapest that the Hungarian airline is planning to enter the Pakistani and Indian markets. As index.hu reports, in order to meet the high demand in the Middle Eastern region, the airline is further expanding its current fleet with nine new Airbus A321neo planes.
Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air acknowledges that “some” passengers might not have received sufficient information about their options after instead of Madeira, their plane landed in Tenerife.
As we have previously written, the Wizz Air flight from Budapest to Funchal (Madeira) failed to land due to strong winds despite repeated attempts. Instead, the plane landed in Tenerife. The airline now acknowledges to rtl.hu that they might not have given sufficient information to some of their passengers.
Wizz Air tries to save people’s holidays
Last week, the Budapest-Funchal flight was unable to land at the local airport after several attempts due to strong winds in Madeira. With another one-and-a-half-hour flight, they were taken to Tenerife.
“We have offered passengers two options, one is to stay in Tenerife and rebook for a later flight, or to return to Budapest,” said András Radó, Senior Corporate Communications Manager, to rtl.hu.
However, now they acknowledge that their communication might not have been perfect.
“Passengers who bought their tickets through a travel agent or through an intermediary service may have been informed late or may not have been informed at all,” wrote the PR department of Wizz Air to rtl.hu.
But it seems like what the airline claims does not reflect perfectly what some of the passengers have experienced.
“What Wizz Air claims is simply not true. No one received a message either by email or text message that they could rebook their ticket,” a frustrated passenger who bought their ticket directly from the airline, told rtl.hu.
RTL reports that now more than 200 stricken passengers have formed a Facebook group to discuss how to proceed. Some people claim that the airline caused them HUF millions in damages. The passengers want the airline to reimburse them for the accommodation and programmes they booked. Wizz Air has already promised that after contacting them through their customer service, they will try to reimburse them.
We reported last week about Wizz Air’s Madeira scandal here and here. The Hungarian low-cost airline’s plane could not land in Madeira due to strong winds. Thus, the passengers were taken to the nearby island of Tenerife. As a result, a group of passengers was stuck in Tenerife, while another group was stuck in Madeira – those who would have taken the return flight. Among all this ordeal was our reader, Anna. Now, Anna sent us an analysis of Wizz Air’s lies and the truth behind the miscommunication. Read her letter below.
On Tuesday last week, Wizz Air was unable to land on Madeira due to strong winds, and instead landed on the nearby island of Tenerife. Contrary to its promise, Wizz Air did not transfer passengers to Madeira the next day; instead, it took some of them back to Budapest, leaving those who chose to stay on Tenerife instead.
Meanwhile, passengers waiting to return home in Madeira were told that the earliest they could get home was on the next scheduled flight on Saturday (which, by the way, was already almost full of other passengers at the time of the announcement), and were finally sent on a relief flight on Friday, 3 days later than originally planned. The total number of passengers affected by these two groups is about 450. I am one of the passengers who never made it to Madeira.
RTL was the most detailed in its coverage of the incident, but even their report on Monday’s (yesterday’s) newscast revealed only partial bits of the truth, far from the whole truth, and the other news portals’ reports revealed even less, as they basically only relayed the MTI’s statement, which was a Wizz Air statement…
Wizz Air specifically lied about a number of things and, in addition to that, it also treated passengers in a blatantly unfair manner in a number of other respects. It is unacceptable to me and to the other passengers who have been harmed that this has not even been made public and that they will be allowed to do the same to thousands more passengers in the future without any consequences. My motivation in writing this message to you is to reveal the whole truth.
Below is a bullet-point summary of Wizz Air’s lies and unfairness, backed up by evidence.
Lie 1.
This is the statement made by Sándor Radó, Wizz Air’s Head of Communications, on Thursday last week and supplemented on Monday this week: “We have offered passengers two options, one is to stay in Tenerife and rebook for a later flight, or to fly home to Budapest.” “Passengers who bought their tickets through a travel agent or intermediary may not have been informed at all or may have been informed late.”
I booked my flight directly with Wizz Air myself, but I did not receive any information from them either by email or SMS. We have formed a Facebook group with the victims, which currently has 180+ members, with new members joining all the time (name: W62397-Funchal victims), where several other passengers have confirmed that they have not received any email or text message either, even though they booked their tickets directly with Wizz Air. No member of the group confirmed that they had received any information about this.
In addition, the ground staff at Tenerife airport specifically told us verbally when announcing the return to Budapest that those who choose to stay in Tenerife will pay all their own costs from now on, including their accommodation and return ticket. At the time of the announcement the ticket price for Wizz Air’s Saturday and Monday Tenerife – Budapest flights cost around HUF 40,000 (EUR 106), but the sudden surge in demand caused the price to first soar, then quickly sell out and some of those who opted to stay in Tenerife were left with no tickets at all, as confirmed by the Facebook group members concerned.
Lie 2.
Sándor Radó also said on Wednesday last week and Monday this week that the plane could not wait any longer for the wind to calm down because of the schedule: “The Wizz Air flight from Tenerife returned to Budapest on Wednesday afternoon in order to keep the schedule.”
“If the plane had continued to wait in Tenerife for the weather to become more favourable, more flights scheduled with this plane would have had to be cancelled from Budapest.”
According to the Flightradar24 website, the aircraft’s identification (9H-WBK) shows that the aircraft departed from Tenerife back to Budapest at 16:10 local time, landed in Budapest at 22:35 Budapest time and departed for Athens at 6:50 the next day. I have attached the evidence downloaded from here.
It shows that between 9:00 and 19:00, there were 9 planes that landed successfully among the cancelled or diverted flights, and after 19:00, all the planes of the day landed successfully, without exception, for a total of 10 in a row, so from then on, there were no more cancelled or diverted flights for the rest of the day.
After waiting at the airport for 8 hours, starting at 6:00, we were finally told at 14:10 by the airport staff that the flight would be turned back to Budapest with a 15:00 departure (which was delayed by over 1 hour for unexplained reasons). At the time the decision to turn back was made, the weather forecast had already clearly indicated that the winds would calm down in a few hours, allowing a safe landing in Madeira. If our plane had landed in Madeira after 19:00 and picked up the passengers waiting for their return flight, it would still have arrived in Budapest in time to allow several hours (at least 4 hours) before the 6:50 flight to Athens.
The fact that we were unable to land in Madeira on Tuesday last week due to strong winds was a force majeure, i.e. an extraordinary circumstance beyond Wizz Air’s control. However, the fact that they did not take us to Madeira the following day, Wednesday evening, was NOT due to force majeure, but was their individual decision, which they could have taken instead, handling the situation differently!
Injustice 1.
Wizz Air’s communication (via email and text messages) was unqualified throughout the process, both for those who did not get to Madeira and for those who were stranded there. The plane circled over Madeira for 1 hour, attempting a total of 2 landings, and then flew on to Tenerife, half an hour away, landing just after 19:00. At 17:45 and 22:45 local time (which is 1 hour earlier than the Budapest time) we received 2 emails and text messages with the same text: “We regret to inform you that flight W6 2397 has been changed. Please follow the information provided by our ground handling staff or flight attendants.”
We stood at the airport, clueless, not knowing what to do. Out of the 220+ passengers, I waited with what looked like a group of about 50. We didn’t know where the other passengers were, and we were getting information sporadically thanks to the proactive enquiries of the passengers from the airport ground staff, who shared their scraps of information with us. In this way, we learned that we were being bussed to hotels (a legal obligation for airlines, even if the planned landing was cancelled due to force majeure).
They were able to transport so many passengers in several rounds, the last round after a 2 hour wait after 21:00, they arrived at the hotel in Santa Cruz at 22:00 after a 50 minute bus ride. We were verbally informed by the hotel staff that the bus would be leaving back to the airport with us at 5:00. In an email and text message received at 20:25, Wizz Air informed us of an 8:00 take-off to Madeira, and in a text message received at 23:25, an 8:50 take-off to Madeira.
I then called the hotel reception to ask if Wizz Air had also delayed the 5:00 departure by 1 hour, hoping that I would have the chance to sleep for 6 hours instead of 5, after a long and exhausting day. The answer was no. So, between arrival and departure, I only had time to eat a hasty dinner, shower, sleep for 5 hours, and then again in the morning, hurry to get ready and eat some breakfast before boarding the bus.
We waited at the airport for 8 hours from 6:00 am onwards, without any information from Wizz Air either by email or SMS. The ground staff at the airport told us every hour or so that the departure was delayed and that they would be able to give us more information 1 hour later.
Finally, at 14:10, they announced that the flight would not be going to Madeira at all, but would be returning to Budapest at 15:00, and that everyone would have half an hour (!) until boarding to decide whether to go home or stay in Tenerife, with all costs from then on being paid by the passengers themselves, including accommodation and the purchase of a ticket home, all this during the peak tourist season at Easter, when there are plenty of tourists! After deciding to go home, I literally rushed to get to the bathroom and buy a sandwich for my travel lunch on the meal ticket I had been given, to avoid having to buy food on board at a sky-high price.
At 14:45 local time, I received the following email from Wizz Air, which is completely incomprehensible: “Please accept our sincere apologies for the diversion of your flight 2397 originally departing on 05.04.2023 from TFS to FNC. The local ground handling agents will assist you upon arrival on how you can be transported to the original destination.”
The boarding gate was opened at 14:50 and after boarding, the public waited for 1 hour sitting on the plane for take-off, which did not take place until 16:10. The pilot spoke to the passengers before take-off and specifically said that they (the pilots and cabin crew) could not understand why Wizz Air management had taken this decision, and that it was not the first time in his years with the airline that this had happened, and that he suggested that we should complain when we returned home.
Long after we got home, on Thursday (13:10), we received a third email with the same text as on Tuesday, which sounded like a bad joke: “We regret to inform you that flight W6 2397 has been changed. Please follow the information provided by our ground handling crew members or flight attendants.”
I have attached all Wizz Air emails as evidence (stitched together in a PDF file).
Injustice 2.
Passengers stranded on Madeira were treated similarly badly by Wizz Air in view of their disastrous communication. This is the account of one affected person in the Facebook group last Friday:
“It’s not the only thing the articles lied about. People who wanted to go home were also told that we could rebook for free, but hardly anyone managed to do so because the link didn’t work. I might add that you could also read that everyone would get home on Saturday, but that’s not true either, a lot of people only got a seat somewhere for Sunday and later, and most of them at their own expense, by buying new tickets!
And those who bought tickets for another flight can only hope to get their money back. Today, 99 of us came home on the relief flight, but getting on it was an orbital calamity for some of us… Some were only allowed on by having to buy a ticket for hundreds of euros… Because the system showed that they had asked for a refund (which was not true).
We were not informed of anything in time, almost everyone booked and paid for another accommodation (which turned out to be a waste of money), because they almost constantly communicated to us that they would only provide us with 1-1 day accommodation. All we were told was “we can stay today, we have to leave tomorrow”… (Well, the last time we were told it was ok until Saturday, but then we got a text message from the relief service a few hours later.)
So all in all, of course it was ok, we were given accommodation and food and eventually brought home, but for 3 days we were kept waiting for 7-8 hours, went to the airport 3 times, checked in and out of the hotel 3 times… The best way I can sum up the “experience” is that what we applauded today was the take-off. The only way we would have come out of this well would have been if no one had done anything after the cancellation (no booking, no flight, no accommodation, nothing), but since everything was announced at the last minute, everyone obviously did what they could…”
Injustice 3.
Those in favour of staying in Tenerife had a paper signed requesting the removal of their luggage from the plane. Despite this, several of them had their luggage left on the plane and were transported to Budapest, as confirmed by the people concerned in the Facebook group. This was a further blow to them after not even reaching Madeira, and caused them further hassle and expense in re-purchasing essential items.
Injustice 4.
Wizz Air has done absolutely nothing to address the clearly unusable Madeira – Budapest ticket for passengers who did not even get to Madeira. In fact, it was making things difficult until Monday and impossible from Tuesday for passengers who are proactively trying to take action. It was down to sheer luck until Monday that they managed to getcancellation and refund on their future return ticket Madeira – Budapest. By Monday evening, only two of us in the Facebook group had indicated to the others that this had been achieved with some difficulty
I was able to get a full refund on Monday for my return ticket for the next day (Tuesday, 11 April) by making a second phone call. I first called the basic customer service number (+36 1 755 5240), which is only available for existing bookings. Here the operator told me that no refund would be given for the return trip, as the outward trip was not cancelled due to Wizz Air’s fault, and that only the normal cancellation procedure would be applicable, with a cancellation fee of EUR 85 (approx. HUF 32 000), after which the remaining amount would be refunded. I said no to this.
I then called the other customer service number (+36 90 900 555), which can be called for any matter (not just existing bookings) and has a premium rate of HUF 250/minute. The 6 minute call cost me HUF 1500 (EUR 4), but at least this time I managed to claim a full refund on the return ticket, which this operator confirmed I was entitled to.
It is particularly outrageous to me that Wizz Air is even profiting from the fact that passengers who have been unfortunate because of Wizz Air’s mistake are forced to go to the premium rate customer service, because they cannot expect help at the one with the basic rate, and even with the premium rate, some people have only managed to get it after repeated calls.
The other passengers I mentioned who managed to do this, one only managed to do it on the third phone call. Other passengers who spoke on the issue in the Facebook group had not managed to do so by Monday evening. Until this day some were told by the call centre that they could only cancel their return journey through the normal cancellation procedure at a cost of EUR 85. Others were told that they could not cancel their return journey at all (even for a cancellation fee) because it could not be treated separately from the outward journey, and some had their written requests rejected for the same reasons. They were also not allowed to rebook for a later date.
The lucky few could be granted a refund through the call centre latest on Monday, then from Tuesday all passengers who called were told that they must send this demand in written from to Wizz Air. Then all of these written demands are rejected claiming that there has not been any diversion on the Madeira – Budapest flight, therefore there is no basis for a refund, independently from the fact that the passengers had no chance at all to get to Madeira! When the passengers who called mentioned that the call centre granted a refund for their future return ticket for a few passengers until Monday, the customer service replied that the management ordered them not to grant it anyone anymore! Total chaos!
Wizz Air’s rejection of refunding the return ticket.
Summary
This case has caused 450+ people serious financial loss and huge disappointment, which was ultimately NOT due to force majeure weather conditions, but due to the way Wizz Air handled the situation based on its own decision. Whilst it could have chosen to minimise this damage by taking us from Tenerife to Madeira on Wednesday evening after a day’s wait, bringing those waiting there home and still landing in Budapest in ample time for the next scheduled departure.
But it has chosen not to do so, because its selfish, profit-driven considerations are paramount to it, and it refuses to give its own customers even the minimum respect they deserve. And it can do this again and again with impunity to many more passengers who will be victims, if the media do not even report the truth!
It has deprived passengers who never reached Madeira of the holiday experience they had been waiting for, and has caused them financial losses averaging in the hundreds of thousands of forints, and even millions of forints for several families in non-refundable bookings (hotel, car rental, programmes, cruises, etc.). It has turned the holidays of passengers stranded in Madeira into a nightmare by keeping them in limbo for 3 days, during which many, not knowing whether they could expect any help from Wizz Air, bought a new connecting ticket for a return trip home from other airlines at very high cost.
The legitimacy of our grievances was confirmed to our fellow passengers by several different lawyers, independently of each other. One of them replied to us:
“1.) Right to compensation:
The airline must prove that the cancellation of the flight was caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided despite all reasonable measures. If they can prove this, they will not have to pay compensation. It is only possible to take a position on this when the details are known, but of course an unmanageable weather situation could justify such a claim.
2) The right to reimbursement and reassignment:
– Reimbursement of the cost of the flight ticket (for the leg not taken, but also for the leg taken if it no longer serves any purpose in relation to the passenger’s original travel plan, e.g. in the present case, if he/she cannot go to Madeira anyway, since the period of accommodation and leave has expired, the leg already taken has lost its purpose, so a refund is also due) or
– re-booking (in this case, re-booking for a later date, if you so choose)
3) There may also be the cost of accommodation booked but not used, which can be claimed as compensation under the Civil Code rather than the EEC Regulation.”
Sweden and Denmark are two highly popular destinations for tourists travelling from the Hungarian capital. The good news is, we can still get to these two countries relatively cheaply with low-cost flights from Budapest.
Cheap flights from Budapest
Wizz Air and Ryanair both have promotions, but napi.hu advises everyone to also check the major flight search sites. In May, we can book flights to Billund, Denmark, for a bit more than HUF 10,000 (EUR 26.64 at the time of the writing of the article).
The airlines available in Budapest fly to Stockholm for around HUF 6,000 to 30,000 per flight. That is, if we settle for the basic services. In case we need more than that, e.g. more leg space or we bring more luggage, that will obviously be a bit more expensive.
Legoland in Billund, Denmark. Source: Wikimedia Commons/MPD01605
Billund Inn. Source: Wikimedia Commons/ Hubertus
The headquarters and the factory of the company that produces our beloved toys, Lego, is located in Billund, Denmark. The municipality is home to around 6,000 people. Napi.hu especially recommends the place for families with young children. There’s a huge zoo and a slide park, Legoland, and a long hike can be taken in the surrounding nature reserves and forests.
Denmark with Ryanair…
Photo: facebook.com/ryanair
Ryanair is offering a ticket to the Danish city for HUF 6729 (EUR 17.92) with departure on 16 May. The ticket includes a small baggage, no insurance and no seat selection, and the same price for a return trip if we stay for a week, with similar parameters. Thus, we have a return ticket for HUF 13,458 (EUR 35.84). Quite a bargain, isn’t it?
Napi.hu checked Skyscanner, the website of a travel company, as well. Using Skyscanner, you can filter tickets by price. What is more, the website provides a separate option for the cheapest flights available on airlines. According to Skyscanner, if we make Stockholm our destination, the Wizz Air price drop is unfortunately over. Now, a direct flight departing on 1 May and returning on 5 May starts at around HUF 50,000. Furthermore, you have to take into account that you land in Skavsta on the way there and take off in Arlanda on the way back.
However, it is important to add that if you book your trip before the end of April, you have to pay much less. It would cost you a bit more than 30,000 HUF, with departure on 17 and return on 23, on the same booking site.
Buying tickets from airlines or travel agencies?
It is also worth bearing in mind that passengers who do not buy their tickets directly from airlines but through online travel agencies can contact travel operators about flight cancellations or any other issues that affect them. This can complicate the payment of compensation or the handling of a passenger complaint, napi.hu warns.
Wizz Air is to operate two new flights from the international airport of Brasov/Brassó in Transylvania. Among the anticipated destinations is Budapest. However, there is a twist.
Wizz Air goes to Brasov, but not how we expected
According to maszol.ro, the Hungarian low-cost airline announced its first flights from the newly-built Brasov International Airport located in Ghimbav (Vidombák). However, the budget airline said they would be in Dortmund and London instead of Budapest. The first planes will take off on 2 August to London-Luton and on 2 September to Dortmund, Germany. The former will commute on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, while the latter route will be used on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
The director of the airport, Alexandru Anghel, said that they made a long and thorough analysis and they hope those would only be the first destinations of Wizz Air from the Ghimbav (Vidombák) Airport. London is practically a compulsory destination for all airlines in Romania: more than 100,000 citizens live, work, and study in the UK capital. Dortmund is the eighth biggest German city and a crucial cultural, educational, and economic centre. Brasov itself has more than 20,000 Hungarians citizens and Szeklerland is also very close with more than 750,000 Hungarians. Thus, the new flights concern a lot of local Hungarians.
But what about the Budapest flight(s)? We wrote in March that, based on a reliable source of mytex.ro, Wizz Air will establish a route between Brasov and Budapest from 15 June, when the regular air traffic will start there. It seems those sources proved wrong in that regard. Anyway, Budflyer, a Hungarian travel news Facebook page, argues that Wizz Air will soon launch a Budapest flight from Brasov. We promise to follow the relevant infos.
Wizz Air promises compensation for its passengers stuck in Berlin
According to 168.hu, Wizz Air apologised and promised compensation for its passengers who would have come home from Berlin but remained stuck in the German capital due to the bad weather. First, they were told their flight would take off in the evening. However, hours later, they cancelled it. That is because there was a snowstorm in Iasi, where it should have taken off to fly to Berlin. Wizz Air sent an emergency flight which arrived on 5 April but could not take off because the airport closed. As a result, it carried all passengers to Budapest on 6 April.
