Wizz Air

Flights from Budapest to a popular destination cancelled from March

Hungarian brands Wizz Air

By default, there are hardly any flights from Budapest to the Canary Islands: only 5 per week to the 4 islands in total. And, from March, one of the routes will be discontinued. Read on to find out which island you cannot travel to anymore from Budapest from March 2023.

No more flights to Fuerteventura from March

Fuerteventura, the second biggest Canary Island has been removed from Wizz Air’s schedule. They have been selling tickets for the summer season for a long time. In spite of that, the Hungarian low-cost airline decided to discontinue the route. The flight has also disappeared from the timetable for next winter. However, this does not necessarily mean that it will not return in October, okosutas.hu reports.

Wizz Air has made their next winter’s timetable by essentially copying the summer’s and leaving the prices high. That is why, for example, Cyprus was left in it with the summer frequency of five times a week: whereas now, the airline only flies to the island nation twice a week.

Wizz Air might put the island back into the schedule

So, it is possible that Fuerteventura will be put back into the schedule. So, it is possible that Fuerteventura will be put back into the schedule. The Canary Islands are typically a popular destination in winter. That is because at that time, it is cold on the mainland, but somewhere between spring and summer on the archipelago.

Ryanair will also close flights to Lanzarote at the end of March, okosutas.hu reminds us. However, it is already on the horizon to be back on the next winter schedule: meaning, it will return as a winter-only route. The difference is that Ryanair originally planned it this way and did not start selling tickets for the summer like Wizz Air.

In summary, of the four Canary Islands currently available, only Tenerife and Gran Canaria will be served in the summer timetable, with Lanzarote returning from the end of October and Fuerteventura uncertain.

Closing bases and flights

As we reported before, Wizz Air closed three bases in Europe recently. The Hungarian low-cost airline closed its base in Cardiff, Wales; in Bacău, Romania; and in Bari, Italy. However, we also reported some good news for those wanting to travel to the beautiful capital city of South Korea, Seoul. We wrote about the increasing opportunities travellers will have in the future in case they wish to visit the Asian metropolis.

Wizz Air Hungary
Read alsoWizz Air closes a flight from Hungarian international airport and opens two new

EUR 10 plane tickets from Hungary to this exotic European destination

Lárnaka Cyprus Wizz Air plane tickets

Wizz Air offers cheap tickets to an exotic European island paradise this February. You should not miss this perfect opportunity!

Utazómajom, a Hungarian travel news website, found that the Hungarian low-cost airline, Wizz Air, offers some cheap tickets to Lárnaka, Cyprus in February. The price is EUR 15. Provided you are a member of the Wizz Discount Club, the cost decreases to only EUR 10. The planes fly once a week, on Saturday. Therefore, if you want to fly back to Debrecen, you need to calculate at least a one-week-long holiday. Of course, you can combine your travel with a Budapest flight or Ryanair’s flight from Paphos. Utazómajom also checked out accommodation in Lárnaka. They found apartments for two for only EUR 23 per night in the Cypriot city.

According to the website, Wizz Air has been reducing its service from the international airport of Debrecen. Currently, they have only five destinations from there to Lárnaka (Cyprus), Paris, Eindhoven (The Netherlands), Tel-Aviv and London. In the summer, that number will increase to eight with Mallorca (Spain), Corfu (Greece), and Burgas (Bulgaria).

Wizz Air expands offering to destinations in Turkey

Wizz Air Airbus A321neo

Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz Air on Thursday said it will expand flights between Hungary and Turkey in the coming months. Wizz Air will launch a daily Budapest-Istanbul flight from March 31. It will operate three flights a week between the capital and Antalya from May 24, and two flights a week between Debrecen, in eastern Hungary, and Antalya from June 10.

Turkey’s largest city is a unique cavalcade of East and West. Its cultural diversity, fascinating history, stunning architecture and culture will fascinate all visitors. The city spanning two continents offers a wealth of activities and attractions, with palaces, mosques, baths and bazaars from the past making the trip truly magical.

For beach lovers, Wizz Air will be offering flights from Budapest and Debrecen to Antalya, a popular holiday destination on the Turkish Riviera, from this summer.

In addition to the clean beaches, the city’s main attractions can be explored in Kaleiçi, the romantic old town, where visitors can enjoy a wide range of gastronomic and cultural experiences. The city, also known for its vibrant nightlife, offers plenty of family-friendly options for a perfect beach holiday.

“We are delighted to announce three new routes between Hungary and Turkey. With its breathtaking scenery, fascinating history and architecture, Turkey offers a unique experience for all travellers. The new routes also demonstrate how important it is for us to offer our Hungarian passengers affordable prices and greater choice through our ever-expanding network of direct flights. We are looking forward to welcoming our passengers on board our young, efficient and sustainable aircraft on our flights to Turkey,” said Zsuzsa Trubek, Communications Manager, Wizz Air.

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Read alsoWill Hungary-based Wizz Air be acquired?

Will Hungary-based Wizz Air be acquired?

wizz air hungary

Michael O’Leary, CEO of Ryanair, spoke about the recession in the travel sector and air fares. He also spoke about Hungarian-based Wizz Air.

Michael O’Leary sees no signs of recession. The CEO of Rynair pointed out that they had record bookings in January and that UK demand is picking up. Ryanair is the largest airline in Europe by passenger numbers. Last weekend, it had 2 million bookings, a record.

“There just seems to be very strong demand out there and people, I think, worrying that prices are going to rise in summer, which I think they will, and people getting in early and booking their Easter and summer travel,” Euronews quotes O’Leary as saying.

Ryanair expects a strong summer season. “The holiday mood is holding up despite the economic downturn due to high inflation, because people no longer see holidays as a luxury,” said Ryanair’s CEO.

Competing airlines EsayJet, British Airways and Lufthansa are still behind the 2019 figures. O’Leary says they have the advantage of owning most of the aircraft, while EasyJet and Wizz Air lease most of their fleet, index.hu reports. O’Leary said the European airline industry faces further consolidation in the coming years.

“Alitalia could clearly go to Lufthansa in the next three to four months, TAP could be bought by BA-IAG, easyJet could be bought by either BA or Air France or a combination of the two, and then Lufthansa will buy Wizz Air,” said Michael O’Leary.

Wizz Air Hungary
Read alsoWizz Air closes a flight from Hungarian international airport and opens two new

Wizz Air closes a flight from Hungarian international airport and opens two new

Wizz Air Hungary

Hungary’s Wizz Air continuously highlights how smoothly it develops its fleet and routes, including new destinations one after the other, even in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. However, they decided to close one of their flights from Debrecen international airport. Meanwhile, their first flights to Saudi Arabia took off yesterday from Budapest.

According to okosutas.hu, Hungary’s leading low-cost airline, Wizz Air, has decided to close their flight to Paris Beauvais this winter. Before the COVID pandemic, the airline stationed two planes in the second biggest Hungarian city’s airfield. Now that number is only one, and it seems the company uses it even less frequently.

In the winter schedule, Wizz Air has only four destinations from Debrecen. Before, they communicated that they would not fly to the French capital from end-March, but they deleted all available flights in February and March. Unlike Ryanair, Wizz Air never communicates its flight cancellations. They only share information about the new destinations but refuse to comment or share information about negative news. It seems that is their market strategy. If you want to travel to Paris from Debrecen with Wizz Air, 27 January will be your last chance.

After that, you may only go to London, Tel-Aviv, Eindhoven and Larnaka from Debrecen with the Hungarian airline. In the summer, new destinations will include Mallorca, Burgas and Corfu.

We reported before that Wizz Air closed three European bases, one in Cardiff, Wales, one in Bacău, Romania and one in Bari, Italy.

Meanwhile, the Hungarian low-cost carrier announced the launch of direct flights between Budapest and destinations in Saudi Arabia yesterday. From 9 January, Wizz Air is operating flights between the Hungarian capital and Riyadh and Jeddah twice a week.

Those destinations have been reachable with Wizz Air from Austria and Italy since end-2022. Based on the plans, they would like to carry more than one million passengers to the Middle-Eastern monarchy in 2023. That is how they would like to help Saudi Arabia’s Vision 30 program aiming to triple the number of passengers choosing to travel there, the Hungarian News Agency (MTI) wrote.

Wizz Air flies to 10 Middle-Eastern destinations from Budapest, chairman Robert Carey pointed out in the company’s statement sent to the MTI.

Wizz Air plane Ukraine All You Can Fly
Read alsoHungarian Wizz Air is among the world’s safest airlines!

Hungarian Wizz Air is among the world’s safest airlines!

Wizz Air plane Ukraine All You Can Fly

The Hungarian low-cost carrier, Wizz Air, has been selected as one of the safest airlines in the world. AirlineRatings.com shared its annual list of the world’s 20 safest airlines and budget airlines recently. Below you can read the details.

According to Forbes, 2022 was not easy for the airlines. To start with, COVID still limits their development. Furthermore, the year began with the bankruptcy of American Southwest Airlines. Throughout the summer, many European airports had to deal with the chaos caused by delayed and cancelled flights.

AirlineRatings.com monitors the flights of 385 airlines. The editor-in-chief, Geoffrey Thomas, said that the delays and cancellations caused significant issues both for the customers and the airlines. Nevertheless, the airlines performed well from a security point of view.

As he highlighted, there were no COVID-related accidents, for instance. He said the unknown heroes of the industry were the aircraft maintainers. AirlineRatings.com considered many factors while compiling the list of the safest airlines, including the age of the planes, serious accidents, lethal accidents and control results.

Thomas underlined that among the first 20 airlines, the differences are minor. All of them are on the world’s top concerning safety.

Here is the list of the world’s top 20 safest low-cost airlines (in alphabetic order):

  • Air Arabia
  • AirAsia Group (AirAsia, AirAsia X, AirAsia Thailand, AirAsia Philippines and AirAsia India)
  • Allegiant
  • Air Baltic
  • Easyjet
  • FlyDubai
  • Frontier
  • Indigo
  • Jetstar Group
  • Jetblue
  • Ryanair
  • Scoot
  • Southwest
  • Spicejet
  • Spirit
  • Vueling
  • Vietjet
  • Volaris
  • Westjet
  • Wizz Air

And here are the world’s safest airlines (this is a ranking):

  • Qantas
  • Air New Zealand
  • Etihad Airways
  • Qatar Airways
  • Singapore Airlines
  • TAP Air Portugal
  • Emirates
  • Alaska Airlines
  • EVA Air
  • Virgin Australia/Atlantic
  • Cathay Pacific Airways
  • Hawaiian Airlines
  • SAS
  • United Airlines
  • Lufthansa/Swiss Group
  • Finnair
  • British Airways
  • KLM
  • American Airlines
  • Delta Air Lines

Read also: Important notice: Wizz Air introduces a passenger-friendly regulation

Wizz Air closes multiple bases and flights

Wizz Air

The Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air closes its base in Cardiff, Wales. The low-cost airline is closing its base in Wales and all its flights there, citing high costs and the economic environment. Wizz Air is also closing its base in Bacău, Romania, and Bari, Italy. However, we have some good news for those wanting to travel to Seoul, South Korea.

Withdrawing from Wales

The UK subsidiary of Wizz Air, Wizz Air UK, drastically cut back its flights from the Welsh capital at the end of last summer. Now, it has announced that it will withdraw permanently from Cardiff airport on 25 January, and will cease its two remaining routes to Milan and Bucharest. Since Wizz Air withdrew from Doncaster Sheffield last year, it will now have a presence at only eight UK airports, airportal.hu reports.

The future of the staff and the passengers

Wizz Air UK Managing Director Marion Geoffroy said the airline remains committed to long-term growth. She cited the challenging macro-economic environment and high operating costs, including increased fuel costs, as reasons for the base closure. According to the statement, Cardiff staff will be offered the possibility to transfer to other Wizz Air bases and affected passengers will be rebooked or reimbursed.

Also closing bases in Bacău and Bari

The low-cost airline also closed its base in Bacău, Romania, on 10 January. Its capacity was transferred to other, busier routes. The airline also announced on 10 January that it will close its base in Bari, Italy, on 16 February. It will transfer flights to Rome and Milan and retain flights to the airport from its other bases.

More flights between Budapest and Seoul

We also have good news for the travelling public. Park Chul-min, the outgoing ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Budapest, gave an interview to Magyar Nemzet. Among other things, he said that since December, Korean Airlines has been operating three direct flights a week between the two capitals, Budapest and Seoul. Including the Polish airline LOT, this means five direct flights a week.

What is more, a Korean Airlines official told Park Chul-min that if everything goes according to plan, from December this year, they expect to start daily direct flights between Budapest and Seoul. The official also said that the occupancy rate for flights resumed after the pandemic is currently around 60-70 percent. Meanwhile, the Budapest-Seoul flight, which started in October, is already 90 percent full.

Ryanair
Read alsoLondon-Bucharest plane was forced to make an unscheduled stop in Budapest – UPDATE

You can travel to these destinations from Budapest for cheap

Budapest Airport

Here is the list of destinations in Europe and the Middle East where you can travel by plane from the international airports of Budapest and Debrecen, for less than EUR 10.

We reported before that the Hungarian low-cost airline, Wizz Air, offers tickets for only EUR 9.99 to Aqaba, Jordan’s only port located on the shore of the Red Sea. However, there are some more options you can choose from in that price category and okosutas.hu collected them in an article.

They said that Wizz Air has been keeping the base ticket fee at EUR 15 for months, provided you have a club card. However, now you can book several flights for a lower price, only 10 EUR. That is because they would like to fill the planes. Therefore, they needed to lower their prices, the Hungarian travel website argues.

Cutting back the frequency on various directions and even cancelling some flights for January and February was not enough in that respect, okosutas.hu added. Therefore, they reduced their ticket price to the “absolute minimum”.

Interestingly, Wizz Air’s forint-euro currency exchange rate is quite bad for the passengers. They do so at a 424 level even though currently the rate is around 400. However, a flight price of EUR 10, even if that costs HUF 4,240, is still advantageous.

From Budapest, you may travel to Tirana (Albania), Brussels Charleroi, Saloniki (Greece), Amman (Jordan), Podgorica (Montenegro), Birmingham (UK), Edinburgh (UK), Catania (Sicily, Italy), Napoli (Italy), Rome, Targu Mures (Transylvania, Romania), Göteborg, Malmö, Stockholm-Skavsta (Skavsta) in Sweden and Skopje (Macedonia). From Debrecen, you can reach Paris-Beauvais and Larnaka (Cyprus) for that reduced price.

That means the Hungarian low-cost airline pays more departure tax to the Hungarian government than the ticket costs. The so-called excess profits tax the Orbán administration introduced after the general elections is EUR 10 per ticket.

For 15 EUR, you can also reach multiple destinations from Nizza (France) to Porto in Portugal. The cheap tickets can be booked until mid-March or Easter. However, after that, the increase is significant in the prices. Okosutas.hu promised a similar list of cheap flights of Ryanair from Hungary in a future article.

Wizz Air plane Ukraine All You Can Fly
Read alsoWizz Air’s new measure will simplify travelling for a lot of passengers

Ryanair made emergency landing in Budapest!

Ryanair flight Budapest

Ryanair’s flight from Brussels to Bucharest on Tuesday evening made an emergency landing at Budapest’s Liszt Ferenc International Airport after the detection of a technical fault, Budapest Airport said.

The flight with 176 passengers and a crew of 9 on board landed safely at the airport and all passengers and the crew disembarked safely. An immediate inspection revealed no signs of fire on the aircraft, Katalin Valentinyi, the communications director of the Budapest Airport shared in a Facebook group yesterday. The airline sent a relief plane to take passengers to the final destination later that evening, the airport’s operator said.

Ryanair
Read alsoScandalous! Ryanair left many Hungarians in London without food, help, accommodation

Hungarian airline Wizz Air warns of strike

Wizz Air crew Hungarian airline

Wizz Air informs its passengers that border control police staff in the UK have announced a strike. It will also affect the festive period.

The walkout is expected to take place on 23, 24, 25, 28, 29 and 30 December. However, it is also expected to affect flights departing and arriving on the mornings of 26 and 31 December. Although the demonstration will primarily affect passengers travelling into the country, serious disruption is expected.

In particular, significantly increased waiting times are expected at passport control points and baggage handling may be slowed down, the airline said in a statement.

Wizz Air reminds its passengers that if they have purchased WIZZ Flex service with their ticket, they can rebook their flight free of charge to avoid possible disruptions caused by the strike, turizmusonline.com reports.

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Read alsoTourists complain that Budapest is too dark, they miss the Christmas lighting

Wizz Air offers extra cheap flight from Budapest

Wizz Air Hungary

That is not the first time Hungary’s low-cost airline, Wizz Air, offers flights for an advantageous price from Budapest. The company sells tickets to Aqaba, the only coastal city in Jordan near the Red Sea. Furthermore, you can book a ticket for that reduced price for the whole winter. Below you may find the details.

The pricing team of Wizz Air sometimes calculates strange ticket costs, okosutas.hu says. Now a ticket to Aqaba, Jordan, costs only EUR 9.99, which they converted to HUF 4,290 on Thursday when the forint was around 400 HUF/EUR. However, even though the exchange rate of the Wizz Air is terrible, the ticket price is by all means favourable for everybody planning to travel during the winter to the 40 °C port city.

Interestingly, Wizz Air kept the price of autumn flights at 40 EUR. They did not reduce it even if their plane was only half-booked. Now they decided to do the opposite and offer cheap flights there. Furthermore, they still have to pay the government’s excess profits tax, which the Ryanair’s CEO called madness.

In Aqaba, 30 °C in mid-January is not exceptional, and the weather is fine. If there, you should not miss a two-day trip to Petra or the Wadi Rum desert. On the other side of the border, there is Eilat (Israel), and you can travel there from Vienna for a reduced price. However, that is much higher than Wizz Air. Prices are considerably higher in Israel than in Jordan, but quality, too.

Another scandal on a Wizz Air flight: Hungarians in trouble – UPDATE

Hungarian brands Wizz Air

A Hungarian couple was stranded abroad after their Wizz Air flight was cancelled. A reader of Index wrote to the editorial office with details of what happened.

On 17 December, a reader of Index travelled to Iceland for a four-day holiday with his partner. They left their two young children with their grandmother in Budapest. The reader started his letter to the news portal with this: “I have always read with great interest the articles about Wizz Air flight cancellations, delays, abandoned passengers. Until a few days ago, it seemed like something that could only happen to other people.”

Their luggage has disappeared

They had about 200 people on board, many with young children. Immediately after landing, they had problems as the plane was stranded on the runway for about an hour because the aircraft’s gate had to be cleared after the snowfall. After landing, they had to wait for their luggage and were not given any information for 3 to 3.5 hours before they were finally told that they would not be able to collect their bags until the next day.

“After I asked for the umpteenth time what was going to happen, they told us to go ahead and leave because they would only be able to release the bags in the morning. We were forced to book accommodation in Reykjavík, as our accommodation was about a 2-hour drive from the airport,” he wrote. But the best was yet to come.

“At 9M the next day, we arrived at the airport, where we were told that the plane had flown back to Budapest with our luggage. We called Wizz Air’s virtually non-existent customer service, where we were told that they had no idea where our luggage was or when we would receive it.” The reader and his partner then went to Reykjavík to buy “some equipment” to “even exist in minus 10 degrees”, and then set off for their accommodation outside the city.

Their return flight was cancelled

Two days later, on 20 December, they returned to Reykjavík airport, where they again encountered problems.

“When we left our accommodation to go to the airport, we received an e-mail that our flight had been cancelled, in fact the flight had not even taken off from Budapest. Wizz Air offered to rebook our flight on another flight for 24 December. We were in a panic, we had a 3 and 7- year-old child waiting for us at grandma’s house,” the reader wrote.

He then went on to say that they had tried in vain to find other flights, they could not find a ticket anywhere. They then called the local honorary Hungarian consul, who said that others had also asked him for help, but all he could tell them was that they could book a ticket to Vienna for 27 December to replace the cancelled flight.

“My wife burst into tears at this point. Then, after about 1.5 hours of trying and trying, we managed to book a ticket for 22 December to Copenhagen, from where we’re supposed to get to Vienna that day, and from there it’s just a hop and a skip to Budapest,” he wrote. He also said that during their whole ordeal, they had tried several times to contact Wizz Air, but they could not help them, apart from the rebooking offer on 24 December.

They learnt to never fly again with Wizz Air

“They still don’t know where our luggage is. This morning [21 December – ed.], we received an email saying that they have investigated our complaint and cannot pay compensation because the flight was cancelled due to weather reasons. We contacted our travel insurance company, who said that the costs we have incurred so far, which amount to about a million forints (flight tickets HUF 440,000 [EUR 1094], accommodation, additional car rental, board, etc.) should be settled by Wizz Air,” the reader said. He concluded the letter by saying, “We want nothing more than to get home. But we have learned one thing: never again with Wizz Air.”

UPDATE – Wizz Air’s response

In response to questions from Index, Wizz Air wrote that the plane was greeted by adverse weather conditions when it landed in Reykjavík on 17 December. “Although the landing took place in safe conditions, the wind was too strong to open the doors of the baggage compartment without damaging the aircraft, according to the aircraft manufacturer’s instructions. This was of course not only a problem for the Wizz Air flight, the local ground handling staff were unable to serve flights of other airlines due to the strong winds.” They then went on to explain what happened to the passengers’ luggage.

“The flight crew waited for a while for the wind to subside, but when it did not do so within the legally permitted working hours for the crew, the captain had to make the difficult but safe decision to fly back to Budapest with the luggage stuck in the hold after careful assessment of the situation. In the event that the captain did not do so, the plane would have been stranded in Reykjavík, forcing the airline to cancel hundreds of flights on 18 December.”

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Read alsoAwkward: Only Bulgarians earn less than Hungarians in the EU

Wizz Air’s new measure will simplify travelling for a lot of passengers

Wizz Air plane Ukraine All You Can Fly

Since November, the option of self-service bag drop has been available for Wizz Air passengers 12 hours before departure.

According to airportal.hu, the option is open for Wizz passengers between 3 am and 10 pm. Based on a statement issued by Budapest Airport, passengers can print baggage labels online or in the self-service terminals at Kálvin Square, in Budapest downtown, 12 hours before their flight takes off.

However, baggage has to be dropped off at the terminals of the Budapest Airport. There, they will be checked and sent to the baggage sorting hall. Afterwards, passengers are done with all the hassle that comes with heavy suitcases.

Read also: Budapest district to tax every Budapest Airport passenger from January!

The airport test center is open 24/7 during the holidays

According to the Facebook page of Budapest Airport, at the Universal Airport Hub, located on the arrivals level of Terminal 2B at Ferenc Liszt International Airport, you can have tests performed without an appointment during the holiday season.

  • Express PCR: Results within 2 hours
  • Antigen rapid test: Results within 15-20 minutes
  • You may find more information and registration HERE

Ryanair Hungary
Read alsoRyanair announces new route from Budapest

Wizz Air under fire in the UK due to failing to pay money owed to passengers

Hungarian brands Wizz Air

The Hungarian low-cost carrier operating numerous short-haul flights between British cities is under fire from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The body issued an unprecedented statement raising “significant concerns” because the company did not pay a lot of County Court Judgments. In August, an analysis found that the Hungarian budget carrier was the worst airline for flight delays from UK airports in 2021.

The worst airline in the UK?

According to the Independent, Hungary-based Wizz Air came under fire by Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority for “unacceptable” treatment of customers. The authority’s consumer policy head, Anna Bowles, highlighted that Wizz Air has the highest number of those passenger complaints that enter into an escalated stage. That means a court decides on them since the airline cannot settle the issue with the passenger.

The Hungarian low-cost airline had 811 grievances per million passengers between July and September. That is the highest rate in the United Kingdom, much higher than in the case of EasyJet (245), Ryanair (235), or British Airways (166).

“Passengers have every right to expect their complaints and claims to be resolved quickly and efficiently and to be treated fairly by airlines,” the Independent quoted Ms Bowles.

Read also: Important notice: Wizz Air introduces a passenger-friendly regulation

Wizz Air closes one of its flights to Portugal

CAA is concerned with Wizz Air because of the volume of complaints and claims received by alternative dispute resolution (ADR), the delays in processing and paying claims, and a lot of County Court Judgements against the Hungarian airline.

“We have made it clear to Wizz Air that its behaviour is unacceptable and that we expect overdue complaints and claims to be resolved in advance of Christmas”, Ms Bowles said.

“We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience we have caused our customers and we are working hard to put things right and resolve all outstanding claims as quickly as possible. The major disruption we navigated last summer meant that we have been dealing with an unprecedented number of claims. Despite this, 91 percent of claims have already been processed”, Wizz Air replied. The company added that they doubled the size of their customer services team and were committed to settling all the disputes.

Okosutas.hu wrote that Wizz Air would no longer fly to Porto in Portugal from next summer. That is because the flight time is too long (more than 3 hours) and the utilisation rate is low. Ryanair will remain the only service provider in that direction. As a result, ticket prices are expected to increase. Wizz Air continues to fly to Lisbon and Madeira in Portugal.

Wizz Air plane flight
Read alsoWizz Air is profitable again!

Important notice: Wizz Air introduces a passenger-friendly regulation

Wizz Air

One of the biggest drawbacks of travelling by air is the size of your luggage. Every millimetre counts, and if you go over the allowed size, you’ll have to pay a lot of extra money.

Like all other airlines, Wizz Air limits the exact size of the luggage you can take on board. Now, they have added some new information: “The size limit does not include the luggage handle/wheels; however, the wheels may increase the size of the luggage by up to 5 cm.”

So now the size of the suitcase without wheels and handles is taken into account. This is a great news to many of us.

fuel prices gas station petrol
Read alsoFuel will become 25-30 percent more expensive for a lot of people in Hungary from January 2023

Wizz Air UK denies its presence in the UK after a court ruling – UPDATED with their reaction

WizzAir

Wizz Air UK, the offshoot of Wizz Air in Hungary claimed it has no presence in the United Kingdom after a court ruling. The court decided that the airline has to pay for flight cancellations. However, it refused to do so. As it turns out, this is not the first such occasion. The airline did not even reply to the court, so the case had been won by the plaintiff.

Daily Mail reports an interesting case with Wizz Air UK. A passenger sued the company after a flight cancellation which happened with just 3 hours notice. The company did not offer seats on another flight, so the passenger turned to the court as they had to book a flight at a different airline. The court decided in favour of the plaintiff. It awarded a judgment against the airline for about 1,500 pounds (EUR 1,730). The company ignored the claim and said it has no presence in the UK.

Ignoring the court

Ignoring a court decision is very unusual so Tony Hetherington at Daily Mail decided to dig deeper. It was first thought that the bailiffs might have made a mistake, but it turns out they did not. There have been 456 county court judgements against Wizz Air UK. The company only managed to pay 55 of these. There can be two options and one is worse than the other. Wizz Air UK either has no liquidity to pay up or it is just refusing to obey court rulings. Questions were asked, but none of them had been answered properly so far.

No presence in the UK

Wizz Air UK claims it has no presence in the United Kingdom. The company was set up in 2017 as an offshoot of Wizz Air in Hungary. The parent company is Wizz Air Holding, which is seated in Jersey, a UK crown dependency. The shares of the company are being traded on the London Stock Exchange. The bailiffs told the passenger that Wizz Air has no staff, offices or assets in London Luton Airport.

Wizz Air Holdings has 170 Airbus aircraft in total out of which 17 belong to Wizz Air UK. Despite not having any presence in the UK, the airline manages to get publicity in the country. Figures released by the Civil Aviation Authority show that it is the worst airline in terms of departure delays. It also made headlines, when it encouraged its employees to work even fatigued so it does not have to cancel flights.

It will be interesting to see what actions the Civil Aviation Authority will take against Wizz Air UK. The company has been flying in and out of UK airports, operating as a British business, while it also ignored British courts.

Hungarian brands Wizz Air
Read also Wizz Air joined the elite club of airlines

Here is the official reaction of Wizz Air on the issue

“The claims made in last week’s article about the number of unsettled County Court Judgments are inaccurate. While we regret that there are a number of outstanding claims against our company – and we are working to resolve all of these as quickly as we can – there are nowhere near the numbers being alleged.

Online court records are not up-to-date and present a misleading picture. More than a quarter of the claims shown as outstanding have already been satisfied; another 20 per cent unfortunately never reached us for processing. It is never our policy to ignore court judgments in any jurisdiction we operate in, and all outstanding claims are being dealt with as a priority by our Customer Services team, which is currently working through a backlog of claims caused by pandemic and post-pandemic travel disruption. We will apply to the Courts to ensure that records are updated appropriately.

Wizz Air UK is a registered company in England and a subsidiary of Wizz Air Group. Our UK office is located at London Luton Airport – we would not inform third parties that we have no presence in the UK given that this information is easily accessible online. We are one of the few airlines that has an investment grade balance sheet and have one of the strongest liquidity positions in the industry.

We sincerely apologise to J.F. and C.G. for the delay in receiving their refund. The passengers have now been contacted and their claim will be settled. The refund was initially delayed because the booking was made via an online travel agent which should have received the refund from Wizz Air and passed it on to the passenger. The online travel agency has now made contact with us and we are able to satisfy the claim.”

Wizz Air and OMV sign an agreement to make flying greener

Wizz Air plane
  • Memorandum of Understanding to supply Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) between 2023-2030
  • Enables Wizz Air to purchase up to 185,000 metric tons of SAF from OMV
  • Co-operation reaffirms Wizz Air’s ambitious sustainability commitment

Wizz Air, Europe’s fastest growing and most environmentally sustainable airline globally, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with OMV, the international integrated oil, gas and chemicals company headquartered in Vienna, for the supply of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) between 2023 and 2030. The MoU gives Wizz Air the opportunity to purchase up to 185,000 metric tons of SAF from OMV. This co-operation ensures that Wizz Air can progress in accordance with its plan for the reduction of CO2 intensity per passenger kilometre.

Today’s announcement builds on Wizz Air’s position as the most sustainable choice of air travel and is a key part of the airline’s environmental strategy to reduce carbon emissions intensity by 25% by 2030 and reach net-zero by 2050. With the lowest CO2 intensity per passenger kilometre in Europe, one of the youngest fleets in the world, and numerous fuel efficiency initiatives, Wizz Air is already leading the aviation industry to a more sustainable future.

OMV is implementing numerous measures to help deliver its ambitious strategic sustainability goals, and SAF is a key technology for the decarbonization of the aviation industry. The goal involves increasing SAF production to as much as 700,000 tons in 2030. This is in line with OMV’s ambition to become a net zero company by 2050 at the latest (for Scopes 1, 2 and 3). To this end, clear medium-term and long-term emission reduction targets have been defined as part of the OMV Strategy 2030.

Owain Jones, Development Officer at Wizz Air, said: “We have achieved our market-leading sustainability position by continued investment in innovative technology and operating the most up-to-date aircraft in the most efficient way.  Wizz Air is committed to driving our emissions intensity down by a further 25% by the end of the decade, with the use of SAF playing a significant role in that commitment.  Supporting the production and research of SAF technologies is one of our priorities and we are pleased to co-operate with OMV to further reduce the aviation industry’s carbon footprint. The new MoU is testament to our commitment to ensuring that by choosing to fly with Wizz Air, our customers are making the most responsible choice of air travel available.”

Nina Marczell, OMV Vice President Aviation, Fuel Distribution & Public Sector: “I am very pleased that the cooperation between OMV and Wizz Air will help us achieve our respective strategic sustainability goals. With Wizz Air we were able to gain a strong international partner. SAF is the most significant path to decarbonizing aviation in the coming decades. Our strategic relationship is enabling the way to a more sustainable aviation future we both want to be part of.”

Wizz Air Airbus A321neo
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Wizz Air joined the elite club of airlines

Hungarian brands Wizz Air

Wizz Air, Europe’s fastest growing and most environmentally sustainable airline globally (according to the CAPA – Centre for Aviation Awards for Excellence 2022), is pleased to announce it has joined the Alliance for Zero-Emission Aviation (AZEA), a voluntary initiative launched by the European Commission to pave the way for next-generation sustainable aircraft. On 14 November, Wizz Air joined public and private partners at the General Assembly hosted by EUROCONTROL and spearheaded by the Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space (DEFIS) of the European Commission.

Wizz Air joins AZEA alongside a range of public and private aviation stakeholders, united by the shared mission to decarbonise the industry by facilitating the successful commercialisation of hydrogen and electric aircraft. To achieve this, AZEA members will work together to identify barriers to advancing zero-emission aircraft, establish recommendations and a roadmap to address them, and promote investment projects, wizzair.com wrote.

Within AZEA, Wizz Air will share information with members on the expected challenges and solutions for achieving zero emission aircraft from an ultra-low-cost carrier perspective. Ultra-low-cost carriers are well placed to lead the transition to a more sustainable aviation industry given their high seat density and load factor, low fuel consumption and modern and tech-driven fleet, leading to significantly lower carbon footprint per passenger kilometre compared to other airlines. Participation in the AZEA’s meetings will provide Wizz Air with a much deeper understanding of how operating zero emission hydrogen aircraft could positively impact the airline’s future business model, and ultimately, eliminate the sector’s climate impact.

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Joining AZEA is further demonstration of Wizz Air’s continued commitment to sustainability and supports its target to reduce carbon emissions intensity per passenger kilometre by 25% by 2030. Cutting-edge technology, such as hydrogen, will play a key role in advancing Wizz Air’s long-term sustainability strategy.

Johan Eidhagen, Chief People and ESG Officer of Wizz Air, said: “We are pleased to have joined AZEA, and look forward to working with its members to collaborate on the ongoing research and development required for hydrogen aircraft operations. It is imperative that all stakeholders in the aviation ecosystem – from airlines and airports to regulators and fuel providers – coordinate to ensure the infrastructure is ready for the deployment of this technology on a large scale. At Wizz Air, we remain ambitious in our sustainability strategy and are committed to invest in cutting-edge technology, paving the way to more sustainable air travel. We are and will continue to be the greenest choice of flying.”

Wizz Air Airbus A321neo
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