Wizz Air in trouble: EU may investigate record high number of cancellations

A Romanian state secretary complained about the regular delays and cancellations of the Hungarian low-cost company. And it seems he did not stop at just talking about the problem. He turned to the European Union’s Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) after Wizz Air cancelled a record-high number of flights this weekend.

Wizz Air losing Eastern Europe to Ryanair?

Wizz Air continuously expands in the Eastern European market, and the Middle East and Central Asia. For a non-professional outsider, the situation might seem as if the Hungarian carrier agreed with its main competitor, Ryanair, and distributed the European market. Wizz Air takes flights carrying guest workers between Eastern European and Western European countries. Meanwhile, the Irish low-cost airline dominates the market in Western Europe where Wizz Air seems unable to compete because of the many delays and cancellations its passengers must face.

However, we wrote HERE that the situation is far from that. Ryanair plans to take away the Eastern European market from Wizz Air. They want to beat Wizz Air by being punctual, offering tickets for a better price, more routes, and doing their best when it comes to delays and cancellations. They want to gain a dominant position in Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania. Meanwhile, József Váradi, the CEO of Wizz Air, regularly talks about the importance of Eastern expansion, not a Western one. Probably that is why Abu Dhabi became the Hungarian airline’s main hub in the world instead of e.g. London or a German city.

Romania’s complaint and a possible investigation may accelerate the aforementioned trends. Bogdan Mîndrescu, a secretary of the Romanian transport ministry, announced in a Saturday Facebook post that they filed an official complaint against Wizz Air. The reason is that the Hungarian low-cost airline cancelled nine flights in only one day, maszol.ro, a Hungarian newspaper in Romania, wrote.

Romania outraged: investigation may start soon?

The secretary said they conducted negotiations concerning Wizz Air’s flight cancellations, delays, and the state of the Romanian passengers of the Hungarian company. He added that among the participants of the meeting were Yvonne Moynihan, Chief Corporate & ESG Officer of Wizz Air, Zsuzsanna Poss, the CEO of Wizz Air Group Communications and Customer Service, Diarmuind O Conghaile, Managing Director of Wizz Air Malta, and Horia Constantinescu, President of the Romanian Consumer Protection Authority.

The secretary said they filed an official complaint after Wizz cancelled nine flights in one day due to technical reasons. “We demanded an action plan urgently from the leadership of Wizz Air on reducing the number of cancelled flights due to technical reasons”, he said. Mr Mîndrescu added they wanted calculable flights and to solve the problem of the overworked crew. Mrs Constantinescu informed the participants that they sent a report about the situation Wizz Air created in Romania to the EASA.

The secretary highlighted that they follow Wizz Air’s activity closely and will not tolerate any anomalies from international and national rules. Here is his post:

Interested in Wizz Air stories? HERE is an article about Wizz Air’s latest gigantic investment.