The CEO of Wizz Air, József Váradi, revealed that of the tens of thousands of passengers who were affected during the summer by the problems faced by the airline, a considerable percentage were represented by Romanians. He also talked about money for those who faced canceled flights.
Many Romanians, affected by Wizz Air’s problems
According to the statements made by the CEO of Wizz Air during a press conference, approximately 20% of the tens of thousands of airline passengers affected by the company’s problems during the summer are Romanian.
“In the summer, the compensations were close to 100 million euros. So we compensate accordingly. You don’t have to worry about it. Of course we don’t want to cancel, that’s why we are concerned about making the flights. But if we still have to cancel for one reason or another, we comply with European regulations and pay passengers whatever rights they have.
We appreciate and respect their rights. At the moment we have about 70% of the claims for compensation automatically. So even customers can get their refund. They press a button and receive the money without any intervention from the company. And practically we are making a lot of efforts so that this process is as automated as possible”, said József Váradi.
He stated that there are also some more complicated claims that need more time to process, but that the company representatives are trying to mitigate all these problems, as well as not to cancel the flights. Váradi emphasized the fact that no Wizz Air flights were canceled in Romania last month.
Investments announced by Wizz Air
The CEO of Wizz Air also announced some investments made by the company. József Váradi said some of these are intended for three spare aircraft, which cost 100 million euros each. Previously, there were five such aircraft in the company’s system. Thus, since the beginning of the summer, the company has reached from five to eight reserve aircraft.
“We have created several stand-by crews and pilots, so that if we need to introduce a new aircraft to recover operations, we also have crews available for the respective reserve aircraft. And this is a significant investment. We also invested a lot in logistics.
We were distributing spare parts for technical recovery from a number of points and expanded the number of points. For example, we have a logistics base in Bucharest, so that we are as close as possible to the problem. If there is a problem in Romania, let’s not bring the parts from Poland, because we have a big base in Poland, but we also have parts here in Bucharest. We are talking about warehouses, hangars, spare parts. So it’s an investment,” said the head of Wizz Air.
Other measures taken by Wizz Air
At the same time, the CEO of Wizz Air said that the risk of staff leaving the flight schedule or the risk of flight cancellation was assessed. In addition, the company has invested heavily in the call center.
“Before we had three, now we have five call center units, so more capacity, more infrastructure in order to satisfy people’s requirements. And we also invest in the resources on the ground, in the airports. If there is a problem, people should have someone to turn to, not to feel threatened”, said József Váradi.
The CEO of Wizz Air stated that the airline’s problems have not completely disappeared, but that the company is no longer facing the situation of June and July.
