Wizz Air announces flight cancellations due to inspections of plane engines
Wizz Air has announced that it is cancelling a number of flights due to a number of "accelerated inspections" of its engines taking place. The airline said that it would be contacting affected passengers and offering them options such as alternative flights, full refunds, or 120% airline credit.
A statement from the airline read: "Wizz Air announces today that due to the accelerated inspections of several of our GTF engines mandated by Pratt&Whitney, we have made adjustments to the network resulting in cancellations of some flights on selected days between certain destinations.
"Passengers on the affected flights will be offered an alternative flight schedule, provided full refunds in the original method of payment, or offered 120% of the original fare in airline reservation credit. In the instance a booking was created via a travel agency or an online travel agency, we advise customers to reach out to the agency which owns the booking to make necessary changes to the reservation. Wizz Air also recommends checking the spam folder for emails about possible schedule changes.
Wizz Air has announced a number of flight cancellations (Getty Images)"We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused by this unplanned event out of our control, but the safety and security of our passengers, crew and aircraft is our number one priority."
The airline did not specify exactly which routes would be affected.
Abandoned UK airport plans relaunch with budget flights to Spain and Cyprus
Earlier this month, the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) revealed that it had ordered Wizz Air to revisit compensation claims by passengers due to "high volumes of complaints about the airline not paying passengers what they are owed".
The budget carrier was one of many airlines caught up in last summer's chaos, which saw flights delayed and cancelled across the UK and Europe, amidst airports struggling to cope with a surge of holidaymakers post-Covid.
The CAA said it had been in contact with Wizz Air for months after receiving complaints from passengers that their rights were not met when flights were delayed or cancelled. This also included frustrations from passengers who were not given alternative flights to help them get to their destination.
As a result, the CAA says it's instructed Wizz Air to "make changes to its policies and procedures", and says the airline has engaged with the regulator.
This includes committing to re-look at "claims it received for replacement flight costs, transfers when replacement flights were via different airports, and care and assistance (typically hotel costs) following flight disruptions".
The airline says it has already been making several commitments this year including a pledge to make 120% WIZZ credit refunds within 24 hours and process 100% ticket refunds within 7 working days, as well as resolving customer claims within 45 days.
Speaking about last summer, Marion Geoffroy, Managing Director at Wizz Air UK said that the airline "have learned from this experience and have taken significant steps to make our operation more robust and customer-centric".
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
