Wizz Air’s Behaviour ‘Unacceptable’ Says UK Civil Aviation Authority

On Friday, Wizz Air (LON: WIZZ) was slammed for its “unacceptable” behaviour by the UK aviation regulator regarding the volume of complaints and claims

The UK Civil Aviation Authority expressed “significant concerns” as the low-cost carrier was ranked as the worst airline for complaints escalated to the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) schemes or the regulator's complaints team in Q3, with 811 complaints per million passengers.

The UK regulatory body said that except for Royal Brunei Airlines, which had 555 complaints per million passengers, other airlines such as EasyJet (245 complaints per million), Ryanair (235), and British Airways (166) had less than half as many complaints.

“The volume of complaints and claims received by ADR in respect of Wizz Air is far higher than those seen for other airlines,” commented Anna Bowles, Head of Consumer Policy & Enforcement at the UK Civil Aviation Authority. “This, alongside the delays in processing and paying claims and the large number of County Court Judgements made against Wizz Air, has raised significant concerns for the CAA.”

They also questioned the time Wizz Air takes to process claims received directly from passengers, as well as a large number of County Court Judgements (CCJs), found against Wizz that remain unpaid.

“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,” Bowles added.

The regulator said Wizz has “acknowledged and expressed regret” over the problems and has committed to clearing the backlogs of claims and outstanding ADR payments by Christmas.

Wizz Air shares fell 6% on Friday, while they have edged around 0.6% higher so far during Monday's session.