REG - Wizz Air Holdings - CAA confirms customer commitment compliance

Wizz Air HoldingsAnnouncement

17/01/2024 07:00

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RNS Number : 9029Z  Wizz Air Holdings PLC  17 January 2024

 

WIZZ AIR FULLY COMPLIANT WITH COMMITMENTS MADE TO CUSTOMERS, UK'S CIVIL
AVIATION AUTHORITY CONFIRMS

Ticker:  WIZZ

·      Wizz Air made several commitments to the regulator regarding
customer claims

·      The CAA has now finalised its review of claims and is satisfied
the airline is compliant

·      Wizz Air fully co-operated with the CAA and has invested £90m in
improving operations

·      The airline launched a series of new initiatives to reduce
cancellations and create a better experience for its customers, resulting in
improved performance

London, 17th January 2024: Wizz Air Holdings Plc ("Wizz Air"), the fastest
growing and one of the most sustainable European airlines, today announces
that it has fully complied with the deed of undertaking signed with the UK's
Civil Aviation Authority last year following disruptions to its service in the
summer of 2022.

As part of the agreement with the CAA in July 2023, Wizz Air made several
commitments regarding the handling of claims for costs incurred following a
flight disruption. The CAA has conducted checks on a random sample of claims
and has confirmed that Wizz Air is fully compliant with the agreement.

Wizz Air co-operated with the CAA throughout the process and the CAA does not
intend to review any further claims. The UK CAA found no additional errors
from the claims proactively re-visited by Wizz Air.

Prior to the undertakings, Wizz Air had already launched its own commitments
to reduce cancellations and create a better experience for customers. The
independent changes were announced in an effort to improve customer
experience, and Wizz Air continues to focus on delivering for passengers.

Wizz Air invested £90 million to improve its performance and operations in
2023, resulting in a flight completion rate of 99.24%, which is one of the
best in the industry. Furthermore, 90% of refunds are now processed within
five days. The airline has also now identified and paid all known County Court
Judgements (CCJs).

Wizz Air UK Managing Director, Marion Geoffroy, said: "We are pleased the CAA
has recognised the significant steps Wizz Air has taken to improve performance
for our customers. Like all airlines in Europe, we faced unprecedented
operating challenges in the summer of 2022 but the improvements we put in
place have led to a better customer experience and our performance in 2023 was
among the strongest in the industry. We are seeing a significant uptick in our
customer satisfaction scores and we remain fully committed to continuing to
improve our operations in 2024 and beyond."

Wizz Air implemented a range of structural and organisational changes in 2023,
including:

·      Adding spare aircraft capacity to support during disruptions

·      Increased staffing at airports for operations and claim centres

·      Built increased time into crew rosters and between flights to
make schedules more resilient

·      Doubled its operations team and split processes to be more
efficient and focused on handling disruptions

·      Implemented a new AI-based tool to forecast and mitigate possible
disruptions

 Wizz Air also invested heavily in its customer experience. Changes for 2023
included:

·      Launched a fully automated refund process - 90% of claims in 2023
were completed online (compared to 20% in 2022) allowing call centre agents to
spend more time on complex cases in order to resolve them faster

·      24/7 online support with a new chatbot called Amelia

·      Launched new customer service channel on Twitter @AskWIZZ

·      Contracted four new contact centres for increased customer
service capacity

·      Increased customer service agent training and quality checks to
drive efficiency and quality of service

·      Worked closely with ground handling providers to increase number
of staff on-the-ground

 

ABOUT WIZZ AIR

Wizz Air, the fastest growing European ultra-low-cost airline, operates a
fleet of 195 Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft. A team of dedicated aviation
professionals delivers superior service and very low fares, making Wizz Air
the preferred choice of 51.1 million passengers in the Financial Year F23
ending 31 March 2023. Wizz Air is listed on the London Stock Exchange under
the ticker WIZZ. The company was recently named one of the world's top ten
safest airlines by airlineratings.com (http://airlineratings.com/) , the
world's only safety and product rating agency, and named Airline of the Year
by Air Transport Awards in 2019 and in 2023. Wizz Air has also been recognised
as the "Most Sustainable Low-Cost Airline" within the World Finance
Sustainability Awards in 2021-2023 and the "Global Environmental
Sustainability Airline Group of the Year" by the CAPA-Centre for Aviation
Awards for Excellence 2022-2023.

 - Ends -

 For more information:

 Investors:  Zlatko Custovic, Wizz Air                                    +36 1 777 9407

 Media:      Tamara Vallois, Wizz Air                                     +36 1 777 9324

             James McFarlane / Eleni Menikou/ Charles Hirst, MHP Group:   +44 (0) 20 3128 8100

 

 

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