Wizz Air Revealed as UK’s Worst for Delays

DALLAS - Wizz Air (W6) has been ranked the worst for flight delays in the UK by the country's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

On average, the airline's flights were delayed by 46 minutes and six seconds. This was over three times longer than in 2022 when it was also named the UK's worst airline for delays.

W6 operates from many UK airports, including Aberdeen (ABZ), Birmingham (BHX), Bristol (BRS), Edinburgh (EDI), Glasgow (GLA), Luton (LTN), Liverpool (LPL) and Leeds (LBA).

TUI (BY) came in second, with an average delay of 40 minutes and 18 seconds. Qatar Airways (QR) was third, with average delays of 31 minutes and 48 seconds. Meanwhile, Norwegian (DY) performed best, with an average delay of 13 minutes and 42 seconds.

The study covered over 2,500 scheduled and charter flights from all UK airports. It did not include cancelled flights.

Previous Concerns

In December, the CAA raised concerns over the airline and its significant number of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) complaints. It also questioned the airline over the time it took to process claims from passengers and many County Court Judgements (CCJs) that remained unpaid. The CAA hopes to gain the power to enforce fines on airlines that mount up the biggest delays.

Wizz Air recently closed its Cardiff Airport (CWL) base citing "the challenging macro-economic environment and high operational costs" as the reason for the closure. The airline's UK subsidiary announced the CWL operation in December 2020 and based a single Airbus A321neo at the airport.

It was also forced to transfer its operations from Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA) to nearby Leeds Bradford (LBA) when the former closed its doors.

https://airwaysmag.com/doncaster-sheffield-airport/

Featured Image: Wizz Air Airbus A321neo (HA-LZA). Photo: Tony Bordelais/Airways.