Last summer, the Budapest-headquartered carrier said it faced operational challenges driven "mostly" by the external environment, such as the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Despite these factors, the airline on Thursday admitted it had not meet its own standards in the level of service delivered, with flights too often late or cancelled, disruptions not managed at an adequate level and claims taking too long to process.
In February, Wizz was named the worst short-haul carrier by consumer champion Which? just a month after it was found to be the worst major airline for flight delays by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
The airline regulator also branded Wizz’s failure to resolve complaints and pay passengers compensation in a timely fashion "unacceptable".
Wizz now hopes to improve its standing amongst British travellers with a new campaign called PINK – Punctual, Innovative, New and Knowledgeable.
Ahead of the peak summer season, during which millions of Brits are predicted to travel, the new campaign will highlight the steps taken by Wizz to improve its operations.
To prepare for what Eurocontrol claimed would be "the toughest summer in the last decade" for Air Traffic Control (ATF), Wizz has invested more than £90 million into improving its operations and preparing for increased air traffic.
The campaign will showcase a series of new commitments to help boost brand awareness and consideration, including aiming to resolve all customer claims within 60 days and 120% of ticket refunds to Wizz credit to be made within the same day.
To achieve these ambitious goals, Wizz has implemented several structural and organisational changes including additional spare aircraft capacity to support during disruptions, increased staffing at the airport, more buffer time into crew rosters and between flights to make schedules more resilient and a new AI-based tool to help forecast and mitigate possible disruptions.
"Like many other airlines, our service last year was impacted by a number of disruptions which understandably resulted in frustration," said Marion Geoffroy, managing director at Wizz Air UK.
"While there are always going to be issues outside of our control, like the weather or strikes, we have learnt from this experience and are committed to providing the best possible service for our customers."
