Wizz Air cancels autumn flights from Turku to Bucharest

Wizz Air has cancelled its autumn flights from Turku to Bucharest despite continuing to market the route on its website, Yle reports. The airline announced in June that it would suspend the route until further notice.

Carol Aren, project director at tourism marketing company Visit Turku Archipelago, said the flights would not operate. She believes technical issues may have left the flights visible online while the cancellation process or the reassignment of aircraft was still under way.

Passengers received cancellation notices

Turku resident Henrik Kukkanen booked return flights to Bucharest for a group in April, with departure scheduled for October 19. Wizz Air informed him in early June that the flight had been cancelled.

Kukkanen made a new booking for a week later, but received a cancellation notice for that flight on August 11.

He said the airline had not provided a more detailed explanation and criticised its communication. Wizz Air promised to refund the full ticket price.

Consumer authority outlines passengers’ rights

The Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority has not received complaints from customers who booked autumn flights to Bucharest with Wizz Air. Special adviser Matilda Soini commented on the matter in general terms.

She said the EU directive underpinning consumer protection legislation includes a so-called blacklist of prohibited marketing and sales practices. It considers it improper for a business to encourage consumers to buy a product when it has reason to believe it cannot provide it.

When a flight is cancelled, the airline must, at the passenger’s choice, either refund the ticket price or offer an alternative journey to the destination, Soini said.

Airline’s future plans remain unclear

Aren considers it unlikely that Wizz Air will resume flights from Turku to Bucharest. She said there had been no discussion of flights for next spring or summer, although low-cost airlines can change their plans quickly.

Finavia, which owns Turku Airport, also has no certain information about Wizz Air’s future operations there. Communications manager Elina Suominen said the airline had not ordered services from Finavia that would make it possible to predict its winter or next summer operations.

Wizz Air’s flights from Turku to Vilnius in Lithuania also appear likely to end. Aren said the route was expected to stop in the autumn because demand had not been sufficient, and she would be surprised if it resumed during the summer season.

Wizz Air also flies from Turku to Gdansk in Poland. The airline did not respond to requests for comment on the future of its routes.