Hungary's competition watchdog has fined Wizz Air 770,000 euros ($839,916) for misleading communication, according to a statement on the authority's website on Saturday.
The Hungarian competition authority accused Wizz Air of violating professional due diligence and misleading consumers about its automatic check-in service and more expensive packages. Wizz Air did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
This penalty follows Wizz Air's recent reduction of its annual profit forecast, after a 44% decline in first-quarter operating profit, partly due to costs associated with Pratt & Whitney engine issues and temporary wet leases to enhance capacity.
The low-cost airline, operating exclusively with Airbus aircraft, has encountered difficulties with Pratt and Whitney RTX engines, leading to the grounding of 46 planes for inspections this summer, which limits its capacity. European airlines have struggled in the first half of the year due to rising costs and the normalization of customer demand post-pandemic.
Wizz Air, based in the U.K., transported 5.9 million passengers in July with a load factor of 93.8%, after canceling 1% of its scheduled flights due to global outages.
