July 14 (SeeNews) - Romania's consumer protection authority said on Thursday it has fined local low-cost carrier Blue-Air with 2 million euro ($2 million) for cancelling over 11,000 flights over a 12-month period.
Between April 30, 2021 and April 30, 2022, Blue Air cancelled 11,289 flights for which customers had paid a total of 66.5 million lei ($13.5 million/13.45 million euro), the National Authority for Consumer Protection, ANPC, said in a press release.
Following numerous complaints from customers who did not receive refunds, ANPC decided to investigate in June. ANPC also decided that Blue Air must reimburse the value of the cancelled services and award related compensations within a maximum of 10 days.
ANPC also alerted the European Commission and its European counterpart authorities, requesting verifications for similar violations by Blue Air. ANPC added it has received 924 cross-border complaints from consumers regarding Blue Air.
The authority said it has notified other member states through the Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) network about Wizz Air and Ryanair, which also had many cancellations or flight delays during this period.
Blue Air can challenge ANPC's decision within 30 days, according to a regulation posted on the authority's website.
Blue Air, the only air carrier in Romania with 100% domestic capital, started operations in December 2004.
At the end of October, Ridgecrest, an AIM-listed cash shell, announced that it has terminated negotiations on its proposed reverse takeover of Blue Air. The decision was a consequence of the airline's inability to raise the pre-reverse takeover funding, which was was the main condition of the non-binding heads of agreement between Ridgecrest and Blue Air's vendors announced in July, Ridgecrest said at the time.