Wizz Air’s CEO József Váradi ran into quite a bit of turbulence over the past week after telling pilots they should “go the extra mile” and not refuse to fly when they are fatigued.
Pilot unions, customers and safety regulators all chimed in with reminders that 15-20% of all air crashes have involved fatigued pilots. The European Cockpit Association suggested that ignoring fatigue is like “handing the car keys to a drunk driver.”
Váradi’s complaints included saying that “I mean we cannot run this business when every fifth person of a base reports sickness because the person is fatigued… We are all fatigued. But sometimes it is required to go the extra mile. The damage is huge when we cancel a flight. It’s reputational damage to the brand, and it is [also] financial, transactional damage, because we have to pay compensation for that.”
It appears, however, that the “reputational damage” is more likely to come from the CEO’s remarks than from flight cancelations.
