The low-cost airline Blue Air has received a hefty fine in Romania. The consumer protection authority ANPC imposed a fine of the equivalent of two million euros on the carrier because it had not complied with the statutory reimbursement obligations for canceled flights for around a year.

It is the highest penalty ever imposed in Romania in consumer protection matters. The authority accuses Blue Air of not paying back the money within 30 days in thousands of cases of canceled flights in the period from April 2021, 30 to April 2022, 10. This is required by law within seven days, although the office has already granted a “grace period” of three more days for processing.

A total of 924 complaints against the low-cost airline from 20 EU countries (including Romania) led to the investigation. The authority explained that there are a total of 11.289 flights, which account for 178.405 bookings. The sales value was estimated at 66,6 million Romanian lei.

Since Blue Air is said to have strictly refused to disclose the income, it was estimated and then a fine of two million euros was imposed. Blue Air does not want to let this sit and counters that the figures given by the consumer protection authority are not correct. These are flights that had to be suspended due to corona waves 3, 4 and 5. Most of those affected would have rebooked their trips and started in the meantime.

Blue Air has the right to appeal against the fine, which it would like to take. If the company submits this within the appeal period specified in the notice, no legal force arises and the matter ends up before the competent administrative court.