”Fly540 is hereby directed to, with immediate effect, cease and desist from advertising flight bookings through electronic, print and social media or receiving any flight bookings from the Public or travel agents until the ongoing investigations are completed,” a statement issued by CAK reads. The CAK, which is obligated to protect consumers from unfair and misleading market conduct by businesses has received more than 50 complaints from customers. In July, when consumer complaints were already high, they had issued a warning to the airline and required them it to adhere to competition rules, failure to do so a penalty awaited them but Fly540 failed to rectify the problems. It accused the airline of misleading the public on its capability to provide air travel services to passengers, inaccurate and misleading information about the possibility of customers changing their flight plans, flight cancellations, and excessive delays in refunding clients.
One of the complaints came from Ewelina Ozimek who reported “Me and my husband bought a ticket in your company. The flight was cancelled on September 28. We’ve got information we can rebook a flight but there were no flights for the next month! ,”
To add on the troubles facing the low-cost airline, CAK notes that the company’s Air Operator Certificate (AOC) expired on September 30 this year, another reason they should not be in operation.
In the order dated November 15, the authority has ordered the airline to refund all moneys received from consumers it has sold tickets to from September 30 this year to date. and refund all moneys received from consumers who had purchased their tickets before September 30, 2022 and their flights were arbitrary cancelled,” CAK said. The airline is required to make the refunds within 30 days.
It has also been ceased from selling any more tickets.
Fly 540 must within seven days of receipt of the order furnish the Authority with evidence of compliance with the set conditions.
