Wizz Air has apologised for not settling refund claims quicker and said it is working to improve its customer service levels.

Wizz issued the apology in response to findings released last week by Which? that revealed the amount still collectively owed by airlines stands at £4.5 million.

Which? said Wizz Air accounts for almost half the total amount, even though it carries fewer passenger than some of its rivals.

The consumer champion found that the Hungarian airline has 1,601 ‘outstanding’ County Court Judgments (CCJs), totalling almost £2.2m.

In response, Wizz admitted it ‘fell short of our own aspirations and our customers’ expectations’.

“When things went wrong, we did not react quickly enough to manage the high volume of customer claims that resulted from this disruption,” the airline said.

“We are sorry about this and we are working to ensure that our customers’ experience with Wizz is better this year.”

Wizz said it is redesigning its policies and procedures, including adding more staff at the airport and additional hotel and transport options for when people are delayed; streamlining its customer service and claims processes, including doubling call-centre capacity and introducing simpler online claims systems.

The airline also says it has improved its payment process so new claims are answered within 30 days and payments made within 10 days of settlement.

Wizz added: “These changes are currently being implemented and will ensure that passengers’ travel experience and customer services interactions are better than last year.

“Since December, Wizz has paid all CCJs where it received the judgment, and is continuing to work to settle all other outstanding claims as quickly as possible.

“This is a complex process and is therefore taking some time. Customers with outstanding CCJs can upload judgments directly to our website or our app for priority processing.

“We are taking this matter extremely seriously and doing all we can to fix these issues and settle all outstanding cases as quickly as possible. 

“We are not there yet, but we will continue to improve and are committed to providing better customer service going forward,” Wizz Air promised.

This weekend, it was reported that Essex property developer Russell Quirk went to court after months of waiting for the airline to reimburse him and ended up sending the bailiffs to the Wizz Air check-in desk at Luton Airport.