Wizz Air CEO Tells Pilots To Fly Fatigued

This was one of the key reasons why Norway were not allowing Wizz Air to open a hub in the country. Labour issues aside, there was also issues with the hiring practices of the airline and also a fear of the regional market becoming dominated by LCCs

It’s an incentive issue. Who doesn’t want extra money, especially when it’s £100M?

The comments by Varadi and comments here can not be evaluated in a vacuum. there must be some background issues going on here. I suspect that there is a work action under there fatigue issues.

Yeah, but not "evaluating comments in a vaccum" is not fun though. It's a lot easier and feels a lot better to just say "the guy wants to make his 100M euros and he gives no fs about safety."
The approach you're suggesting requires a little more thought and leaves less room for grandstanding.

Agree with both of you.

Not to speculate but PROBABLY the guy does not actually mean fly fatigued...he implies that everyone lives with stress and we have to learn how to live and deal with it.

But hey, sensationalism is what reporting all about today...

It is also incumbent upon crewmembers to manage their own rest so that they are not fatigued when they receive rosters that are compliant with flight duty period regulations.

I've personally never advised or instructed crew to fly through fatigue, but I have questioned the root cause of some fatigue claims. Sometimes, it indicates a genuine pattern that can be addressed. Often though, there is more to the issue than just physical fatigue, which is what I think he is implying here.

For example. I've had to deal with a crewmember calling out "fatigued" after a 2 night layover. A call to the layover hotel revealed that the crewmember in question was fatigued because he spent the night in the local jail after being arrested for streaking through the lobby on a dare. In a situation like that, I too would expect him to "go the extra mile" - not by flying while drunk or tired, but by not getting himself into that situation in the first place.

It isn't like any reasonable pilot is going to say "I'm too tired to fly but I'm going to listen to Varadi instead and risk my own life anyway". I don' t believe that is what Varadi is implying they should do either.

Thank you Syd, thank you Donato.
(Yeah, it’s always easy to blame the CEO…but as long as customers and bloggers are looking at the best value, crew members have to sacrifice…)

Totally different but if the below tweet is true, the compulsory Covid-19 test before returning to the US will end in 2 days’ time:
https://twitter.com/kaitlancollins/status/1535253030894850048?s=10&t=oaO4B-wR1Le-4NN_ilAecQ

Anyone heard the same as above?
I am not on Twitter, a friend forwarded it

Seems like some people are in the "if he did say it, he didn't mean it, and if he did, you didn't understand it" part of the deflection.

I can appreciate the notion that *maybe* these pilots are not using their Sick leave appropriately, but if that's the case, you address that issue, not some issue about needing to push the extra mile through fatigue.
The comments as put forward are suggestive and dangerous. He could've said things differently, he could've not said anything at all.

His frustration at the LSE listed share price dropping 46% in the last 6 months must have put him in a bad mood...

@Ben from Sunday, inbound covid testing for arrivals to the US won’t be required

There’s obviously a problem at the airline with crew using “fatigue” inappropriately. But as CEO he needs to choose his words better. I work for a healthcare organization that just dealt with a nurses strike. The CEO said both of the following things in the same letter. 1. Striking nurses are putting patient’s safety at risk. 2. Patient’s are not a risk because we have secured skilled temporary replacement workers. Never fully trust the words of a CEO.

Yes, I alerted Lucky earlier today to that, but my message disappeared- presumably because it had a link to a Twitter message

I would rather see data around the demanded flight/work hours these pilots are asked to accomplish. It might be too much (clear company fault), or it might be in line with, or less than regulated flight hours. FAA, for example, strictly regulates these numbers in a commercial environment. This might indicate poor time work/life management of employees, or just a bad culture in the organization (also company fault). We're all human.

This could be a crappy leader/company, could be lazy employees, could be somewhere in the middle. Without objective data, how would we judge?

Final Caveat: NObody is going to claim that safety should not be #1 in ANY industry, expecially aviation. The question has to be: Is the company asking the employees to perform an UNSAFE amount of work?

(My guess: Probably yes, but again, I personally wouldn't judge without appropriate data.)

Note: This opinion coming from an FAA-certified private pilot. I am NOT a commercial pilot.

Not a bad mood. Just fatigued, like everybody else.

Airline pilot checking in.. Ill call in sick or fatigued whenever i feel like it, just a little bit.

What are u serious?

Better take the safer approach than be sorry.

Regulators time to do Internal and external audits to enhance Safety Management Systems.

Varadi is known to be a CEO that build the company from the very start, whilst caring for his employees and showing integrity. The airline certainly doesnt follow Ryanair"s O"Leary"s path. Most people commenting here have clearly never flown with Wizzair. I think these comments are taken out of context and believe there is more going on here than a $100m bonus.

I don't think a CEO is actually telling pilots to fly while fatigued in the clinical sense. There is a significant difference between true fatigue and being tired. That's why there are two pilots (or more) on long flights.

The remarks can be taken out of context and sensationalized. If a large number of pilots are booking off because of 'fatigue' then one has to question the motive. Like truck and bus drivers, there a rules to how many hours one can operate without breaks to prevent fatigue but it appears that this might not be the case.

Fatigue has been the cause of all too many aviation accidents. Flight crews need discretion to determine their own level of readiness and need to be encouraged to do so. Outrageous.

Typical management scum motivated by greed and personal profit at the (potential) ultimate price for everyone. This is exactly how accidents have happened in the past. I hope their board lets him go

Based on Varadis’ statement that one fifth of the crews are calling in sick due to fatigue, I wonder if fatigue is used as a “joker”, because a fatigue claim must never be questioned. The company operates in European airspace and must follow European crew-related laws after all.