Polish watchdog claims 4 You Airlines acting 'fraudulently'

AL!4YO has responded angrily to calls by the Polish Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (Urząd Ochrony Konkurencji i Konsumentów - UOKiK) to have the airline charged with selling tickets fraudulently.

According to Poland's TVN24bis, UOKIK last week asked the Polish public prosecutor to investigate the carrier for selling tickets for its proposed Rzeszow Jasionka and Lodz scheduled services in November despite not possessing any of the certificates required by the Polish civil aviation authority (Urząd Lotnictwa Cywilnego - ULC) to do so. UOKIK further claimed that 4You's planned November 3 launch date was not feasible given the timeframe required to apply for its Air Operator Certificate.

In its response, the carrier claimed it had not been given the opportunity to furnish the regulator with an explanation for its activities labelling the move to proceed with litigation "arbitrary and incomprehensible."

The airline's case is indeed a complex one as it had initially operated as a charter carrier offering flights between Poland and the Mediterranean this summer. Owing to it not having its own AOC, it was forced to operate its wet-leased YanAir (YE, Kyiv Igor Sikorsky) A320-200s under EuroLOT (Warsaw Chopin) flight numbers.

However, the decision was then taken to reposition the airline as a scheduled carrier thereby warranting the application for an AOC. With the subsequent return of its A320s and the upcoming arrival of a fleet of B737s from Grand Cru Airlines (Vilnius), the carrier does not, as of this moment, technically possess any aircraft.

UOKIK claims that is also for this reason that it lodged its case with the authorities adding that since the airline does not possess any certification, and because no other Polish airline has laid claim to operating the jets on its behalf, that 4You's sale of tickets to the public constitutes fraudulent activity.

"Given all of these circumstances and the high probability of default on obligations arising from the agreements entered into by the entrepreneur, UOKIK's secretary general has now turned to law enforcement agencies asking them to investigate 4You Airlines' actions for possible criminal activity, in particular fraud within the meaning of Art. 286 of the Criminal Code," the regulator said in a statement.