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Wow Air was one of the leaders in low-cost transatlantic flights in Europe, carrying 3.5 million passengers last year.
After eight years of existence, the Icelandic low-cost airline announced Thursday morning the closure of its activities after announcing the cancellation of all its flights in a press release. For places available in other companies. "
The company did not undertake to compensate or even offer an immediate alternative to the thousands of travelers concerned, who received offers from other companies such as French XL, which announced special prices for people affected on the line Paris / New York, according to the newspaper echoes.
The company, founded in 2011 by Icelandic businessman Scully Mugensen, has been recognized as one of the first companies to offer cheap transatlantic flights for less than 300 euros via its Reykjavik base. and on an Airbus A320. Middle term.
In just a few years, Wow Air has been able to launch dozens of destinations in the United States. A strategy that has allowed, with the tourist attraction of Iceland, to carry 3.5 million passengers in 2018, of which 60% on transatlantic flights and 280,000 from or to France.
Crisp model
But several months ago, the difficulties faced by Wow Air and its various attempts to attract investors began to make headlines. For many low cost European companies that preceded them.
Wow Air operated a fleet of 16 Airbus aircraft, including three A330s.
The founding CEO of Wow Air tried to get it through his main rival, Icelandair, but the discussions failed. Then try to seduce Indigo Partners, an active shareholder of many low-cost airlines on both sides of the Atlantic (Frontier Airlines in the United States, Volaris in Mexico, Jetsmart in South America and Wizz Air in Europe). Last week, Wow Air tried one last attempt with Icelandair, which was not more positive than its predecessors: the situation has deteriorated further, with some creditors being reluctant to recapitalize them.
After the new bankruptcy of a low-cost European airline, attention is now shifted to "Norwegian", the company that operates long and low cost flights, which are also experiencing great difficulties.
The intervention of the main Norwegian public bank may have avoided a liquidity meltdown at the beginning of the year, but Norway must now face the consequences of the ban on flying imposed by the Boeing 737 Max, difficult to estimate because of the importance of his property.
(Wow Air) .. The story of a low cost airline prevailed then was destroyed https://t.co/SvZYzINMxD#Printer_Reader_ always pic.twitter.com/8isBXIBX5B
– Al Bayan Newspaper (@AlBayanNews) March 29, 2019
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