Wow Air to Relaunch Under New Ownership

Wow cabin crew at Keflavik Airport

Wow Air, which shut down in March of this year, will likely get a second chance on life.

Virginia businesswoman Michele Ballarin, who is chairman of USAerospace Associates, announced at a news conference in Reykjavik on Friday that she and her partners have acquired Wow Air’s assets from the bankruptcy estate and that the transaction has closed.  The sale price was not revealed.

The airline said it plans to commence operations with two aircraft and launch flights between Washington, D.C. and Reykjavik in October 2019.  It plans to have four planes by the summer of 2020, and ultimately operate a fleet of ten to 12.

In an interview in July in Morgunblaðið, Ballarin said that she “sees opportunities” in airfreight between Iceland and the United States and would operate two Airbus freighters in addition to the passenger fleet.  She also confirmed that the company has $86 million in working capital.

Ballarin told Morgunblaðið that she sees several ways to make the new Wow Air’s operation more cost effective, including improving its service so it doesn’t have to pay out as much compensation for delayed flights as the failed airline did.  She also said that Wow wouldn’t transport employees from the capital city of Reykjavik to Keflavik International Airport, something the old Wow Air did as well, and that the company will have a smaller IT department.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)