Icelandic Airline WOW Goes Ahead And Cancels The Whole Airline
March 28, 2019, 11:49 a.m.
The budget airline's unexpected closing has left employees without jobs and travelers sans flights.
Wow Air, pictured during better days at Keflavik international airport.
In the seminal 30 Rock episode "Sandwich Day," Liz Lemon's ex-boyfriend, Floyd, shows up in New York, and they have a wonderful albeit bittersweet time. When he sets out again for his home of Cleveland, Ohio, he encounters startling news at the airport: The airline is canceled. Not the flight, rather the airline, which leaves passengers unsure of what to do or where to go.
On Thursday, that exact thing happened with the Icelandic budget airline WOW Air: The airline abruptly went out of business, leaving 2700 passengers without flights, and about 1000 employees without jobs. A statement on their website simply says that they've "ceased operation" and that all flights are cancelled. The airline advises those looking to not be stranded are advised to check flights with other airlines, some of which offer lower-cost options dubbed "rescue fares."
Earlier today, before the closure was announced, Wow Air had suspended flights. They claimed that they were "in the final stages of finalizing equity raise with a group of investors," and would be announcing more information soon. Then, they shut down the airline entirely. "We have run out of time and have unfortunately not been able to secure funding for the company,” Chairman Skuli Mogensen wrote in a letter to employees, Bloomberg reports. “I will never be able to forgive myself for not taking action sooner.”
As people on Twitter noted, the airline was still selling tickets to certain destinations as of this morning. Travelers were baffled and angry about the shocking news, with many of them unable to get home or to their next destination.
Well now I don’t!! 😭😭😭 #wowair pic.twitter.com/UbOq9iYEzw
— nicolekrystyn (@nicolekrystyn) March 28, 2019
@wowairsupport Disappointed to hear that my flight has been cancelled. I've been trying to contact your customer service but nothing 😩😩what should I do? #wowair
— Itzelle Medina (@ItzelleMedina) March 28, 2019
It's been a tough few years for budget airlines, and it doesn't help that tourism rates to Iceland, Wow Air's homebase, have dropped in recent years. According to BBC News, Wow is the third airline that's shuttered just this year. It's too bad, given that the airline had an exceptional, unofficial spokesman in Owen Wilson, noted auteur of the word "wow."
