WOW air
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Founded | November 2011 | ||||||
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Commenced operations | 31 May 2012 | ||||||
Operating bases | Keflavík International Airport | ||||||
Fleet size | 9 | ||||||
Destinations | 29[1] | ||||||
Headquarters | Reykjavík, Iceland | ||||||
Key people | Skúli Mogensen (CEO) | ||||||
Website | wowair.com |
WOW air is an Icelandic low-cost carrier headquartered in Reykjavík and based at Keflavík International Airport.[2]
History
WOW air was founded in November 2011 and operated its inaugural flight in 2012. WOW air was founded by entrepreneur Skúli Mogensen, whose extensive business background is largely in technology and telecoms in Iceland, Europe, and North America. The sole owner of WOW air is Titan, an investment company owned by Mogensen, who is the company CEO and sits on the five-person board of directors.
In October 2012, WOW air acquired Iceland Express's operations and network. Iceland Express operated to several destinations in Europe and North America utilising leased equipment. At the end of October 2012, following the acquisition of its operations, flights to Gatwick and Copenhagen saw frequency increases, services to Berlin-Schönefeld, Kaunas, Salzburg and Warsaw Chopin had begun. Kaunas has since been dropped, replaced by existing services to Vilnius. The airline carried over 400,000 passengers in 2013. WOW air carried its one millionth guest in December 2014.
Since 2015, WOW air started expanding in North America, serving first the USA, then Canada starting in May 2016. Flights to Los Angeles and San Francisco began in June 2016 using 2 Airbus A330-300 planes leased from Air Europa.[3] WOW air's annual passenger capacity will more than double in 2016 to over 1.6 million, from approximately 740,000 in 2015. WOW air also runs the travel agency WOW travel, which specialises in low-cost holidays both to and from Iceland.
Destinations
As of November 2016, WOW air operates services to a total of 29 destinations in Europe, the USA, and Canada from its base at Keflavík International Airport.[1]
Fleet
As of November 2016 the WOW air fleet consists of the following aircraft:[4]
Aircraft | In Service | Orders | Passengers (Economy) |
Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Airbus A320neo | — | 1[5] | TBA | |
Airbus A321-200 | 6 | 5[5][6] | 220 | One to be delivered 2016[5] Four others on order are the first aircraft ordered by WOW directly from the manufacturer[6] |
Airbus A321neo | — | 1[5] | TBA | |
Airbus A330-300 | 3 | — | 342 | |
Total | 9 | 7 |
Former fleet
WOW air also used to operate the following aircraft types which have meanwhile been phased out:
References
- 1 2 wowair.co.uk - Our destinations retrieved 20 November 2016
- ↑ Get in touch - wowiceland.co.uk "WOW air Katrínartún 12, 105 Reykjavík"
- ↑ "California - Summer 2016". WOW air. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
- ↑ "Icelandic Aircraft Register search results for aircraft operated by WOW air". Icelandic Transport Authority. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 "Iceland's WOW Air to lease five A320 Family jets from ALC". ch-aviation.com. 27 May 2016. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
- 1 2 "WOW air orders four A321s" (Press release). Airbus. 12 July 2016. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
External links
Media related to WOW Air at Wikimedia Commons