Icelandic Start-up Plans European Summer Programme

New Icelandic budget carrier WOW Air has officially launched, opening sales for its proposed network of flights across Europe for summer 2012. The airline, based at Keflavik International Airport, plans to offer flights to 12 destinations across the continent using Airbus A320s leased from Avion Express. The start-up is backed by Skuli Mogensen, who has previously worked in the data and financial services industry, although former Iceland Express CEO Matthías Imsland is also a shareholder.

The airline will offer a total of 23 weekly return flights from June 1, 2012 with weekly rotations to Alicante, Basel, Krakow and Lyon; twice weekly services to Berlin Brandenburg, Cologne, Paris CDG, Stuttgart, Warsaw and Zurich; a three times weekly link to London Stansted and four flights per week to Copenhagen. It will bring additional competition to a market already served by Icelandair and low-cost carrier Iceland Express, while a growing list of international operators are now serving the country including easyJet (begins March 27, 2012) and Norwegian (begins June 1, 2012).

Visitor numbers to Iceland are on the increase and the start-up believes that more than two thirds of its passengers will be foreign visitors travelling to the country on holidays, as its home market has a rather limited catchment. Although Wow Air will compete with its established rivals on the majority of its routes (see the above table), its management plan is based around stimulation of the market, so much so that its founder has been quoted as saying he expects visitor numbers to Iceland to double in the next five years.

“We intend to be the most economic choice for travellers and keep our competitors on their toes with aggressive competition. An emphasis will be placed on flexibility and the willingness to please in order that our customers can always choose WOW,” claims the airline.