, Columnist
Iceland’s Airline Boom Loses Its Wow Factor
A low-cost airline’s collapse augurs ill for Iceland’s tourism-based economy.
Plane to nowhere.
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Wow Air Hf, the Icelandic low-cost carrier, wanted to disrupt the lucrative business of transatlantic flights. Its collapse not only puts the whole business model in question, but also threatens Iceland’s tourist-led economic recovery.
On Thursday, Wow Air announced it will cease operations and cancel all flights after failing to attract funding to keep covering its losses. Founder Skuli Mogensen, a former tech entrepreneur, had tried everything — including a sale to flag-carrier Icelandair, which he had once mocked as a dinosaur. But those talks fell through, and so too did negotiations with U.S. private equity firm Indigo Partners.