Icelandair buys WOW

Wow..............

Cool. I hope they get more destinations in Southern Europe

Wow indeed.

No surprise the plan to operate them as separate entities. One is an airbus fleet and the other Boeing.

Also not a complete surprise that someone would eat them - WOW has been bleeding money, and on a long, very aggressive and unsustainable expansion. It was just a matter of time until something happened to bring them down to earth.

It will be interesting to see how long the two airlines continue to operate separately.

The price was low because WOW air has few assets. They don't own their planes but wet lease them. That means they pay the owners of the aircraft an hourly fee and the owner supplies aircraft, crew and maintenance. Less capital tied up but higher operating costs.

I would suspect that anywhere you see the two operating from the same airport, one will disappear.

wow

so who's next?

Norwegian is facing its own financial troubles and Wizzair is also a cause for concern (finance-wise).

Wow Air, where if you land on time with your luggage, then "Wow" indeed .

Nice analysis this morning by the Cranky Flier, including...

There was a big acquisition announced this week north of the 60th
parallel when Icelandair said it would pick up its rival WOW Air for
very little compensation. If the price is any indication, WOW was in
dire straits, and its owner Skuli Mogensen may have been lucky to get
anything at all. This is a great deal for Icelandair, though fans of
unsustainably-low fares won’t be happy.

(Emphasis mine)