Icelandic budget airline WOW Air abruptly closed up shop on Thursday, stranding thousands of passengers including Canadians across Europe and North America.

In a statement on its website, the airline said it has ceased operations, and as a result "all WOW Air flights have been cancelled."

The airline encouraged customers who had paid for their ticket with a credit card to check whether the credit card company would refund the price of their ticket, and directed passengers to other airlines to try to find alternative routes to their destinations.

WOW Air rival Icelandair is trying to scoop up some of those stranded travellers by offering a seat on any of their flights, where available, for a discounted price.

For information on destinations and booking instructions, please visit <a href="https://t.co/2KDZOxcjeC">https://t.co/2KDZOxcjeC</a> <a href="https://t.co/nDLvyK9qWD">pic.twitter.com/nDLvyK9qWD</a> —@Icelandair

Founded in 2011 by entrepreneur Skuli Mogensen, WOW Air offered ultra-cheap flights between Europe and North America, often for as little as $99 before fees and taxes.

Every flight began or ended in the Icelandic capital of Reykjavik, which helped spur a tourism boom in the country as passengers took layovers in the island nation on their way between the two continents. All in all, the airline flew roughly 3.5 million people last year.

According to aviation tracking service Air Fleets Inc., WOW had about a dozen jets in service, with another five in storage that it planned to use on expanded routes. All of WOW's planes are made by Airbus.

The airline had 27 flights scheduled to take off on Thursday. All are grounded, stranding roughly 2,700 people.

About 2,700 people were stranded when the sun set on WOW Air's business. (Martin Trainor/CBC)

Canadian Alex Spence is one of them.

She flew on WOW for a conference in Berlin, and is struggling to find her way home.

"I have heard absolutely nothing from WOW Air," she told CBC News on Thursday, "but earlier this week I did receive quite a few emails encouraging me to upgrade my seat or check more bags, so they were definitely active in asking for more money the past few days."

Watch Spence's full interview here:

Another Canadian, Erin McBurney, was trying to get home to Canada on Thursday morning with friends she was travelling with when they discovered that their WOW tickets were worthless.

"We had nobody to talk to through the company that could provide us any information about when or if future flights would be taking off," she said.

After looking at numerous options, including one direct one-way flight that would have cost $5,000, McBurney said she and her friends found seats on Polish carrier Lot for $1,300 Canadian that should get them back to Pearson airport on Thursday evening.

WOW Air had about 11 planes in operation when the airline folded. (Scott Galley/CBC)

"Unsure of what other options would arise and wanting to be home we paid this, which was more than we were anticipating to spend," she said. "Our trip as a whole was less expensive than our one flight home."

The company may not have been saying much to its passengers on Thursday, but in a letter to employees, WOW founder Mogensen expressed his disappointment in what has happened.

"I will never forgive myself for not acting sooner," Mogensen said. "WOW was clearly an incredible airline and we were on the path to do amazing things again."

Halifax-based passenger rights advocate Gabor Lukacs said WOW's failure should be laid at the feet of regulators who allowed it to fly with financial difficulties that left customers vulnerable. He said there are laws already on the books in Canada that should have forced changes to protect consumers before this happened, but they weren't enforced.

"Once an airline goes bankrupt it's too late to intervene," he said in an interview. "The purpose of regulation is to deal with situations before they go bankrupt to protect the public from such economic harm."

Lukacs said it seems like authorities in Canada are happy to let discount airlines such as WOW flout regulations while they give established carriers more scrutiny.

"The government wants to create a two-tiered system where you have large airlines which perhaps more wealthy people can buy tickets on, and you have those low cost airlines where in the government's mind the riff-raff can fly and there you have no rights," he said.

While customers feel left in a lurch, the news does not come as a complete surprise to those who follow the industry closely.

Travel to Iceland has been increasing briskly in recent years and some of that growth has been linked to WOW Air. (Rob Easton/CBC)

By aggressively adding new destinations, WOW had seen a steady uptick in the number of passengers it carried every year. But the airline never scaled up enough to cover its costs, with average revenue per passenger falling by 2017, according to the company's last earnings report.

WOW had been trying to find an investment or bailout or buyer for itself since the middle of last year. WOW was negotiating to merge with flag-ship carrier Icelandair, but that deal fell apart. The airline then tried to strike a deal with Indigo Partners, an American company operating the airline Wizz, but that didn't come to pass, either.

The resulting bankruptcy has left passengers like Spence not knowing what do to next.

"I always had very good experiences with them so this was not exactly what I expected to occur," she said.

WOW grounded at least six planes in North America that were set to leave late Wednesday from Montreal, Toronto, Boston, Detroit, New York and Baltimore.

Roughly one out of every three people who visited Iceland last year came on a WOW Air flight. (Martin Trainor/CBC)

In Europe, Reykjavik-bound planes from seven cities — Amsterdam, Dublin, Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Frankfurt and Copenhagen — did not take off Thursday. One airplane from WOW was grounded as collateral by Iceland's airport operator, which reportedly has a $16 million US claim for unpaid landing fees against the airline.

The news isn't just bad for WOW and its customers. It's a problem for Iceland, too. Tourism is a major industry for the country, making up 43 per cent of its GDP in 2017, according to official data.

The tourism boom in recent years coincided with the launch of WOW, as visitors to the country quadrupled since WOW's flights started in 2012.

Data from Iceland's tourism authority shows that more than 100,000 Canadians visited Iceland last year, making Canada the fourth most common source of tourists for the country, after the U.S., the U.K. and Germany. About one-third of Iceland's visitors last year did so by flying on a WOW Air flight.</s>End of Operation of WOW AIR

WOW AIR has ceased operation. All WOW AIR flights have been cancelled.

How will I reach my destination?

Passengers are advised to check available flights with other airlines.

Some airlines may offer flights at a reduced rate, so-called rescue fares, in light of the circumstances. Information on those airlines can be found below on this page.

What are my rights?

Passengers whose ticket was paid with a credit card are advised to contact their credit card company to check whether a refund of the ticket cost will be issued. See information about chargeback in the EU / EEA area here.

Passengers who bought their ticket from a European travel agent (within the European Economic Area) as a part of a package tour (a package which includes flights and accommodation or other services) are protected by the Package Travel Directive. Those passengers are advised to contact their travel agent to arrange an alternative flight.



Passengers who may have bought travel protection, or those passengers whose credit card terms may include such protection, may be entitled to claim compensation and assistance due to delays or travel disruption. However, such compensation is often limited.



Passengers may also be entitled to compensation from WOW AIR, including in accordance with European regulation on Air Passenger Rights. In case of a bankruptcy, claims should be filed to the administrator / liquidator.

Wow passengers can choose to state a claim against the estate - contact info for the administrator/liquidator:



Sveinn Andri Sveinsson hrl. administrator/liquidator of WOW air

Grjotagata 7

101 Reykjavik

E-mail: sas@reykjaviklawyers.com

Where can I get up-to-date information?

This announcement will be published and continuously updated on the following websites:



- Icelandic Transport Authority: www.samgongustofa.is / www.icetra.is

- Keflavik Airport: www.isavia.is/en

- WOW AIR: www.wowair.com

- Posted at all relevant airports



General information about passenger rights can be found at www.icetra.is



Information about rescue fares will be provided below:





Icelandair

Icelandair has announced that the airline will assist stranded passengers by providing discounted fares to and from the following cities:



EUROPE:

Amsterdam – Berlin – Brussels – Copenhagen – Dublin – Frankfurt – Glasgow – Hamborg – Helsinki – London – Oslo – Paris.



North America:

Boston – Edmonton – New York – Toronto – Washington DC.

(London: LGW/LHR - New York: EWR/JFK)

Update from Icelandair:

Website for stranded passengers: icelandair.is/getmehome



What kind of rescue fares is Icelandair offering?

Icelandair is offering a discount fare for stranded passengers. Europe leg flat rate 60USD (excluding taxes and fees) US/Canada leg 100USD flat rate (excluding taxes and fees).



Procedure for stranded customers

1. Fill out the online form www.icelandair.com/getmehome or send an email to getmehome@icelandair.is with all relevant information.

2. Attach a digital copy of the WOW air flight ticket to the form. Please note: to take advantage of this option, this is a necessary step.

3. Follow the instructions in the confirmation email.



How does Icelandair define stranded passenger?

A stranded passenger is a passenger who took an outbound flight before the operations of WOW Air ceased and is stranded away from their home. This applies equally to passengers who purchased round trip tickets and passengers who only purchased a one-way ticket with WOW air to return home. To be able to qualify for special reduced rates passengers must be travelling back home within the specified time frame, origin (city) and destination (city) as the original WOW air ticket.

Easyjet has announced that the airline will assist stranded passengers by providing discounted fares:



EasyJet will be offering WOW air customers a rescue fare on flights between LTN and KEF, and LGW and KEF, with details as follows:



Rescue fee 110GBP/17000ISK (include hold bag)

Routes: LTN KEF, LGW KEF

Valid to travel travel over the next on/before 14Apr

Tkt must be issued over next on/before 07Apr



EasyJet is working to assist affected passengers booked on flights between Keflavik and London Stansted and we will be offering a dedicated rescue fare of £110 (17000ISK) including hold baggage to enable affected customers to travel with easyJet between London Luton or London Gatwick and Keflavik up to 14 April 2019. Tickets must be issued on or before 7 April 2019.



Passengers can contact easyJet's customer service to benefit from this rescue fare, available upon presentation of their original WOW booking reference.



To contact a members of Customer Services, please call:

+44 (0) 330 365 5030

Norwegian

Norwegian offers rescue fares with 25% off current economy fares on the below overlapping routes, available for flights from tomorrow. For travel until 08 april 2019 - need to provide a valid WOW-booking on the same sector.



Between London/LGW and Boston/BOS

Between London/LGW and New York/JFK

Between Paris/CDG and Boston/BOS

Between Paris/CDG and New York/JFK

Between Copenhagen/CPH and New York/JFK

Between Amsterdam/AMS and New York/JFK

Wizz air

Wizz Air announces special fares for WOW Air customers whose flights from or to Reykjavík, further information can be found on their website. From Wizzair:

"Affected WOW Air passengers can take advantage of a special fare with Wizz Air, which operates four flights per week from Reykjavík to London-Luton and Warsaw, of GBP 74.99/EUR 79.99*. This rescue fare is valid for travel up to 10 May 2019 and is subject to availability on each flight. Bookings can be made via Wizz Air's special rescue fare site at https://wizzair.com/#/rescue until 7 April 2019. Customers will need to provide evidence of their bookings with WOW Air for the London (any airport)/Warsaw routes." See here

XL Airways

From XL Airways:



END OF OPERATIONS OF WOW AIR:

XL AIRWAYS OFFERS RESCUE FARES ON

NEW YORK-PARIS ROUTE



Following the end of operations of Icelandic airline WOW AIR, XL Airways offers exceptional commercial measures to assist passengers holding a WOW AIR ticket on the New York-Paris route.



- For trips from April 6th to April 30th, 2019: passengers may travel stand by on XL Airways flights to/from New York. A unique fare of USD 130 / 100 € per flight will be applied.

- For trips from May 1st to June June 28th, 2019, discounts up to 30% compared to public fares available on the selected dates will be applied.



These rescue fares are available for departures from New York and from Paris. They can be applied to one-way or return trips.



Bookings must be made through the airline's call centres:

- From the US: +1 877 496 9889 (toll free)

- From France: 0 892 692 123 (0,35 €/min + cost of call)



This offer is subject to the presentation of WOW AIR tickets valid for travels on or after March 28th, 2019.

See here: https://www.xl.com/en/actualites

British Airways

From BA:

Following WOW Air cease of operation, British Airways is offering repatriation fares between the following points:



• LON to KEF and v.v. : available for sale and travel until 12th April

• LON to BOS/NYC/WAS/YUL/YTO and v.v. : available for sale and travel until 25th April

• AMS/PAR/BER/FRA/CPH/DUB/BRU/TFS/ALC/LPA to BOS/NYC/WAS/YUL/YTO and v.v. : available for sale and travel until 12th April.

The fares are not available via travel agents or ba.com and can only be booked via a British Airways call centre. To make a reservation, please get in touch with our Customer Service team, quoting your WOW Air booking reference. See here



Virgin Atlantic

On their website:

Information for anyone impacted by the WOW Air shutdown,

Virgin Atlantic has introduced special rescue fares to assist WOW Air's customers stranded in the UK, US, or Canada. The airline is advising any customers in need to call 0344 8747747 in the UK or +1 800 862 8621 in the U.S. Bookings can be made from 28th March up until 6th April, 2019 with travel available up to the 30th April, 2019. To access these fares, impacted customers will need to show proof of their previous WOW Air booking for the same origin and destination, named customers, and travel dates in March or April 2019. See here.



Air Lingus

Air Lingus announced on Twitter that they are offering special fares for WOW air passengers.

"“Following WOW Air's cessation of trading, Aer Lingus can confirm that it is offering impacted WOW Air passengers special rescue fares, in accordance with our voluntary agreement with International Air Transport Association (IATA), and subject to availability on the Aer Lingus network. "Those wishing to avail of these rescue fares should contact the following numbers after 18:30 / 6:30pm this evening 1890 800600 (from Ireland)/ 00353 1 886 8822 (from Europe) / 0333 006 6920 (from UK) / 516 622 4222 (from US) and 800 474 7424 (from Canada). "WOW passengers that are scheduled to travel from 12th April onwards, can avail of Aer Lingus' great value fares from Ireland to US and Canada from €169 each-way including taxes and charges, available by contacting the numbers above.” See new article here.

United Airlines

According to the webpage the Points guy United Airlines is offering WOW air passengers special fares:

"United Airlines is offering WOW air customers special discounted fares from March 28 to April 12 for travel through April 30. In order to qualify, stranded passengers must provide proof of their WOW trip via their booking reference and flight number. The discounted rates apply on some flights operate by United's Star Alliance partners Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, Brussels Airlines and Air Canada and are available on routes from the following cities:

Newark/NewYork, Boston, WashingtonDC, Detroit, Montreal, Toronto, Paris, Milan, Brussels, Stockholm, Berlin, Frankfurt, Warsaw, Dublin, Amsterdam, Lyon, Copenhagen, Barcelona, Tenerife, London, Edinburgh, Tel Aviv



Book through United reservations agents: 1 (800) 864-8331.

Prices vary by route, but customers can expect an average fare of $250 to $350 for one-way flights." See here.</s>REYKJAVIK, Iceland — Icelandic budget airline WOW Air ceased operations on Thursday, stranding passengers across two continents.

In a statement on its website the airline, which had earlier suspended all its flights, told passengers there would be no further flights and advised them to check flights with other airlines for ways to reach their destinations.

The airline, founded by entrepreneur Skuli Mogensen, began operations in 2012 and specialized in ultra-cheap flights between North America and Europe, with flights to airports in cities including Washington, D.C, New York, Paris, London and its Reykjavik hub.

Its bankruptcy comes after six months of turbulent negotiations to sell the low-cost carrier, first to its main rival and flag-ship carrier Icelandair and later to Indigo Partners, an American company operating the airline Wizz.

"I will never forgive myself for not acting sooner," Mogensen said in a letter to employees Thursday. "WOW was clearly an incredible airline and we were on the path to do amazing things again."

WOW launched in Cincinnati on May 10 but abandoned the airport less than six months later.

The airline served about 40,000 passengers during its brief tenure at CVG, said airport spokeswoman Mindy Kershner, and from her perspective, it seemed to be going well.

More: Why did WOW air leave CVG? It's not Cincinnati. It's WOW.

“I don’t think there’s anything – no reason to point the finger at our community and the market, that we didn’t respond in a healthy, successful way. Because we did,” Kershner said. “The flights were almost full. Ninety percent is great.”

Tourism is Iceland's largest industry and WOW's disappearance is set to have an effect on this summer's high season.

In its early years the airline expanded fast to 37 destinations and reported up to 60 percent annual growth in passenger numbers. Its revenue per passenger, however, has not kept up and fell by about 20 percent in 2017, according to the last earnings report.

WOW grounded at least six planes in North America that were set to leave late Wednesday from Montreal, Toronto, Boston, Detroit, New York and Baltimore.

In Europe, Reykjavik-bound planes from seven cities — Amsterdam, Dublin, Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Frankfurt and Copenhagen — did not take off Thursday morning.</s>Icelandic budget airline WOW Air ceased operations on Thursday, stranding passengers across two continents.

In a statement on its website the airline, which had earlier suspended all its flights, told passengers there would be no further flights and advised them to check flights with other airlines for ways to reach their destinations.

The airline, founded by entrepreneur Skuli Mogensen, began operations in 2012 and specialized in ultra-cheap flights between North America and Europe, with flights to airports in cities including Washington, D.C, New York, Paris, London and its Reykjavik hub.

Its bankruptcy comes after six months of turbulent negotiations to sell the low-cost carrier, first to its main rival and flag-ship carrier Icelandair and later to Indigo Partners, an American company operating the airline Wizz.

"I will never forgive myself for not acting sooner," Mogensen said in a letter to employees Thursday. "WOW was clearly an incredible airline and we were on the path to do amazing things again."

Tourism is Iceland's largest industry and WOW's disappearance is set to have an effect on this summer's high season.

In its early years the airline expanded fast to 37 destinations and reported up to 60 percent annual growth in passenger numbers. Its revenue per passenger, however, has not kept up and fell by about 20 percent in 2017, according to the last earnings report.

WOW grounded at least six planes in North America that were set to leave late Wednesday from Montreal, Toronto, Boston, Detroit, New York and Baltimore.

In Europe, Reykjavik-bound planes from seven cities — Amsterdam, Dublin, Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Frankfurt and Copenhagen — did not take off Thursday morning.</s>REYKJAVIK, Iceland -- Icelandic budget airline WOW Air says it has ceased operations, stranding passengers across two continentsPassengers are being advised to check flights with other airlines Thursday.The airline, founded by entrepreneur Skuli Mogensen, began operations in 2012 and expanded quickly.It specialized in ultra-cheap flights between North America and Europe, with flights from 27 airports, including Washington, D.C, New York, Paris, London and its Reykjavik hub.</s>REYKJAVIK, Iceland — Icelandic budget airline WOW Air says it has ceased operations, stranding passengers across two continents

Passengers are being advised to check flights with other airlines Thursday.

The airline, founded by entrepreneur Skuli Mogensen, began operations in 2012 and expanded quickly.

It specialized in ultra-cheap flights between North America and Europe, with flights from 27 airports, including Washington, D.C, New York, Paris, London and its Reykjavik hub.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>Icelandic budget airline Wow Air says in a statement that it has ceased operations, stranding passengers.</s>Icelandic budget airline Wow Air says in a statement that it has ceased operations, stranding passengers

REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) — Icelandic budget airline Wow Air says in a statement that it has ceased operations, stranding passengers.</s>Iceland's budget airline WOW announced Thursday that it had ceased operations and canceled all flights.

It is the latest in a series of low cost operators in Europe to go out of business and has left a number of passengers stranded.

What the airline said

In a statement on their website WOW offered passengers the following advice:
• check for available flights with other airlines;
• contact their credit card company to check whether a refund of the ticket cost will be issued.
• Those who bought their ticket from a European travel agent as part of a package tour are protected by the Package Travel Directive.
• Some airlines may offer flights at a reduced rate, what are known as "rescue fares."
• They may also be entitled to compensation from WOW AIR in accordance with European regulation on Air Passenger Rights.

How it came to this

The airline's bankruptcy comes after six months of difficult negotiations to sell the low-cost carrier, first to its main rival and flag-ship carrier Icelandair and later to Indigo Partners, an American company who operate the airline Wizz.

"I will never forgive myself for not acting sooner," Mogensen said in a letter to employees Thursday. "WOW was clearly an incredible airline and we were on the path to do amazing things again."

Who is affected? WOW grounded at least six planes in North America that were set to leave late Wednesday from Montreal, Toronto, Boston, Detroit, New York and Baltimore. In Europe, planes bound for Reykjavik from seven cities - Amsterdam, Dublin, Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Frankfurt and Copenhagen - did not take off Thursday morning.

Who are WOW? The airline was founded by entrepreneur Skuli Mogensen and began operations in 2012. It's specialty was incredibly cheap flights between North America and Europe. It had flights to airports in cities including Washington, D.C, New York, Paris, London and its Reykjavik hub. WOW's fleet comprised 11 aircraft of different Airbus models. Last year it operated 20 aircraft.

Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here.</s>Wow Air COLLAPSES: The Icelandic airline has announced the end of operations

Passengers have been advised by the airline to check available flights with other airlines. WOW Air had first postponed flights today before announcing it would be closing down after months of struggling with heavy debt. The budget airline had ended talks with rival Icelandair last Sunday.WOW Air is the latest low-cost airline to go out of business as the European airline sector grapples with over-capacity and high fuel costs.

“Some airlines may offer flights at a reduced rate, so-called rescue fares, in light of the circumstances."

“Passengers are advised to check available flights with other airlines.

WOW Air said in a statement: “WOW Air has ceased operation.

Passengers are advised to check available flights with other airlines

It added: "Passengers may also be entitled to compensation fromWOW Air, including in accordance with European regulation on Passenger Rights.

"In case of a bankruptcy, claims should be filed to the administrator/liquidator."

This week sawWOW Air cancel a string of flights, including 20 on Sunday, six on Monday and Tuesday and four on Wednesday.
WOW air, an Icelandic low-cost airline, ceases operations.