Wow Air’s relaunch has to be postponed

At a press conference in Reykjavík in early September, Michele Ballarin not only announced that she wanted to buy the remains of the insolvent Wow Air. The head of the American aviation company US Aerospace Associates also said that they wanted to resume flights in October, first between Reykjavík-Keflavik and Washington Dulles. This alone was very ambitious. The fact that Dulles Airport subsequently declared that they had met Ballarin once, but could not yet announce any routes, made the plan for a rapid resurrection seem even less realistic.

The Icelandic newspaper Vísir then reported in mid-September that Ballarin and her company had bought assets from the Wow Air bankruptcy estate for around 50 million Icelandic crowns (around 364,000 euros), including pink uniforms, spare parts, manuals and booking technology. However, that is not enough for the start in October. In a statement to the trade publication Flight Global, Ballarin and US Aerospace declared on October 8 that they would postpone the launch until December.

Planned aircraft purchases

«Wow Air intends to be fully operational in December», the letter says. Ticket sales are expected to start in November. Apparently, in view of the bankruptcies of Thomas Cook, Aigle Azur, XL Airways and Adria Airways, it is further stated that the decline in the number of airlines since late summer has led to more aircraft on the market. «Wow Air will take this opportunity to purchase and reconfigure our first aircraft.» In addition, it is the plan to place an order with an aircraft manufacturer in the second quarter of 2020.

It remains to be seen how those plans work out. A spokesman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which operates Washington Dulles Airport, said that since the August meeting, Ballarin has not been heard from.

A video of the press conference from early September: