A new effort that says it is completely independent of the management of recently-defunct transatlantic low cost carrier Wow Air is raising money to try to resurrect the airline.
We are former clients of Wow air and other airlines. We know that if competition diminishes or falls into a competitive environment, we will lose in the long run. In addition, we know that tourism in Iceland has increased economic growth and quality of life in recent years and we want to ensure that quality continues.
We believe that if Skúli and his best people can rebuild Wow air then we as individuals in this country should join to help. Therefore, we encourage individuals and businesses to contribute small share capital through the masses and ensure Wow air operations in the future.
Wow Air, Copyright: zhukovsky / 123RF Stock Photo
It’s been a little more than two weeks since Wow Air shut down. That’s after two last ditch efforts to convince Icelandair to invest, and protracted discussions with Indigo Partners, the firm which owns Frontier and has significant stakes in Wizz Air and Volaris and used to own Spirit Airlines when Spirit was bad.
Ultimately there have been too many players flying too many seats at too low a price for too long, in a transatlantic market that’s long been challenging, and airlines trying to make it in this environment have struggled.
Primera shut down and Norwegian was near collapse at the end of 2018.
Norwegian had on again, off again talks with British Airways parent IAG over being acquired and remains on the ropes. The era of $49 one way fares between the US and Europe has been richly rewarding for consumers but remains an open question going forward.
Copyright william87 / 123RF Stock Photo
Contra claims by supporters of this crowdfunding effort that more competition is needed in the transatlantic low cost market, at this point since no one has quite mastered the game it may be that less competition is precisely what’s needed to allow the long haul low cost model to survive. With Norwegian really last among its kind, and facing challenges from the grounding of the 737 MAX after unexpected maintenance costs on its 787s, it at least has the space that derives from lack of Wow Air siphoning off low fare traffic. For now that may be a good thing.
In the meantime the goal of the crowdfunding effort is to “collect at least 10-20,000 shareholders” which will invest in Wow Air or – if that plan fails – “a new low cost airline.” The likelihood of this effort succeeding seems very low, and that’s a good thing.
Ultimately businesses fail for a reason. That’s a good thing, and just as important as their succeeding. In this case Wow Air’s departure makes room for other carriers to succeed – or at least reduce their bleed.
One thing many people still don’t realize today is there’s quiet millions in $ gUaP $ waiting to be tapped into on the internet, including untapped money for “college scholarship money online.”
hilarious.. I get the sense the Wow demographic do not have the means to raise the money necessary to keep an airline afloat.
The internet has led to incredible efficiency gains throughout the economy that are difficult for standard economic statistics to measure. For example, think of how much easier it is to separate the gullible from their money now that crowdfunding sites facilitate this task.
@DNN – it’s pretty obvious you are posting non-value-added comments just to get people to come to your site. It seems like a troll farm with no purpose.
You didn’t post in the OMAAT posting guidelines thread that had several hundred comments – are you banned from there like Debit now?
@DNN,
“…millions of $gUaP$…” – WTF is that? Maybe your auto-correct is spazzing…
Crowdfunding an airline — much less to resurrect a failed one. What could go wrong?