In September a West Virginia heiress-turned-arms dealer pledged to relaunch bankrupt transatlantic low cost carrier Wow Air.
Michele Ballarin acquired defunct Wow Air’s brand out of bankruptcy and planned to start Washington Dulles – Reykjavik flights in October. Then it was pushed back to December though 2019 ended without new service. (Launching U.S. – Iceland service in the winter is about the worst idea I’ve heard.)
Wow Air, Copyright: zhukovsky / 123RF Stock Photo
Now the first real, tangible move from Wow Air 2.0 seems to have been spotted: a Wow Air Cafe in D.C.’s West End, located in space that had been previously occupied by District Hardware.
This is expected to be Wow Air’s ticketing office. Icelandic media reported just before Christmas that the nascent airline planned to offer “a sales office and a facility where people can sit down, have a coffee and browse the possibilities.”
Two weeks ago the airline updated their plans as starting service “within a few weeks, rather than months.” Wow Air’s public relations staffer explains that restarting the airline has “proven to be far more complex than we expected” and “conditions have changed dramatically” since they introduced the plan for the airline in the fall (?).
(HT: @MattNevans)
Pricey real estate to sell tickets for a budget airline that doesn’t have any flights.
Is this near the soon to open USGlobal Airways Lounge Bar opening in the space that was supposed to be the Baltia Club?
Who could have guessed that restarting an airline would be complex? At least they’ll take care of the critical coffee roast selection decisions early.
This is all a front for Trump’s invasion of Greenland from Iceland. Ballarin is, after all, an arms dealer and pirate and war lord whisperer.