ICELAND (eTN) – WOW Air is a brand-new, low-cost air carrier connecting Iceland to 12 destinations in Europe starting June 2012. The new carrier will offer 130,000 seats in Airbus A320 aircrafts in the first year. โWeโd like to get to grips with twelve destinations to begin with,โ said WOWโs main owner and CEO Skuli Mogensen.
Mogensen is new to the tourism industry but has headed companies in the software and data center business, as well as in the financial industries in the US, Canada, and Iceland. โWeโve monitored the tourism industry for some years and believe it offers an interesting and fun opportunity.โ
Mogensen estimates 70 percent of WOWโs customers will be foreign tourists visiting Iceland. He looks to increase the total number of visitors to Iceland rather than fighting with other airlines over a percentage of the existing number of visitors to Iceland. About 500,000 tourists visited Iceland in 2010 of which the greatest majority arrived by aircraft. โWe predict the number of visitors to Iceland will double in the next five years.โ
WOW Airโs ambitious first year schedule includes Copenhagen, London, Berlin, Cologne, Stuttgart, Alicante, Basel, Zurich, Warsaw, Krakow, Lyon, and Paris.
Eighteen airlines have shown interest in the Iceland market for next year. Confirmed new airlines flying to and from Iceland in 2012 include Norwegian Airlines, Easy Jet, and WOW Air.
WOW Airโs web address is www.wowair.is .