Wow Air CEO looking for investors for new airline

Anna Zvereva from Tallinn, Estonia [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Wow Air’s CEO, Skúli Mogensen, is looking for investors to create a new airline based on the same model as Wow Air.

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Around two weeks ago, the 28th of March, Icelandic airline company Wow Air ceased all its operations, stranding thousands of passengers in Iceland and at multiple airports in the US and Europe. Now, the CEO, Skúli Mogensen, is looking for investors to create a new airline based on the same model as Wow Air, or, more precisely, trying to resurrect it.

Skúli’s plan needs an investment of some 40 million dollars, with the new company retaining the “Wow Air” branding and operating some of the aircraft of the previous company. In the short-term, the company would operate flights for other airlines, until gradually expanding its destinations and fleet. The management would remain largely the same, with Skúli as CEO and getting 51% of the shares of the new company, and investors getting the remaining 49%.

By trying to relaunch the airline so quickly, the CEO is looking to buy some of the planes from the previous company, as well as keeping the branding.

The real question is whether investors will want to give him 40 million dollars initially, taking in account his track record, as well as the previous management, at the previous company, with some estimates saying Wow Air had failed to pay up to 300 million dollars in debts before declaring bankruptcy. And if investors do accept to fund this new project, will passengers take the risk again, or will they instead stick to current alternatives such as Icelandair and Norwegian?

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