Icelandic budget airline Wow Air collapses, leaving passengers stranded
Wow Air has ceased all operations, cancelling all of its flights and leaving thousands of passengers stranded.
In the early hours of Thursday morning the Icelandic airline said it had halted all flights while completing an agreement with a group of investors over raising new funds.
But the carrier, which connected Europe and North America via Reykjavik, with UK flights serving London Gatwick, London Stansted and Edinburgh, later announced it had “ceased operations”.
The company said in a statement: “Passengers are advised to check available flights with other airlines.
“Some airlines may offer flights at a reduced rate, so-called rescue fares, in light of the circumstances.”
It added: “Passengers may also be entitled to compensation from Wow Air, including in accordance with European regulation on Air Passenger Rights.
“In case of a bankruptcy, claims should be filed to the administrator/liquidator.”
Many stranded passengers wrote on Twitter, voicing frustration and appealing to other airlines to help them reach their destinations.
My thoughts go out to all the staff and related jobs. My upstairs neighbors are both employed by #wowair - this must be a huge hit. One just texted to say she can't stop crying, she loved her team and job. It will definitely cause havoc with our economy, too.
— jessica poteet (@MarkDownHandsUp) March 28, 2019
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@wow_air cancels flight to Dublin from Detroit at the last minute, looks like the company has gone bust. Any chance you can accommodate a family of four on @AerLingus out of Chicago or Tornado tomorrow the 28th. You would make this little girl Maeve very happy to see her cousins pic.twitter.com/jMnmWSh6zI
— Barrai Omuireagain (@BOmuireagain) March 28, 2019
#WowAir nooo I need to see my husband and don’t have any money to rebook
— natalie overland (@nat8898) March 28, 2019
A family of four travelling over the bank holiday could have paid #wowair over a thousand pounds this morning to book flights the airline knew would never take off (or refund). It went out of business just two hours later. Complete and utter irresponsibility. pic.twitter.com/koDaCXEZNJ
— Rory Boland (@roryboland) March 28, 2019
A family of four travelling over the bank holiday could have paid #wowair over a thousand pounds this morning to book flights the airline knew would never take off (or refund). It went out of business just two hours later. Complete and utter irresponsibility. pic.twitter.com/koDaCXEZNJ
— Rory Boland (@roryboland) March 28, 2019
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.