Iceland’s budget carrier WOW Air said it had ceased operations and cancelled all flights on Thursday, stranding thousands of passengers.
The collapse of the troubled airline, which transports more than a third of those travelling to Iceland, comes after buyout talks with rival Icelandair collapsed earlier this week.
“All WOW Air flights have been cancelled. Passengers are advised to check available flights with other airlines,” the carrier said in a statement.
“Some airlines may offer flights at a reduced rate, so-called rescue fares, in light of the circumstances. Information on those airlines will be published, when it becomes available.”
Iceland’s government said it estimated that 4,000 travellers were stranded, including around 1,300 currently in transit.
At Reykjavik airport, hundreds of passengers were stranded as 30 WOW Air flights to Paris, New York, Montreal were cancelled.
WOW Air, founded in 2011, exploited Iceland’s location in the middle of the North Atlantic to offer a low-cost service between Europe and North America as well as tapping into a tourist boom to the volcanic island.
However, it had flown into financial trouble in recent years due to heightened competition on transatlantic low-cost flights and rising fuel prices, and had been searching for an investor for months.
On Monday WOW Air said it was in talks to restructure its debt with its creditors after Icelandair ended brief negotiations over buying a stake in the no-frills airline.
WOW Air was left needing USD 42 million to save the company, according to the Frettabladid newspaper.
The privately-owned airline has undergone major restructuring after posting a pre-tax loss of almost USD 42 million for the first nine months of 2018.
It has reduced its fleet from 20 to 11 aircraft, eliminating several destinations, including those to the US, and cutting 111 full-time jobs.
