From Iceland — American Investors Buying Up WOW Air Assets

American Investors Buying Up WOW Air Assets

Published July 12, 2019

Andie Sophia Fontaine
Photo by
WOW Air

American investors have paid top dollar for several WOW Air assets, indicating a possible comeback for the bankrupt airline, Fréttablaðið reports.

The investors, identified by sources close to Viðskiptablaðið as Michele Ballarin and her company Oasis Aviation Group, reportedly paid one lump sum, totalling “hundreds of millions of krónur” for a number of key WOW Air assets. These include the trademark and logo; the domain name; computer software; uniforms and more. That being the case, these purchases bear strong indications of the investors hoping to perform a bit of airline necromancy.

It bears mentioning that none of the parties involved in the purchase are connected to those hoping to get WAB Air off the ground. While WAB Air does involve former WOW Air management types, they eschew any involvement in attempts to resurrect WOW Air.

WOW Air suddenly ceased all operations last March, shortly before the tourist high season. Following their subsequent bankruptcy, worries have arisen that WOW Air’s fall would badly damage Iceland’s tourism industry, which is arguably the country’s largest cash cow at the moment.

While those fears have yet to materialise, over 600 former WOW Air employees are still without jobs.

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