Airline Row Going To EFTA

A legal dispute between WOW Air and Icelandair will be appealed to the European Free Trade Association (EFTA).

A decision from the Supreme Court reversed an earlier decision made by Reykjavík District Court, which ruled that the dispute would not go to EFTA. The original request to take the dispute to the international authority was made by Icelandair and Isavia, the company which operates Keflavík International Airport.

WOW Air originally filed the legal complaint, against both Icelandair and Isavia, as well as The Competition Authority (ICA). The dispute centres around the parsing out of flight times between the two airlines, which WOW Air contends was unfair, and led to them having to stop flights to the US.

WOW Air’s director, Skuli Mogensen, told reporters at the time that it was “painful” to make the decision, and not solely for passengers – there were plans in the works to hire an additional 70 employees to meet the growing demand.