USAerospace Associates plans to start flying between Iceland and Dulles, Washington under the WOW air brand, as early as next month. This was revealed at a press meeting held at Hótel Saga today by Michelle Roosevelt Edwards, or Michelle Ballarin as she is often known, chairman of the company.
Ballarin introduced the purchase of certain assets from the WOW estate, including uniforms, computers and marketing material, but will not disclose the price paid for the assets. She says the airline will operate under the WOW brand. According to Ballarin, WOW is a good brand despite the company’s bankruptcy in March this year. The new WOW airline intends to offer commercial passenger flights but also freight flights and Ballarin sees possibilities in transporting seafood from Iceland to the US.
The airline will operate two planes to start with but will increase the fleet to four soon and intends to have 10-12 planes next summer, with no further increases planned. The airline will operate on a US air operating license and have offices on both sides of the Atlantic. Both Airbus and Boeing planes will be used.
According to Ballarin, Iceland will be the main operation centre in Europe but Washington DC in North America. Destinations are currently being discussed but they will have a similar program to the late WOW.
85 million USD will be spent to get the airline up and running but Ballarin adds that the new airline is debt-free and will remain that way.
The Airline will hire Icelandic staff, as Ballarin considers Iceland’s people as one of the country’s greatest resources.
Ballarin made headlines in Iceland over the summer when she first introduced her plans to resurrect WOW air. At the time, her purchase of WOW’s assets was rescinded due to delayed payments.
