WOW Air Airbus A321-200 | Photo by Bjoern Wylezich ()
It really was a purple pie in the sky dream for U.S. based USAerospace Associates to have WOW Air's fuschia planes back in the air by the end of the month. Flight Global is reporting the relaunch has now been pushed back to December, which is not at all surprising.
Chief Executive Michele Ballarin had the airline industry scratching its head when she announced a very aggressive start date and a very risky business plan in mid-September. The new WOW would be based at Washington Dulles International Airport with two planes flying back and forth from Washington to Reykjavik by the end of October. She gave herself six weeks to get affairs in order, hire staff (which was to be mostly Icelandic) and get all the government regulations squared away. Oh, and the airline would be creatively named WOW 2, sort of like the sequel to a bad horror movie, which isn’t that far of a stretch. Not only did the company give itself six weeks to do all that, but it also claimed it would have fancy in-flight meals catered by world-renowned chefs and swanky airport lounges. But, the airline promised to still keep competitive budget airline fares with the industry saying, “Cool. But how?”
All this while keeping the previous company's name, logo and coloring after it recently went bankrupt leaving thousands of passengers, including American military families, stranded, shelling out thousands to get home. There is and will be a certain level of distrust customers, including me, who were burned by WOW, will have when they see anything remotely fuschia. Slapping a “2” on the logo, giving me reheated Creamy Shrimp Risotto with Mascarpone and having me sit in what I imagine will be an entirely purple lounge is not going to restore trust. Having a delayed relaunch makes everyone even more skeptical.
What USAerospace Associates and Ballarin need to focus on is what matters most to customers, getting them from point A to point B safely and relatively on time. The European Union has a much stricter bill of rights forcing penalties like food and accommodations along with compensation if flights are more than three hours delayed or canceled. Despite being a U.S.-based airline, WOW would still be subject to that bill of rights for flights starting in Iceland and heading back to the U.S. as Iceland falls under EU Regulations 261/2004. The EU passenger bill of rights was part of the original airline’s downfall. Because of its constant delays the company owed more than 100-million in claims when it went under.
Time will tell if WOW 2 will get its act together and become a contender in an oversaturated market of budget fares that go across the pond. That time has now increased more than they realize with a messy and delayed relaunch.
