WOW air discussion thread

Jack1985 · 05-11-2018 8:12pm #1

Some interesting points being circulated;

Takeover projected cost of just €18m.
Wow air current shareholders will get just 5.4% of the value of Icelandair in return for the selling of shares.

To me it looks like we were talking about months if not weeks left in Wow air before this takeover was announced this morning. Lots and lots of route duplication and although it seems both brands will be maintained in the short-term, a lot of trimming needs to be made. Both company's in August just gone were announcing restructuring.

Will Icelandair Group be able to turn both fortunes around ? Interesting times ahead.

[Deleted User] · 05-11-2018 8:24pm

Jack1985 wrote: »

Some interesting points being circulated;
Takeover projected cost of just €18m.

Wow air current shareholders will get just 5.4% of the value of Icelandair in return for the selling of shares.

To me it looks like we were talking about months if not weeks left in Wow air before this takeover was announced this morning. Lots and lots of route duplication and although it seems both brands will be maintained in the short-term, a lot of trimming needs to be made. Both company's in August just gone were announcing restructuring.

Will Icelandair Group be able to turn both fortunes around ? Interesting times ahead.

Icelandair will likely slash and burn large parts of WOW that aren’t working. It’s a small amount of money to potentially kill off a competitor that has been taking a huge amount of your passengers and income. It should go a long way to sorting out Icelandairs financial issues.

[Deleted User] · 05-11-2018 8:28pm

I can also see only the NEO-320/321/330’s being kept and eventually all of WOW being rebranded into Iceland Air.

sandbelter · 06-11-2018 5:40am

Hmmm,
Icelandair itself is not in great shape.... this crossed my screen last week....

"Icelandair said last week it had breached debt covenants and asked bondholders to grant a waiver."

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/icelandair-to-buy-rival-wow-air-as-both-discount-carriers-struggle/2018/11/05/24c720cc-e0fc-11e8-ab2c-b31dcd53ca6b_story.html?utm_term=.a9d3590ca029

Either way still struggling with: falling visitor growth, high oil prices and "the green machine" down south hollowing out its market. Suspect it'll end up a much smaller airline

Tenger · 06-11-2018 12:44pm

sandbelter wrote: »

Hmmm,
Icelandair itself is not in great shape.... this crossed my screen last week.....
.......
.......

Either way still struggling with: falling visitor growth, high oil prices and "the green machine" down south hollowing out its market. Suspect it'll end up a much smaller airline

Thats funny as my mates in Aer Lingus say that Norwegian, WOW and Icelandair (and possibly Level) are being presented as the main threats to the green machine by their own mgmt.

Jack1985 · 06-11-2018 4:38pm

Tenger wrote: »

Thats funny as my mates in Aer Lingus say that Norwegian, WOW and Icelandair (and possibly Level) are being presented as the main threats to the green machine by their own mgmt.

All bar Level are floated as major threats. All three are financially unstable, the now combined Icelandair and Wow must be viewed as an ongoing concern without heavy restructuring.

Jack1985 · 28-11-2018 12:14am

UPDATE

Reports from Keflavik that Icelandair are expected to pullout of the buyout. An emergency letter has been sent from CEO Skuli Mogensen to the airlines bondholders, https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wowair-web-files/Letter+to+WOW+air+bondholders.pdf. Shares in Icelandair Group have also been temporarily halted.

4 aircraft positioning for storage. 2 A330's heading for Lourdes now (TF-LUV, TF-WOW), 1 A320 already in Shannon (TF-BRO) with another due.

Tenger · 28-11-2018 4:05pm

Jack1985 wrote: »

UPDATE

Reports from Keflavik that Icelandair are expected to pullout of the buyout........
....................
4 aircraft positioning for storage. 2 A330's heading for Lourdes now (TF-LUV, TF-WOW), 1 A320 already in Shannon (TF-BRO) with another due.

That sounds very ominous for WOW

EchoIndia · 28-11-2018 4:10pm

Tenger wrote: »

That sounds very ominous for WOW

They have 20 aircraft in the fleet so it depends on whether others are to be parked also.

California Dreamer · 28-11-2018 4:18pm

Serious lack of WOW on FR24.

Did the KEF-DUB flight arrive/depart this morning?

Shn99 · 28-11-2018 5:17pm

They have applied to run charter flights between Miami and Cuba, they have an a321 out in Aruba at the moment flying for aruba airlines.

LiamaDelta · 28-11-2018 8:15pm

Jack1985 wrote:

4 aircraft positioning for storage. 2 A330's heading for Lourdes now (TF-LUV, TF-WOW), 1 A320 already in Shannon (TF-BRO) with another due.

Was the one at SNN not just the earlier divert from DUB?

Shn99 · 28-11-2018 8:19pm

LiamaDelta wrote: »

Jack1985 wrote:

4 aircraft positioning for storage. 2 A330's heading for Lourdes now (TF-LUV, TF-WOW), 1 A320 already in Shannon (TF-BRO) with another due.

Was the one at SNN not just the earlier divert from DUB?

Nope storage, SIS has joined too..positioned from Milan last night.

roadmaster · 28-11-2018 8:45pm

I hope this is not a stupid question but the planes that get parked up who looks after them? I know there is not a lot to mind but they are worth a good few euros so surely someone has to through an eye on them now and again. Is there a company similar to be say quick park for cars that does the same for planes at airports that are parked up?

Jack1985 · 28-11-2018 8:57pm

WOW air suspending flights now to Los Angeles, Orlando and Pittsburgh from early January 19. The first route to Asia for the airline, New Delhi is being suspended from 30 Jan 19 according to filings in GDS which the article below wasn't able to confirm.

The airline looks headed for a cash funding crisis and seems to be making desperate initials attempts to avoid such. One would question what alarmed Icelandair Group to delay the takeover, which has also resulted in their own shares being temporarily halted from trading. Icelandair Group is to have a shareholder meeting this Friday 30th November.

https://onemileatatime.com/wow-air-cancels-us-flights/

Shn99 · 28-11-2018 9:09pm

roadmaster wrote: »

I hope this is not a stupid question but the planes that get parked up who looks after them? I know there is not a lot to mind but they are worth a good few euros so surely someone has to through an eye on them now and again. Is there a company similar to be say quick park for cars that does the same for planes at airports that are parked up?

Leasing companies own them

Jack1985 · 29-11-2018 10:36am

Days now numbered I'd imagine. Icelandair pulling out of acquisition of WOW air.

The acquisition of Icelandair Group of Wow air, based on a purchase agreement signed on November 5th, has been cancelled. Both parties agree on this outcome.

Icelandair Group hf. issued a stock exchange release last Monday, November 26th, stating that the company estimated that it would be unlikely that all of the conditions in the share purchase agreement would be fulfilled by the shareholders’ meeting on November 30th. That situation remains unchanged.
Therefore, it is unlikely that the Board of Directors of Icelandair Group can recommend to the shareholders that they agree to the purchase agreement. Furthermore, the Board does not intend to submit to the shareholders’ meeting a proposal to postpone decision-making on the purchase agreement.

Due to this this situation, both parties agree to abandon the aforementioned purchase agreement.
Icelandair Group will hold its shareholders’ meeting on Friday, November 30, as previously announced. An authorisation proposal for the Board to increase the share capital of Icelandair Group is on the agenda of the shareholders’ meeting.

Bogi Nils Bogason, Interim President & CEO of Icelandair Group:
"The planned acquisition of Icelandair Group of Wow air will not go through. The Board of Directors and management of both companies have worked on this project in earnest. This conclusion is certainly disappointing. We want to thank WOW air‘s management for a good cooperation in the project during recent weeks . All our best wishes go out to the owners and staff of the Wow air. "

Skúli Mogensen, CEO and Founder of Wow air:
"It was clear at the outset that it was an ambitious task to complete all the conditions of the share purchase agreement in this short period. We thank the Icelandair Group's management team for this challenging project, and also wish the management and staff of Icelandair Group all the best."

https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/11/29/1658711/0/en/Icelandair-Group-s-acquisition-of-Wow-air-cancelled.html?print=1

LeakRate · 29-11-2018 10:54am

Looking fairly ominous indeed, the 4 aircraft were actually taken back by the leasing company. A shame for the staff that the takeover is no longer happening.

California Dreamer · 29-11-2018 10:32pm

They took a lot of good pilots in the last year. Lets hope they manage to get through this and come out the far side. Good airline, great crew!

coffeepls · 29-11-2018 11:14pm

I see this is the latest... https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/indigo-partners-and-wow-air-reach-preliminary-agreement-1027768928

Indigo Partners and WOW air Reach Preliminary Agreement
PRESS RELEASE PR Newswire
Nov. 29, 2018, 04:45 PM
PHOENIX, Nov. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Indigo Partners LLC ("Indigo"), and WOW air ("WOW"), the Icelandic airline based in Reykjavik, have agreed in principle for Indigo to invest in WOW. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Following successful completion of due diligence, the parties would work to close as soon as practicable. WOW's CEO and primary shareholder, Skuli Mogensen, would remain a principal investor in WOW upon completion of the transaction.

Jack1985 · 30-11-2018 1:26am

kevinandrew wrote: »

Financially stable or not, these airlines are still going after the same market as Aer Lingus and none of the legacy carriers want to be caught out like they were last time. Just because Aer Lingus is in good health now doesn't mean the threat has gone away or that a new challenger won't emerge, it's wise to keep everyone on their toes.

I’m referring to on going discussions EI Mgmt are having with trade unions in discussions related to further pay increases using the above as “threats to conditions” the company is forecasting 300M + profit in FY18.

Regarding the latest with Wow, they seem to have been thrown a life line at the eleventh hour !

Hotblack Desiato · 30-11-2018 2:11am

So they're using near-bankrupt competitors (who don't even offer direct routes) as a stick to beat T&C down! Shameful.

jmctoronto · 03-12-2018 8:27pm

Guys just looking for your opinion on this,

I have a flight booked with wow to Toronto on January 11th from Dublin , do ye reckon wow can hold out that long or should I cut my losses and look into alternative options ? The Indigo investment is slightly promising but that could fall through similar to the potential Icelandair investment.

Shn99 · 03-12-2018 8:35pm

jmctoronto wrote: »

Guys just looking for your opinion on this,

I have a flight booked with wow to Toronto on January 11th from Dublin , do ye reckon wow can hold out that long or should I cut my losses and look into alternative options ? The Indigo investment is slightly promising but that could fall through similar to the potential Icelandair investment.

Indigo Partners are way more financially stable than Icelandair are, unlikely it ill fall through

coffeepls · 03-12-2018 8:35pm

jmctoronto wrote: »

Guys just looking for your opinion on this,

I have a flight booked with wow to Toronto on January 11th from Dublin , do ye reckon wow can hold out that long or should I cut my losses and look into alternative options ? The Indigo investment is slightly promising but that could fall through similar to the potential Icelandair investment.

Indigo are extremely well off. Icelandair weren’t. The wow brand has been damaged by all this, and indigo will probably make changes. If I were you I’d stay with it.

Shn99 · 03-12-2018 8:39pm

Indigo (Indian airline) and Indigo Partners(Jetsmart, Volaris, Wizz Air, Frontier Airlines) are 2 totally seperate entities by the way

[Deleted User] · 03-12-2018 8:40pm

jmctoronto wrote: »

Guys just looking for your opinion on this,

I have a flight booked with wow to Toronto on January 11th from Dublin , do ye reckon wow can hold out that long or should I cut my losses and look into alternative options ? The Indigo investment is slightly promising but that could fall through similar to the potential Icelandair investment.

Personally if you can change without too much financial pain to yourself I would. It’s not just till the 11th if you have a return booking date you’ll also have that concern. Also can you afford to be left in the breach with a late collapse of the airline ?

jmctoronto · 04-12-2018 12:50am

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Personally if you can change without too much financial pain to yourself I would. It’s not just till the 11th if you have a return booking date you’ll also have that concern. Also can you afford to be left in the breach with a late collapse of the airline ?

I’m going one way so not too worried about what happens after the 11th...if it does result in a late collapse I reckon my travel insurance will cover it.... it’s just the hassle of rebooking, waiting for insurance to pay out etc...

Tenger · 13-12-2018 3:21pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Wow air dumping 11 aircraft

Wiki says they had 16 in operation last month.
(A320 x1 , A321 x14, A330 x1)

California Dreamer · 13-12-2018 3:47pm

https://www.euronews.com/2018/12/13/icelands-wow-air-to-reduce-fleet-cut-111-jobs

https://www.icelandreview.com/news/wow-air-lays-off-111-today/

WOW air is also set to reduce their fleet by almost 50%, from 20 to 11 planes. The company will retain only Airbus A321 and A320 jets, suitable for short- and medium-range flights, and will cut New Delhi and Los Angeles from their ininerary on January 20 and January 14, respectively.

Tenger · 13-12-2018 7:06pm

Negative_G wrote: »

I'm sure I could.

Perhaps you could have the common courtesy to include a reference or link instead of throwing out one liners in two separate threads.

If you're not going to bother including a link or state where you are getting a basis for your post then don't bother. Your desperation to come across as the resident expert on all things aviation is becoming sad and tiresome and does nothing to help others.

Yes, a link is useful. But some people could be on mobile or moving and unable to throw a link up on the fly.
And what isn’t useful is berating the poster for lack of a link.
I saw the same post, checked wiki for fleet details. I posted my own info then searched for info on the reduction. A link would have saved me a minute of searching but I’m not getting upset over it.

Now let’s get back to acting like adults then

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