Icelandic low cost carrier WOW Air has added a ton of new routes to the US over the past few years. Their first US destination was Boston in March 2015, and since then they’ve added flights to Baltimore, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Newark, Miami, Pittsburgh, and Chicago. In the spring of this year they plan on adding flights to Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, St. Louis, Dallas, and New York.
Up until now we’ve only seen growth from WOW Air. As far as I know they haven’t canceled a single route yet. That’s finally changing, as WOW Air will be canceling flights to Miami as of April 7, 2018. Here’s what a WOW Air executive told USA Today about the decision:
“We are continuously evaluating what our customers want and adjusting the routes, as needed,” Svana Fridriksdottir, VP of Communications for WOW Air, said in a statement provided to USA TODAY’s Today in the Sky blog. “Service from Miami will be paused starting in April, with the possibility of becoming a seasonal route in the future.”
WOW Air launched this route on April 5, 2017, meaning that it will be canceled just a bit over a year after it started. WOW Air has flown this route three times weekly with an Airbus A330, using the following schedule:
WW131 Reykjavik to Miami departing 6:30PM arriving 10:30PM
WW132 Miami to Reykjavik departing 4:30PM arriving 4:05AM (+1 day)
As you can see, the aircraft utilization for this route is pretty bad, as the plane sits on the ground in Miami for 18 hours. That’s because WOW Air’s business model is based around using Reykjavik as a connecting point between points in North America and points in Europe, so what they care about most are efficient connecting times in Iceland, even if it otherwise translates into bad aircraft utilization.
I suspect that’s also part of what made this route unsustainable. If WOW Air could have operated an A321 on a direct turn I imagine this route might have worked, but due to the distance this route required an A330, which has about 340 seats. I suspect they had a hard time filling those seats, so between flights not being full and the this route requiring the plane to sit on the ground for so long in Miami (and planes don’t make any money sitting on the ground), they just couldn’t make it work.
It will be interesting to see what route they put the A330 on instead. I’m also curious if we see any more route cuts from WOW Air, or if this was the only US route that’s performing so poorly.
Are you surprised to see WOW Air cut service to Miami?
Yeah, A330 is too big for this routes. They could probably re-start this route with A321neoLR with 218-220 seats. The standard A321ceo can't do much for this routes either.
maybe they should try ISP- KEF
Interestingly I've also been reading that Aer Lingus is struggling with Miami - to the point it could be cut .
Perhaps the Icelandic tourism boom has crested. While we go every year for interpersonal, professional, and fishing purposes—most people just go on and then head for another exotic locale. It seems like the “destination du jour” is South Africa or possibly Croatia. For awhile hip travelers were all heading to Phuket.
I read that as Wow! Are you actually surprised? I can't tell. I suppose if one is surprised, one must write "Wow! WOW Air is..."
Europeans don't want to come to Miami and risk getting shot by any madman with a gun because of our ridiculously lax gun laws.
@Lucky I wonder if this has something to do with all the diversions that flight has had to Bangor. See https://flightaware.com/live/flight/WOW131 today's flight appears to have a refueling stop in Bangor as have many of the recent flights
That is terrible aircraft utilisation, it’s true, but if they can’t make south Florida work as a low-cost leisure destination from Europe then what route CAN they make work?
I agree with @Eric J. About the Norwegian factor here - they fly FLL direct from LGW with even more connections to Europe onwards which is a much better setup. I am wondering if Norwegian will ultimately torpedo a lot of WOW’s leisure destination plans?...
That is terrible aircraft utilisation, it’s true, but if they can’t make south Florida work as a low-cost leisure destination from Europe then what route CAN they make work?
I agree with @Eric J. About the Norwegian factor here - they fly FLL direct from LGW with even more connections to Europe onwards which is a much better setup. I am wondering if Norwegian will ultimately torpedo a lot of WOW’s leisure destination plans?
I can see the Icelandic stopover working for 2nd/3rd tier US cities that lack much/any existing longhaul service but in competitive leisure markets (s florida for example) how much more room is there?
Wow doesn’t usually cut- they add. What an interesting move.
I pass by MIA almost daily. At the beginning WOW's plane would be a 330... but more recently I have seen a WOW 321... not sure how they get it here... but its clearly a narrowbody and has curved long wingtips (unlike the sharp and short wingtips of a 330)
They should do a fifth freedom route. Maybe Miami - Caribbean, that's a slam dunk.
I live in Miami and although I was aware of WOW they really have done very little to make the general public aware of their airline. Also, Norwegian flies non-stop to a number of European cities from Fort Lauderdale so that is probably much more convenient and desirable than a connection in Iceland for most low cost fliers here.
I flew this route over the summer and it was completely full both ways. I would guess it is more of a seasonal route though