Former Tech Exec’s New Offering: $199 Flights To Europe From LAX And SFO
During the dot-com boom, Skúli Mogensen, an entrepreneur and investor from Iceland, lived in Silicon Valley for a few years, and later ran OZ Communications, a mobile messaging company that Nokia acquired for hundreds of millions in 2008.
Now Mogensen is founder and CEO of Wow Air, a low-cost Icelandic carrier that announced Tuesday that it would begin offering $199 flights from the West Coast to various cities in Europe. The flights build on the success Wow has had linking Boston, Washington, Toronto and Montreal with European cities since last year. All flights connect through Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik, and flying there is just $99.
Return flights are more expensive, costing $400 from some destinations, bringing the total cost of a round trip to about $600.
“We are really pioneering the low-cost model on long-haul flights,” Mogensen said in an interview with FORBES. Low-cost carriers like Southwest in the United States and Ryanair in Europe have been among the most successful and profitable in the industry but have generally operated locally, Mogensen said. “No one has done it with Transatlantic flights,” he said.
Almost no one. Rival Norwegian Air has been operating low cost flights along various routes between the United States and Europe since 2013.
Wow will begin five weekly flights to Reykjavik from San Francisco on June 9, and four weekly flights from Los Angeles on June 15. From there, Wow serves 21 European destinations including London, Paris, Berlin and Amsterdam.
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Most U.S. passengers to Iceland or Europe are likely to pay a bit more, as the advertised fares are bare bones. Want meals? You’ll have to pay. Same for certain seats, and of course, luggage. Mogensen says on average passengers can expect to pay about 20% in extras, which would bring the price of a one-way ticket to Europe to $240. “You only pay for what you use,” he said. “If you travel light, there are no extras.”
Forrás: http://www.forbes.com/
