Wow! Icelandic low-cost carrier eyes US launch

Wow Air

The Icelandic low-cost carrier has also begun offering tickets from London Gatwick to Boston Logan International and Baltimore Washington International airports from £99 one-way.

Wow Air, a low-cost airline based in Reykjavik, Iceland, set March 27 as the launch date for its first service to the U.S., a nonstop route to Boston that will operate five times weekly with extended-range A321 aircraft. 

Service to Baltimore/Washington Airport is scheduled to be added on June 4, operating four times weekly through October. 

The airline, which operates from Iceland to points in Europe, will offer connections to Copenhagen, London and other points. 

Introductory US-Iceland fares are $99, one-way.

The Icelandic low-cost carrier has also begun offering tickets from London Gatwick to Boston Logan International and Baltimore Washington International airports from £99 one-way.

The flights, which include a layover in Reykjavik, take about three hours longer than flying direct to Boston and five and a half hours longer on the return journey.

The offer comes after Norwegian, another budget Scandinavian airline, began offering direct flights from London to New York, Los Angeles and Fort Lauderdale for as little as £150. 

US airlines and unions fiercely opposed the opening of the Norwegian route, claiming its subsidiary, Norwegian Air International, had based itself in Dublin to avoid Norwegian employment laws and cut costs. 

Norwegian denied the allegations, claiming the decision was to help it secure future traffic rights within the EU.