New generation airliners are double edged sword for WOW air

WOW air founder and CEO Skúli Mogensen, speaking at World Routes, stated (24-Sep-2017) that new generation airliners such as the A321neo and Boeing 737 MAX offer both opportunities and threats to the airline's business model. While the new generation airliners will allow passengers "to bypass Iceland" and take advantage of new nonstop transatlantic connectivity, they have also opened the door for the airline's own route development, for example its own flight from Keflavik International Airport, serving Reykjavik to Tel Aviv in Israel, is a 7hr 30min sector on a narrowbody aircraft. "We might not have considered this with a larger aircraft", he said, and noted that the arrival of new A321neoLR will open up further range options, especially smaller mid-sized cities that can't be served sustainably with widebody equipment. "Iceland has a great opportunity to now become a global hub", he added with network options both east and west.