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-   -   WOW Airlines (https://www.pprune.org/terms-endearment/577669-wow-airlines.html)

babemagnet 29th Nov 2018 10:37

Just got an e-mail from Parc CAE they are looking for FO and Capt for WOW air.

Krugerpark 29th Nov 2018 11:10


Originally Posted by babemagnet (Post 10323450)
just got an e-mail from parc cae they are looking for fo and capt for wow air.

😂🤣🤣😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂😂

Krugerpark 29th Nov 2018 16:42

... and calling guys about to loose their job “ fat to trim”....

Krugerpark 29th Nov 2018 17:41


Originally Posted by kendrick47247 (Post 10323756)
Where has this been written/heard?

letter of the “president” of the union... and do not forget to book the Xmas buffet!

LHS320 29th Nov 2018 18:04

Hey Krugerpark,
how about you shut the ##ck up! We are talking about people’s employment here!! Your gloating is tiresome.
It may be as reported that the end is nigh, however we are still batting and hopefully we will come through, and not have to go through a traumatic situation with our families. And especially for the kids coming up to Christmas.
lhs320

LHS320 29th Nov 2018 21:45

Hi All,
yeh yeh we still survive ​​​​​!!
lhs320

ExDubai 29th Nov 2018 23:45

Looks like the white knight is on his way....

https://markets.businessinsider.com/...ent-1027768928



hans brinker 30th Nov 2018 17:32


Originally Posted by ExDubai (Post 10324119)
Looks like the white knight is on his way....

https://markets.businessinsider.com/...ent-1027768928



Having worked under Indigo management I would never call them white knight.... If Indigo takes over expect to work under conditions that are 50% of what your peers make. Just look at Spirits (NK) old contract and Frontier’s (F9) current contract compared to what everyone else is making in the USA. After Indigo left I got a 50% raise and I still make less than 90% of other A320 pilots in the US.

ExDubai 30th Nov 2018 19:09

@Hans me neither. I‘ve should’ve marked the hint of sarcasm

ExDubai 30th Nov 2018 21:45


Originally Posted by MichaelOLearyGenius (Post 10324895)
It's such a shame that if you read all the early posts, all that people were interested in was gross monthly pay. Probably this greed has led to the company's predicament.....

Good joke....

seventhreedriver 1st Dec 2018 08:54


Originally Posted by hans brinker (Post 10324733)


Having worked under Indigo management I would never call them white knight.... If Indigo takes over expect to work under conditions that are 50% of what your peers make. Just look at Spirits (NK) old contract and Frontier’s (F9) current contract compared to what everyone else is making in the USA. After Indigo left I got a 50% raise and I still make less than 90% of other A320 pilots in the US.

A day ago, it was little Tommy’s Christmas present, today it is “the t&cs are always below standard @indigo’s airlines” This is true, but I would like to see the day when going from an almost bankrupt airline to finding a sound investor is viewed as a positive thing. The world changes fast, doesn’t it.

Krugerpark 1st Dec 2018 14:56

I’m happy to see there is still people with some sense here.
I am going to shut up now. I know it makes you happier.

Rocade 13th Dec 2018 10:42

Just announced today, a total of 350-400 people laid off (110 full time plus contractors and part time employess). Fleet reduced from 20 to 11, only 320 and 321...

Only in Icelandic yet: https://www.mbl.is/vidskipti/frettir/2018/12/13/uppsagnir_hja_wow_air_og_velum_faekkad/

Today's email from WW CEO Skuli to the employess has been leaked:


Dear friends,

After an incredible journey since founding WOW air seven years ago, we are now faced with the biggest and most difficult restructuring in the history of the airline which includes making some very tough decisions. This involves significantly reducing our fleet from 20 to 11 aircraft and not taking delivery of the four A330neo, scaling back our operations accordingly and therefore I am very sad to say laying off a large number of people. This action is devastating given the hard work all of you have been doing and I wish there was any other way possible. We have looked at multiple possibilities but unfortunately this reduction is the only credible way we can see to save WOW air and build a foundation that we can grow from again. I am deeply sorry for having to take this extreme action since it will affect many of you dedicated WOW employees and a large number of consultants and temporary hires. However, I sincerely hope you will understand that this is necessary in order to save the remaining almost 1000 jobs at WOW air and allow us to continue to fly to and from Iceland and across the Atlantic. We are going back to our roots as an ultra-low cost airline and focus on our core business which served us so well in our first years up until 2017. Instead of sharpening our ultra-low cost model based on the success of 2015 and 2016 we started complicating our business by adding the wide body aircraft and introducing Premium and Comfy products which is far from our original vision. In short, we lost focus and started behaving like a legacy airline. These mistakes have almost cost us the company as our losses in 2018 have escalated in recent months due to poor financial results. It’s very important to note that I cannot blame anybody but myself for those mistakes as I personally championed the A330 fleet expansions, premium seating and to fly further east and west. This is a very painful lesson since at the same time we have built something unique with WOW air and while this will require us to take one difficult step back in the short term, I am convinced it will enable us to take two steps forward in the long term and ensure that WOW air will thrive in the future. With the prospect of getting Indigo Partners as our investors I want to go back to our original vision and demonstrate that we can indeed build a great low cost long haul airline. For what it’s worth I want to thank you and I also want to make the promise that once we start growing again you will be the first that we will welcome back. There will be a staff meeting at 1pm today and myself and the management team will be around all day to answer any questions and concerns you might have.


Krugerpark 21st Mar 2019 21:36


Originally Posted by LHS320 (Post 10324035)
Hi All,
yeh yeh we still survive ​​​​​!!
lhs320

Dear friends,



As all of you know we have been working day and night together with Indigo Partners to ensure the future of WOW air. Unfortunately we did not succeed in those negotiations. This is obviously very disappointing after all our hard work and great results that we have been seeing in all areas of our operations so far this year.

However rather giving up, we have taken up negotiations with Icelandair and expect to conclude those negotiation by early next week. I wish I could share more information with you, however unfortunately at this stage there is little more I can say.

As always the best we can all do is to continue to focus on delivering on our promises and ensure that our aircraft fly our passengers safely to and from Iceland.

Thank you for your dedication and resilience. I will keep you posted as soon as I know more.

Sincerely,

sm

Indigo Partners cancel negotiations with WOW air – WOW air starts discussions with Icelandair Group

Reykjavik, Iceland – March 21, 2019

The proposed investment of Indigo Partners LLC ("Indigo Partners") in WOW air has been cancelled by Indigo Partners. Therefore, all negotiations between WOW air and Indigo Partners have been cancelled.

Subsequently WOW air has started discussions with Icelandair Group. The parties aim to conclude the negotiations by Monday March 25, 2019.

This information is information that WOW air hf. is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above, at 21:10 GMT on March 21, 2019.
Með kveðju / Best Regards

Skúli Mogensen
Founder/CEO
Tel. + 354 590 3000
WOW.is

MCDU2 22nd Mar 2019 12:13

Or......

Dear Friends, as you are aware there is only one party to negotiate with now so we respectfully suggest that you bring along a large tub of vaseline to work should you find that you are fortunate enough to be gainfully employed in the coming period.

Rest assured that your management team will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that we are able to maintain our earnings ability throughout the forthcoming period of cost re-alignment.

Sincerely Yours....

Bittair3000 24th Mar 2019 18:54

Press release from this afternoon:

"Icelandair Group has decided that its possible involvement in WOW air’s operations, as announced on 20 March 2019, will not materialize. Therefore, all discussions between the parties have ended."
:eek:

Things are looking quite grim at the moment, best of luck to the employees.

compton3bravo 24th Mar 2019 19:28

Oh dear I fear the worst. Fuel bill due at the end of the month?

oceancrosser 24th Mar 2019 20:29

Well, a significant interest payment due tomorrow...

Krugerpark 24th Mar 2019 21:41

Dear Friends


I realize this is starting to sound like a never ending story....and I truly hope it will be a never ending story!! :) so I am extremely pleased to inform you that Bond holders and some other major creditors are working with us on securing WOW air going forward.

I cant share any more details with you at this stage beyond the below statement that just went out.

“A majority of WOW air Bond Holders and other creditors of WOW air are in advance discussions with the aim of reaching an agreement on a voluntary restructuring including an agreement of converting current debt into equity and fund the company towards long term sustainability. Further information will be given tomorrow.”


I also want to thank you for the incredible support and vote of confidence that I have received from so many of you in the last couple of days. Many of you have expressed interest in helping out and even asked if you could participate in any financing by using part of your salaries in this regard.

I am extremely grateful and happy to say that we are looking at ways to enable all of you to participate regardless of size because it would be fantastic if you would also become shareholders so that we can continue to build WOW together.

Thank you again for everything and I will let you know as soon as I know more.





Krugerpark 24th Mar 2019 22:52

Dear members of ÍFF,

Given the recent events with WOW air, we’ve decided to have a Union Meeting next Tuesday March 26th at xx00hrs. The meeting will take place at Bar & Bistró. **As usual there’ll be refreshments available.*

We hope to see you there.

Kveðja, regards,

ÍFF

fruitbat 25th Mar 2019 09:06

Several cancelled flights today and tomorrow now showing.

ShamrockF 25th Mar 2019 10:37

Looks like they may have parked TF-DOG and TF-PRO in Montreal. Does that mean they're down to 6 aircraft now?

mcdhu 25th Mar 2019 10:39

Don't see any on Flight radar.
mcdhu

AppleMacster 25th Mar 2019 10:46

2 Attachment(s)

Don't see any on Flight radar.
Four still flying at 1045Z:

https://www.pprune.org/attachment.ph...1&d=1553510743

(Actually five, the FRA-KEF just popped up)

Maxfli 25th Mar 2019 11:11

20 or so flights cancelled between now and Thursday.
Are they releasing more units back to Lessors?

Fingers crossed for all concerned.

aviationfanatic 25th Mar 2019 11:53

https://aviationvoice.com/icelandair...%20air%20Again

fruitbat 25th Mar 2019 15:05

Two WOW air planes have been grounded, one in Montreal and the second in Santa Clara in Cuba. The planes were grounded on request of the company that rents the planes to WOW air.

Bookings for nine destinations have been closed on the WOW air website.

https://icelandmonitor.mbl.is/news/n...t_cancellatio/

Maxfli 25th Mar 2019 15:06


Originally Posted by wing man (Post 10429281)


Can’t see any cancellations other then the morning gatwick??

  • 24.03.2019 WW264 Miami Havana 22:00 23:15 Cancelled
  • 25.03.2019 WW263 Havana Miami 00:15 01:30 Cancelle25.03.2019 WW153 Reykjavik Chicago O’Hare 15:10 11:10 Cancelled
  • 25.03.2019 WW147 Reykjavik Pittsburgh 15:50 12:50 Cancelled
  • 25.03.2019 WW154 Chicago O’Hare Reykjavik 10:50 16:50 Cancelled
  • 25.03.2019 WW148 Pittsburgh Reykjavik 14:00 19:00 Cancelled
  • 25.03.2019 WW286 Miami Frank Pais, Cuba 16:15 17:35 Cancelled
  • 25.03.2019 WW285 Frank Pais, Cuba Miami 18:35 19:50 Cancelled
  • 26.03.2019 WW462 Reykjavik Brussels 06:25 08:25 Cancelled
  • 26.03.2019 WW650 Reykjavik Milaan Malpensa 07:00 09:00 Cancelled
  • 26.03.2019 WW463 Brussels Reykjavik 12:35 12:35 Cancelled
  • 26.03.2019 WW153 Reykjavik Chicago O’Hare 15:10 11:10 Cancelled
  • 26.03.2019 WW622 Reykjavik Barcelona 15:20 17:20 Cancelled
  • 26.03.2019 WW154 Chicago O’Hare Reykjavik 10:50 16:50 Cancelled
  • 27.03.2019 WW623 Barcelona Reykjavik 09:05 09:05 Cancelled
  • 27.03.2019 WW651 Milaan Malpensa Reykjavik 10:30 10:30 Cancelled
  • 27.03.2019 WW153 Reykjavik Chicago O’Hare 15:10 11:10 Cancelled
  • 27.03.2019 WW154 Chicago O’Hare Reykjavik 10:50 16:50 Cancelled
  • 27.03.2019 WW147 Reykjavik Pittsburgh 15:50 12:50 Cancelled
  • 28.03.2019 WW650 Reykjavik Milaan Malpensa 07:00 09:00 Cancelled

Maxfli 25th Mar 2019 17:08

Taken directly from Wow Air website.........

https://wowair.us/travel-info/flight-info/

Krugerpark 28th Mar 2019 06:58

AOC suspended?
 
Dear all,



As this is the case, we are canceling pick ups 28MAR in Kópavogur and Ásbrú. We will inform you of any change.

Með kveðju / Best regards
XXXXXXXX. XXXXXXXXXXOperations Controller | Flight Operations

——————————————


Dear coworkers



WOW air is in the final stages of finalizing equity raise with a group of investors. All flights have been postponed until documentation with all parties involved have been finalized. Further information will be given at 9 am.



Best regards,

Xxxxxxxxxx

Með kveðju / Best regards
Xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx
Xxxxx. HR Human Resources


TBSC 28th Mar 2019 08:22

It's over:
https://wowair.com/travel-alert/?_ga...186.1553516478

End of Operation of WOW AIR

Information for WOW AIR passengers

WOW AIR has ceased operation. All WOW AIR flights have been cancelled.

flyfan 28th Mar 2019 09:13

Very sad news...always liked that airline. Let's hope the best for their employees...

nordicfly 28th Mar 2019 20:31

As i said here in the forum years ago when i was employed there, they were arrogant, unsafe and even a bit racist against the expats. Now they are going to become expacts, and we wait them to knock at our doors.

Krugerpark 29th Mar 2019 06:31

farewell
 
The company was founded by the billionaire Skúli Mogensen, who made his fortune in the Icelandic tech business. He sold his company, OZ, to the Finnish phone-giant Nokia in the year 2008, just moments before the banking system crashed in Iceland. His money was not in Iceland when that happened, so when the Icelandic króna fell, well, his dollar stayed the same. He found himself as one of the wealthiest people in Iceland overnight. At least, that is how the story goes.

Skúli founded WOW Air in 2011, just around the moment of the eruption of the notorious Eyjafjallajökull volcano, which became a blessing in disguise for the travel industry in Iceland. That and of course the Icelandic króna, which was so low that tourists actually afforded to come to Iceland for the first time and buy a pint or two while they were at it.
But this airline was quite different from what Icelanders had seen before. It was more about the image although they were budget airline. Airlines of course have always had their appeal through the decades, and it looked like Skúli was determined to restore the romantic view of the airlines.

The color purple was chosen for its logo and merch, and you could not see a picture of Skúli in the media without two or more of his beautiful flight attendants around him smiling like it was the 50s and feminism was just an odd idea that nobody really cared about.

The image of the company also emphasised a new and glamorous lifestyle and cunningly playing with the notorious FOMO feelings related to social media.

The first year of WOW Air was a mild success. Over 110,000 customers flew with the airline their first year. In 2014, they were just under half a million; in 2016, 1.6 million; and in 2017, about 3.5 million people flew with the airline. It looked like an amazing success, but some could see that there was turbulence in the air.

WOW Air lost 330 million ISK in 2013, but all in all they lost around 1.1 billion ISK (8 million Euros) the first two years. At that time, the company’s shares were solely in the hands of Skúli himself, so it was hard to see exactly what was going on within the company. But it was obvious that they were losing money,

The fast growth of the company became a real problem when, in 2015, WOW Air flew the same number of travellers in July as they did in the whole year of 2012.the EBITDA OF 2015 was -536 million ISK.

The next two years were surprisingly calm and successful for the purple airline. The flight attendants, who looked like they got lost in time, smiled like they had never smiled before, and the airline announced that the profit for 2016 was 4.3 billion ISK. But that changed quickly.


Skúli had made a bad deal connected to the fuel price. A credit card company, Korta, that WOW Air had close ties with, got into trouble after the bankruptcy of the budget airline Monarch went bust. And to add to that problem, there was a contraction in the travel industry. Things were not looking good for Skúli and his smiling stewards.

In 2018, it became apparent that something drastic needed to be done if WOW Air was going to survive this storm. Media reported that the company owed a state run company, ISAVIA, 2 billion ISK in landing fees. To be exact; the company owed the tax payers in Iceland 2 billion ISK.

The situation was grave. So Skúli had to walk the gauntlet of humiliation and talk to Icelandair about a possible buyout or some kind of a form of saving the company. Keep in mind that Icelandair is the oldest airline and a very established airline in Iceland. The government has even vouched for its debts at one point, after the 9/11 attacks.

These WOW Air/Icelandair negotiations happened last November. Nothing came out of it in the end, although many were hopeful that this would be the solution. And everybody had this same feeling; something was wrong.


Skúli ended the negotiations with Icelandair and suddenly the owner of Wizz Air, Indigo Partners, was on the other end of the negotiation table. They crunched the numbers for weeks, and it was said that the time they took to look over the finances of Wow Air was unusually long. After crunching the numbers, Indigo Partners said there was no deal. This was of course before the public heard that WOW Air lost 22 billion ISK just last year.

Things were not looking good for Skúli.. It’s safe to say that he pulled out some serious financial tricks to keep afloat. And on Wednesday, the shareholders announced that they had taken over the company.

But like with all tragedies, this was too late. The owners of the airplanes that WOW Air used demanded 300 million ISK last night for them to continue using the planes. WOW Air tried to convince the owners of the plane to give them more time. But because of the Airbus scandal with Boeing, airplanes are in high demand right now, and with the shaky state of things, the answer was a hard no.



So, what happens now?

Well, there are at least 1100 empyoee without a job.That is a number Iceland hasn’t seen since the collapsing of the financial system in 2008. The effects will have a heavy impact on hotels and restaurants in Iceland, and the whole travel industry in the country is upset because of this. The timing could not be worse. Banks have forecast that there will be some contraction in the Icelandic travel boom, and to add on that, there are complicated wage negotiations going on and the unions are threatening strikes.

It is expected that this will affect Iceland’s economy, possibly resulting in a contraction of about 2%-3% of the GDP, and the króna could weaken by as much as 13% in the next year.


I have just got back to the rock, after being stranded for hours: thanks to the kindness of the competition....

may be this is what happens when an airline is run by á group of @green@ friends with lttle education inadequate qualifications and even less experience

Now we are reading of journey of a lifetime, end of an era, wish of all the best, vacation in Bali with Churchill quotes,video of “Shake it off”, stamping of logbooks, beers shared and offered by the union, work under heavy stress to do paperwork , advice to live hotel in a hurry “ to avoid any argument “, tearjerker messages of the usual suspects on workplace ... however why do I think I have been screwed...???
someone knew and didn’t tell....may be is the only one who hasn’t sent us a pretty email yet.


I have met some fantastic people in Wow and a few others ...which do not deserve me wasting time on finding epithet to describe them.... all the best to All of you nonetheless.
cheers
Kruger







Whisperfail 29th Mar 2019 22:09

Re Krueger.
 
Sad story to hear, but also really appreciated that you share your story and knowledge about WoW. 😢

I really hope the best is yet to come for you and your former colleagues.

booze 30th Mar 2019 12:38

Although we disagreed on numerous occasions with Krugerpark in the past, i couldn't agree more with his post this time. Wish all ex-wow people swift reemployment and luck for the future.

Another insight by Ben Baldanza, probably the only foreigner on the board.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/five-...b-ben-baldanza

Krugerpark 1st Apr 2019 13:26

Reality check
 
Hi all,


The following was discussed on a board meeting this morning.

We've been getting a lot of questions why ÍFF is not helping members out financially. Here's a little reality check.

ÍFF is little more than 4 years old with less than 200 members and that's only the last year. We started out as 15 members. Do the math! In other words we are a micro union but with a big heart. We have obligations towards members with regards to the Health and Sick Fund and claiming your unpaid salaries. For that we have to pay our lawyer a fee. We also have to pay Guðrún Birna her salary plus a lot of other expenses.

We are doing our best to gather information on jobs out there and setting up roadshows like today's show with Parc.

We are also offering our facilities to former ÍFF members that were WOW air management staff like Reynald, who is signing logbooks and Davíð that will be handing out the training documents.

Needless to say our funds are not as big as the other union's like VR and FFÍ. You've probably heard that VR is paying some salary for their members and FFÍ is assessing their situation. We are not in ASÍ (the big collective Labour Union) and we can not afford to take a loan to pay you the amount of the claim beforehand. In other words we can not pay you any salary due to size of our funds.

ÍFF will remain operative until **** storm is over!

Best regards and good luck with the job hunt,

The Board and alternates.



Dear board, with small cases,

i have done the math:
since I f**** joined the local contract iff took 800k isk from me alone... and I get one half of what your president ( small cases) again earn!

So I have done the math...

you should all be ashamed of yourself.



compass360 1st Apr 2019 13:41

Ask them about the pretty little summer house they were so obsessed with, while the boat was sinking.

LHS320 1st Apr 2019 14:00

And what’s ahappend to our pension contributions!
thieving b****ds!.
LHS320

atakacs 1st Apr 2019 14:06

Fwiw I spotted a WOW aircraft leaving GVA on Sat 30th around 915 am. I guess some sort of repossession flight?!


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