Wow, it's adapting

It’s not just 3 airlines on Keflavik-Dallas - Icelandair, Wow, and American - that make your eyes widen and think ‘what the hell?’

(Of course, they're really targeting different people: Icelandair and Wow, primarily those from the UK and continental Europe to Dallas and vice-versa; American, those travelling to Iceland from the US while trying to protect its Europe presence.)

It’s also Wow’s remarkable growth from Iceland as it increasingly seeks to stimulate demand between North America and Europe.

In February 2018, it serves 10 North American cities, including Pittsburgh. And its European network extends to Tel Aviv.

Its network as of February is as follows:

I like how Wow is:

• Pushing boundaries with its 320s, 321s, and 333s
• Beginning brand-new routes
• Opening cities that might not previously have been expected
• Offering exceptionally low headline fares (plus ancillaries) for promotional reasons and to stimulate discretionary travel
• Really pushing ancillaries and using them to enable lower fares perhaps more than many
• Trying to be different

I like their guts.

In late 2017, Wow announced increased frequencies for s18 between Keflavik and both Washington/Baltimore (from 7-weekly to 11-weekly) and NYC (from 14-weekly to 20-weekly), as below.

KEF-BWI:

• 1520-1750; daily, 321
• 2110-2345; 4x weekly, 321

BWI-KEF:

• 0045-1050; 4x weekly, 321
• 1850-0500*; daily, 321

KEF-NYC

• EWR: 1510-1730; daily, 321
• EWR: 2110-2325; 6x weekly, 321
• JFK: 2110-2325; daily, 321

NYC-KEF

• JFK: 0040-1045; daily, 321
• EWR: 0040-1045; 6x weekly, 321
• EWR: 1835-0450*; daily, 321  

Wow has focused on its 0400-0500 arrivals bank in KEF from North America, feeding its 0600-0700 departure bank across Europe. These flights return to KEF 1310-1410 and depart across North America 1500-1600. 

Impressive coordination, but such tight scheduling – easily marketable because of shorter total travel time – can and does impact punctuality and reliability, especially in winter.

Wow has developed two more waves, as in the tables, below. 

This will have additional benefits, including more flexibility, improving productivity, and developing into off-peak times - with KEF bursting at the seams during peak periods.

In the new wave 1, the arrivals bank from North America is 1030-1100, which feeds into the departure bank at 1200. 

Later this year, its return flights from San Francisco and Los Angeles will arrive into this 1030-1100 bank. This will avoid an overnight stay in the US for its aircraft, which, at the moment, is done so that they arrive into the 0400-0500 bank on day 3. For example:

• KEF-SFO: 1505-1715 (day 1)
• SFO-KEF: 1220-0420* (arriving day 3)

The schedule change, from the new 1030-1100 arrivals bank, will mean the aircraft return to KEF nearly 24 hours earlier, so increasing aircraft productivity in a week period.

In the new wave 2, the aircraft that departed at 1200 arrive back 1900-2000, which feed the 2100-2130 departure bank. These then feed the 1030-1100 arrivals bank the next day.

(I haven't put San Francisco and Los Angeles into the first table, but they'll arrive at 1030 and 1055 respectively. They depart KEF in the usual 1500-1600 departure bank.)

It'll be fantastic to see how Wow develops in the future. How it adds connectivity, how it focuses more on its 6th freedom operation, how it tries to get people flying - while trying to run a successful and profitable operation.