Wow Air has gone out of business, stranding thousands of passengers and creating potentially huge risks for Iceland’s tiny economy and its growing reliance on tourism. The carrier is the eighth European airline to have failed since the summer as margins are pinched by fluctuating fuel costs and over-capacity that’s sparked a continent-wide fare war. All 29 of Wow’s flights scheduled for Thursday were canceled and 2,700 passengers were asked to check with other airlines to get to their destinations. The govt activated contingency plans and issued a statement seeking to offer reassurances about the consequences for the local economy. “We have run out of time and have unfortunately not been able to secure funding for the company,” chairman Skuli Mogensen said in a letter to employees. <br/>
unaligned
Bamboo Airways will buy 50 Airbus A321Neo planes, its chairman Trinh Van Quyet said Thursday, as the carrier expands and begins international flights. The first of the planes will be delivered in 2022, Quyet said. He declined to disclose the value of the deal, which was signed Thursday. Quyet said the agreement includes the 24 planes covered by a memorandum of understanding signed with Airbus last March. "We have chosen Airbus as the supplier of narrow-bodied planes, while using wide-bodied aircraft from Boeing," Quyet said. Bamboo Airways plans to launch its first international flights late next month, initially to Japan, Singapore and South Korea, he said. The airline, which made its maiden flight in January, also plans to launch non-stop flights to the US late this year or early next. <br/>
Cypriot airline TUS Airways is seeking to build an eastern Mediterranean mini-hub at its Larnaca base. The carrier began operations in April 2016 and has since built a fleet of 2 Fokker 100s and 5 Fokker 70s. The regional market has always been difficult but, especially in the winter low season, has been good to TUS Airways so far, CE Michael Weinstein said The airline operates flights from Larnaca to the Greek islands. There is also significant activity from Tel Aviv—the Israeli city is a 40-minute hop from Larnaca—to Cyprus and the Greek islands, Weinstein said. Much of the traffic is tourist-related and the Fokkers “are a perfect fit for the islands,” particularly in the quieter winter season, he said, although there will be an eventual need for a narrowbody aircraft to replace the Dutch Fokkers. <br/>
Training provider CAE has signed a new 5-year agreement with long-haul LCC AirAsia X to train pilots on the Airbus A330. The agreement, announced Thursday, extends the use of the CAE Rise training system to the airline. CAE Rise consists of an electronic training suite, a standard operating procedures management tool that links the airline’s operations manual to corresponding training tasks, and an objective assessment capability that enables instructors to monitor pilot training performance as analysed by an assessment and grading engine. CAE already is providing initial training for AirAsia X pilots and in July will begin recurrent training at its training centre in Kuala Lumpur. “ <br/>