Article from BTNews 3 DECEMBER 2018
Indigo in Wow rescue bid
In a dramatic turnround last week, US private equity company Indigo Partners, headed by former America West Airlines CEO Bill Franke, agreed to invest in Wow Air hours after Icelandair pulled out of a deal to acquire the carrier.
If the Indigo agreement goes through, Wow will join Frontier, JetSmart and Wizz Air in the company’s portfolio of low-cost airlines, though observers cautioned the deal was dependent on “successful completion of due diligence.”
Indigo said Wow Air founder and CEO Skúli Mogensen would remain a principal investor if the agreement went ahead, with the two companies saying they would work to close “as soon as practical”.
Wow’s negotiations with the Icelandair Group were ended by mutual agreement after Icelandair said it became clear it would be unlikely for “all of the conditions in the share purchase agreement would be fulfilled”.
Separately, Wow Air said on Wednesday it was returning four aircraft – two Airbus A320s and two Airbus A330s – which it was leasing, saying it was “part of necessary restructuring of the airline”.
The move reduces the fleet by a fifth and available seats by a quarter, though Wow says it still plans to start services to India next month.
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