WOW Airlines Cancels All Flights, Strands Passengers At Logan Airport

BOSTON (CBS/AP) – Several passengers were stranded at Logan Airport Thursday after Icelandic budget airline WOW Air ceased operations because of financial problems.

The company released a statement overnight saying they were in the final stages of raising money with a group of investors and that they were postponing all flights until documentation with all parties involved were finalized.

Then they released a travel alert announcing that they are shutting down and grounding all flights, leaving all of their passengers in the lurch.

Bjorn Kjartansson has been stranded at Logan Airport since Wednesday and can't get home to Iceland.

"You're running a business. There's a lot of people here, lot of people are depending on you and we're paying money for it and we're not getting our money's worth. (We) feel kind of like cockroaches or garbage in their eyes," he told WBZ-TV.

WOW Air is now telling passengers to check available flights with other airlines to get to their destinations. They say some airlines may offer reduced fares or rescue fares due to these circumstances. IcelandAir launched one such offer Thursday.

In a text alert to its' passengers Thursday morning, WOW Air apologized and said, "you are allowed to choose from receiving a full refund for your flight or changing your reservation to the next available WOW air flight from your destination." Any changes or cancellations can be made at fly.wow.is/cxlchange.

WOW Air, founded by entrepreneur Skuli Mogensen, began operations in 2012 and expanded quickly.

It specialized in ultra-cheap flights between North America and Europe, with flights from 27 airports, including Boston, Washington, D.C, New York, Paris, London and its Reykjavik hub.

(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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