Reykjavik Becomes New Stopover for Israel-U.S. Flights

WOW Air Airbus A330-300.In a bid to accelerate competition in commercial air routes between Israel and the United States, the Minister of Transportation has helped Iceland’s WOW Air to circumvent EU bureaucracy to launch flights via Reykjavik, Globes reported on Monday.

Israeli Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz revealed at a press conference that “since the European Union is delaying approval of the agreement with the airline from Iceland, which is not an EU member, we decided to deal with them directly.”

Katz went on to say that “the route to the U.S. needs competition…[to] improve service and lower prices, so connection flights to the U.S. are attractive….The fact that another good airline from another country is coming here bears a political, economic, and aviation message. 140 airlines are flying to Ben Gurion Airport. That is a big number. It expresses confidence in Israel and its strength.”

Low-cost WOW’s founder and CEO Skuli Mogensen said: “As Paulo Coelho said, ‘Impossible is just an opinion.’ When we founded the company five years ago, I never imagined that we’d come to Israel. I’ve dreamed of visiting here since I was a child.

“Our mission is to enable everyone to fly by offering the cheapest prices in Tel Aviv: from $99 to Iceland and $149 from Tel Aviv to New York, Boston, and Montreal. No one has ever offered such cheap prices to North America, and we’re proud to bring competition to Israel.”

The quoted fares are starting prices, and actual fares will vary. They do not include a luggage allowance.