Icelandic low-cost carrier WOW air saw an 8% drop in its load factor in January 2019 compared to the same time period last year. This despite decrease in available seats and an indication of lower ticket prices.
Although WOW air is listed as a private company, the airline does release monthly traffic numbers on its website. According to these numbers, WOW air’s load factor dropped from 88% in January 2018 to 80% in January 2019. The company also reports a 19% decrease in available seats in January, compared to the same month last year. It is likely that the number of available seats will decline even further in February as WOW air ceased flights to Los Angeles, St. Louis, and Chicago.
This dip in WOW air’s load factor should not come as a great surprise. Isavia had previously reported that carriers operating regular flights to and from Iceland had experienced lower load factors in past months. Icelandair’s load factor was 72% in January 2019, 8% lower than WOW air’s load factor for the same time period. However, when comparing Icelandair’s and WOW air’s load factor, one must bare in mind that low-cost carriers tend to have a higher load factor than legacy airlines due to lower ticket prices.
WOW air made some major changes to its routes at the end of last year and cut down its fleet by eight aircrafts. Currently WOW air offers flights to 26 destinations around Europe and North America.
