newstodate.aero
Jan 31, 2014 (newstodate): As reported by newstodate yesterday, WOW Air is facing problems in obtaining slots at Keflavik Airport for launch of its planned North American routes from this summer.
The carrier has applied for four slots at Keflavik Airport - two in the morning and two in the late afternoon, but Isavia has referred the issue to the county's Competition Appeals Committee that is now handling the application.
WOW Air has the opinion that this is an effort to protect Icelandair's position at the airport.
Not surprisingly, Isavia has another opinion on the issue..
-The short story is that WOW Air aims to repeat its predecessor's transatlantic operation for one season in summer 2014 and mimic Icelandair's established hub and spoke operation with the same aircraft doing same day round trips in both directions, says a spokesperson for ISAVIA.
-Keflavik International Airport is pretty much full during the two two-hour peaks at 06:00 - 08:00 and again 15:00 - 17:00, while there is an abundance of slots available at other times.
-However, rather than utilizing the means of the internationally established Slots Coordination procedures, especially concerning new entrants, WOW Air has elected to appeal to the Icelandic Competition Authority much like Norwegian did in Oslo about 10 year ago.
-Unlike the Norwegian authority that dismissed the request, the Icelandic Authority has however ruled that Keflavik's operator, Isavia, has to provide requested slots during the fully booked peak hours.
-Isavia has appealed the ruling to an appeals committee based on the fact that Slots Coordination is conducted by an independent Coordinator and Isavia does not have legal authority to intervene, the spokesperson says.
The carrier has applied for four slots at Keflavik Airport - two in the morning and two in the late afternoon, but Isavia has referred the issue to the county's Competition Appeals Committee that is now handling the application.
WOW Air has the opinion that this is an effort to protect Icelandair's position at the airport.
Not surprisingly, Isavia has another opinion on the issue..
-The short story is that WOW Air aims to repeat its predecessor's transatlantic operation for one season in summer 2014 and mimic Icelandair's established hub and spoke operation with the same aircraft doing same day round trips in both directions, says a spokesperson for ISAVIA.
-Keflavik International Airport is pretty much full during the two two-hour peaks at 06:00 - 08:00 and again 15:00 - 17:00, while there is an abundance of slots available at other times.
-However, rather than utilizing the means of the internationally established Slots Coordination procedures, especially concerning new entrants, WOW Air has elected to appeal to the Icelandic Competition Authority much like Norwegian did in Oslo about 10 year ago.
-Unlike the Norwegian authority that dismissed the request, the Icelandic Authority has however ruled that Keflavik's operator, Isavia, has to provide requested slots during the fully booked peak hours.
-Isavia has appealed the ruling to an appeals committee based on the fact that Slots Coordination is conducted by an independent Coordinator and Isavia does not have legal authority to intervene, the spokesperson says.