WOW Pulls Out of St. Louis, Cincinnati and Cleveland Less Than 1 Year After Launch

Just five scant months after launching service between St. Louis and Reykjavik, WOW Air announced that it's canceling several of its Midwest-Iceland routes.

"WOW Air is disappointed to confirm the cancellation of the service from St. Louis Lambert International Airport (STL) this winter, with the final flight from Reykjavik (KEF) to STL Jan. 6, 2019, and the final flight from STL to KEF on Jan. 7, 2019," a spokesperson for the airline told TPG. "Unfortunately, it has to be said that St Louis was a disappointment for WOW Air this summer in terms of end results, with load factors not achieving the targets that were set for the route in the beginning, and compared to other markets in our network."

WOW Air said that STL passengers booked on flights after these dates will either receive a full refund, or can opt to fly from another WOW airport at no additional cost.

The airline also told TPG that routes between Reykjavik and Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) and Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE) would no longer be offered after this month, October 2018.

The final Cleveland flight will depart on Oct. 27, while the last Cincinnati flight will depart for Reykjavik on Oct. 27. Tickets can be purchased for travel through the final dates for each city.

St. Louis, Cincinnati and Cleveland represent three out of the four Midwest destination cities that WOW Air announced last summer, each with 4x weekly service. Detroit is the final remaining city from that initial launch. The airline confirmed that the Detroit route is not in jeopardy at this time.