Bankrupt Wow Air plies passengers with pizza then folds

Wow air: The distinctive purple livery will be seen no more as the airline ceases operations. Photo / Nicolas Economou, Getty Images

The Icelandic airline Wow Air has ceased operating leaving thousands of passengers stranded.

At eleven pm, Dublin time, passengers waiting to board Wow Air services were told their planes had been cancelled and that there would be no further services.

After months of uncertainty, the airline finally went out of business after it could not find a buyer. However, up to 10000 passengers were caught out by the airline's sudden collapse.

The airline, which was founded by Icelandic businessman Skuli Mogensen began operating in 2012, targeting budget services between Europe and the United States.

The company's Reykjavik hub was perfectly positioned for the route. With the rise of Iceland as a tourism destination it began advertising a "Stopover" service with short package tours for passengers overnighting in Iceland.

Tempers were high last night at #yyz #wowair. I can’t post anymore of this due to the swearing!
The flight staff had just informed us they were in the same position as us. pic.twitter.com/tJjcNbVBku

— travelgirlto (@travelgirlto) March 28, 2019

However the North Atlantic airline ran into financial difficulties, and a turbulent six-month negotiation to find a buyer for the airline. First trying Icelandair, the national carrier, then American company Indigo Partners who run the airline Wizz.

"I will never forgive myself for not acting sooner," Mogensen wrote to employees on Thursday. "WOW was clearly an incredible airline and we were on the path to do amazing things again."

The airline website was updated last night with a travel alert informing passengers that "WOW AIR has ceased operation. All WOW AIR flights have been cancelled."

@wow_air cancels flight to Dublin from Detroit at the last minute, looks like the company has gone bust. Any chance you can accommodate a family of four on @AerLingus out of Chicago or Tornado tomorrow the 28th. You would make this little girl Maeve very happy to see her cousins pic.twitter.com/jMnmWSh6zI

— Barrai Omuireagain (@BOmuireagain) March 28, 2019

Passenger Barrai Omuireagain was waiting for a transatlantic flight on Wow from Dublin.

The seven PM service he had been waiting on was delayed by an hour, then another hour and so on until at 11pm he asked Wow's groundstaff what would happen if the company finally went bankrupt.

"She said it wouldn't happen and gave us a pizza, saying we're expecting a flight plan in the next 15 minutes," he told the BBC.

"Next thing the PA said the flight was cancelled."

Ahead of the busy Summer season, and an increasingly popular route the disappearance of the carrier is sure to be felt.

Absolutely devastated with the news of @wow_air ceasing operations this morning 💔 Our dream honeymoon trip to Iceland gets postponed again 😔 https://t.co/4Hfj1acLMi

— Aoife O'Dwyer 🌹 (@aoifeodwyer) March 28, 2019

At the moment it is believed that around 10000 passengers have been directly affected.

With the overnight collapse of Wow, Twitter lit up with stories of cancelled honeymoons and tired passengers camping out in airports only to finally be told that there would be no further flights with Wow.