Skúli Mogensen, forstjóri og eigandi WOW air sendi tölvupóst á starfsfólk WOW air um hádegisbil í dag þar sem hann boðaði til starfsmannafundar vegna kaupa Icelandair Group á öllu hlutafé WOW air. DV greinir frá þessu .

Í póstinum, sem skrifaður er á ensku, segir Skúli að erfið staða flugfélagsins hafi leitt til erfiðra ákvarðana. Niðurstaðan hafi svo orðið sú að Icelandair Group muni taka yfir WOW air, svo lengi sem samningurinn verði samþykktur af hluthöfum Icelandair og Samkeppnieftirlitinu. Gerir Skúli ráð fyrir því að þetta ferli gæti tekið rúmar þrjár vikur.

Að sögn Skúla hafa teymi WOW air og Icelandair unnið náið saman að því að tryggja það að gera sem mest úr þessu tækifæri.

Í lok bréfsins segir Skúli að hann geri sér grein fyrir því að þetta komi starfsfólkinu í opna skjöldu og að þessi sameining félaganna sé augljóslega ekki það sem lagt var upp með. Hann telji þetta þó miðað við aðstæður vera bestu niðurstöðurnar fyrir WOW teymið, farþega félagsins, framtíð WOW air sem lággjaldaflugfélags og ekki síst fyrir ferðaiðnaðinn á Íslandi.

Upprunalegi tölvupósturinn:

„Dear friends. When we started WOW air seven years ago I would never have imagined the incredible adventure that WOW air has been. We have permanently changed the aviation landscape in Iceland and put WOW air on the map as a pioneering airline in low cost long haul flights across the Atlantic. I am incredibly proud of everything that we have achieved and of the fantastic WOW team. There have been many victories but also some major challenges. This year in particular, has been extremely challenging compared to the incredible growth and success that we enjoyed during prior years. Unfortunately, external conditions have continued to deteriorate and the outlook for many airlines has gotten extremely rough. WOW air is no exception and despite us working around the clock trying to improve the outlook we have now been faced with some extremely tough decisions. The conclusion is that Icelandair Group will acquire WOW air and we will become a standalone subsidiary of Icelandair Group. The acquisition is still dependent on Icelandair Group´s shareholders’ approval as well as approval by the Icelandic Competition Authority. This will take approximately three weeks.

We have worked intensively with the Icelandair Group team for the last 48 hours to ensure how we can make the most of this opportunity. There will be no changes in our daily operations and we will continue to service our passengers and destinations as before with the mission to continue to offer the lowest fares to and from Iceland and across the Atlantic. I realize this will come as a shock to many of you and obviously it was not part of the original game plan. However, given the circumstances I think this is the best solution for our team, our passengers, the continuity of WOW air as a low-cost carrier and not least for the travel industry in Iceland. I encourage you to look at this as an opportunity to continue our journey now as a part of a much stronger group that can enable us to succeed long term. Thank you all for your amazing work. There will be a staff meeting at 12:30 on the 7th floor at the HQ. Hope to see you there. “