Originally Posted by
David Puddy
WOW Airlines (advised by Ben Baldanza - former Spirit CEO) is a new and fast growing LCC based in Iceland that is now using A321s and soon A330s to connect Europe to the U.S. through Reykjavik. I have seen the A321s at BWI and A330s will soon serve both LAX and SFO. Something like 95% of their pilots are Polish and Eastern European because there aren't enough Icelandic pilots to fly the airplanes.
Should we shut them out too since they employ Polish pilots and their cheap fares are scary to the legacies too?
Umm, they are an Icelandic company, based in Iceland, an EU country utilizing the provisions of the U.S.-EU Open Skies agreement.
NAI, is a Norwegian company, but Norway is not part of the EU, so they cannot fly under the U.S.-EU Open Skies agreement. However, by using an Irish Air Certificate, Ireland being a part of the EU, they are effectively side stepping the Open Skies question.
If NAI were to use EU pilots, flying on a Norwegian air carrier certificate, as long as they met the provisions of the U.S.-Norwegian air carrier agreement, no one would have an issue with that and would just have to deal with it competitively.