![A WOW Air plane stops on the tarmac at Keflavik International Airport in Iceland. [Leonard Zhukovsky / Shutterstock]](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/12aa186/2147483647/strip/true/crop/980x520+0+0/resize/840x446!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F8%2F23%2Fwow_shutterstock.jpg)
A second airline from Iceland will begin offering Northeast Ohioans routes to Europe. A day after Icelandair announced flights from Cleveland, budget airline WOW Air says it will do the same.
Beginning in May 2018, both airlines will offer four flights a week from Cleveland-Hopkins to Keflavik International Airport, Iceland’s major overseas hub.
Cleveland-Hopkins will offer each airline $1 million in marketing over two or three years, according to Todd Payne, the airport's chief of marketing and air service development. The airport also plans to waive the airlines' landing fees for two years, Payne said, and will submit the incentive proposal for approval by other carriers in Cleveland.
Flights through Iceland can be a less-expensive way to reach the rest of Europe, and the country is a popular destination in its own right.
WOW CEO Skúli Mogensen joined a news conference at the airport via Skype. He said the Cleveland market appeals to the company for a few reasons, including size.
“But also not least, the lack of direct flights between Cleveland and Europe,” Mogensen said. “But also, of course, we think Cleveland as a destination in itself is fantastic.”
A flight from Cleveland to Paris through Iceland could run a few hundred dollars round trip. WOW is also expanding in Cincinnati, Detroit and St. Louis.
This story has been updated to reflect that a WOW flight through Iceland could run a few hundred dollars round trip, not each way.
