Wow! Flying to New York and London just got cheaper. Icelandic low-cost carrier WOW air will launch its services in India with direct long-haul flights from Delhi to the North America and Europe by December at fares starting at around Rs 30,000.

“We are thrilled to launch our operations in India, a diverse country with tremendous potential. Our launch is in sync with India’s aviation growth story and we look forward to being part of it with our very affordable fares to North America and Europe on-board brand new Airbus A-330neos,” says Skúli Mogensen, chief executive officer and founder of WOW air.

Delhi is the first city the carrier will fly from in Asia and it plans to expand to other cities in the near future. “Wow air also plans to add more flights to India in the future as the country strongly moves ahead to become the world’s third-largest tourism economy in the next 10 years,” he adds.

WOW air plans to launch with an introductory base fare of Rs 13,500. Additional charges for services such as in-flight food and check-in baggage as well as taxes will take the overall price of a ticket to around Rs 30,000. Going ahead, the fares will vary depending on demand and the seasonality.

The airline will deploy the new Airbus A-330 Neo aircraft in India and will operate five flights every week. It currently flies from Iceland to 15 destinations in the U.S. and will operate flights from India to the U.S. via Iceland. “Iceland will become the hub for flights to North America from India. We want Iceland to become the Dubai of the north,” he says.

Interestingly, WOW air has entered India at a time when domestic low-cost carrier IndiGo is planning to begin long-haul flights from India to Europe, and has been closely looking at the business models adopted by global budget airlines such as Norwegian Air as well as WOW air.

Long-haul routes

Iceland’s WOW air to offer cheap flights from India