Happy November everyone! We’re heading into winter in Iceland, which means colder weather, snowier roads, and the Northern Lights! Let’s take a look at new ways to see the Northern Lights, a new exciting airline announcement, and more.

WOW Air, WAB air, and now … Play Airline!

Some quick background: WOW Air was a discount Icelandic airline that started flying passengers to Iceland in 2012. They expanded rapidly, and offered cheap flights to Iceland. Some flights from the United States were as low as $99 US one way! But they expanded too quickly, and a sharp increase in oil prices in 2018 led to steep operating losses. WOW went out of business at the end of March 2019.

Two different companies are trying to emerge from the ashes of WOW. One has a lot of skeptics, but the other suddenly looks much more promising.

WOW Air 2.0

Let’s start with the less exciting contender. An American businesswoman purchased the WOW Air name, and web site, and uniforms. They are still called WOW Air, though most people call them WOW Air 2.0.

WOW Air 2.0 claimed they would fly passengers in October of 2019, then delayed it to December. And now the latest is that those December flights will be for fish only, and not people.

Airline industry experts are skeptical that WOW Air 2.0 will ever start flying; here’s a recent and good summary of what the industry thinks of the new WOW. “Most industry observers watching the company’s efforts have been far more skeptical about its odds for success and especially the rapid return to the skies.”

The WOW web site is still just a placeholder, which just adds to the skepticism.

WAB, now called Play Airline!

Here’s the much more exciting news. While WOW 2.0 has the uniforms, WAB has the people associated with the original WOW. WAB stands for “We Are Back.” When I started writing this post, though, I was worried about WAB as well. WAB said “Nothing Stops Us Now” in early August, and then there was silence for 3 months.

Until yesterday (November 5th, 2019.) Suddenly, and with little fanfare, WAB announced that the actual name of the new airline would be Play Airline, and that they would start flying from North America to Iceland in the spring of 2020.

Here’s an article about the announcement. The only place I’ve seen a timeline is in a Facebook comment from the company, which says: “We plan on launching North America next spring.” Meanwhile, you can join the Play Airline mailing list and maybe win free tickets; see their web site at FlyPlay.com.

Play seems to be the odds on favorite to get off the ground first, literally. We’ll keep you updated! (Also, see the end of this post for my thoughts on why Play is likely to succeed.)

A place to see the northern lights in Iceland, and a new app to find them

This always sounds dumb, but you need darkness to see the Northern Lights. And since it never gets dark in Iceland over the summer, you only have a decent chance of seeing the Northern Lights from September until April or so. Fall always ends up being a popular time, as tourists and locals alike get to see the lights for the first time ever, or at least for the first time in a while.

Just in time for this season, a new Northern Lights center has opened in Hafnarfjörður, just outside of Reykjavik. Called Aurora Basecamp, the site features three “igloos” with clear roofs for viewing the sky.

Aurora Basecamp will show you a simulation of the Northern Lights which they create in special glass tubes. They will also help you find the actual Northern Lights if they aren’t visible from the Basecamp, and teach you how to photograph them. (My basic hint: a tripod and very very very long exposure is best. 10 seconds or more!)

The cost is 3900 ISK for adults, 1900 for teenagers 13-18, and free for anyone 12 and under. You can of course try to see the Northern Lights on your own without paying. But it might be a fun experience to hang out in one of these weatherproof geodesic domes.

Separately, if you decide to try to see the Northern Lights on your own, there’s a new app called “hello aurora” that may increase your chances of seeing the Northern Lights (which are also called the Aurora Borealis, or just Aurora.) Here’s the web site for the app.

I don’t know if the Aurora forecast is any better than the standard web site at vedur.is but the GPS tracking and crowdsourcing on the new hello aurora app could be interesting. If enough people begin using the app, you may be able to head to where people are seeing the Northern Lights in real-time. This isn’t the first Aurora app out there; search your app store for “Aurora” or “Northern Lights.” You may find one you like more.

One last tip for Northern Lights hunting: check out the Icelandic Facebook group called northernlightswatch. Locals and guides post here when they see (or don’t see) the Northern Lights. It’s a good way to know what the locals are finding, as long as you can translate! Google Chrome has a built-in translator; right click and choose Translate.

New hotels in Iceland …

Several new hotels are opening soon in Iceland, or have recently opened. Reykjavik Edition is a Marriott hotel scheduled to open next year, presumably on time for the busy summer tourist season. Construction is ongoing right next to the Harpa concert hall; here’s an old rendering of what the hotel might look like:

Source: Mannvit Consulting Engineers

Icelandair is also opening a new hotel in Reykjavik in 2020, likely called Icelandair Parliament.

As for hotels in Iceland that are open now, one to consider is the new 77-room luxury hotel, Hótel Geysir, which opened in August. The rooms are significantly larger than what you’ll find in most hotels in Iceland. Sadly, in spite of those larger rooms, it seems they all only hold 2 people! See more details on the hotel’ s web site.

… and a new restaurant in Reykjavik

There’s also a new restaurant in Reykjavik. It’s called the Gummi Ben Bar, and it opened in September. This is a serious sports bar, with 20 TVs. If you go, be sure to read up on Gummi Ben, who was an Icelandic football (soccer) player and manager, but is now perhaps most famous for his more recent exuberant sports commentary.

The state of tourism in Iceland

I mention the hotels above as a contrast to the airline situation. Tourism had been rising steadily in Iceland for years. But now, with the collapse of WOW Air earlier this year, tourism numbers are down 30% year over year. And tourism from the United States was down 35% over the summer of 2019. The US is the largest source of tourists to Iceland, so that decline is a good chunk of the overall decrease in tourists. Only tourism from China was up significantly, and a Chinese airline hopes to fly into Iceland in the spring of 2020.

But Iceland is gearing up for more tourists, as evidenced by the new hotels. Yes, planning for those hotels started years ago, when tourism numbers seemed to only be able to increase. Without a new airline coming in from the United States, it’s going to be tough for the tourism numbers to climb back to their peak. And that’s why I think Play Airline will succeed: Iceland needs them to succeed. Backing from the government and the tourism industry (even if it’s non-monetary backing) will help clear the way for Play to launch service.

Then again, I thought the original WOW Airlines would survive too. So you may not want to listen to me!

If you’re heading to Iceland soon, check out our Driving in Iceland course. You’ll be a better and more confident driver as soon as you get to Iceland!