Iceland's Wow Air shuts down

The Icelandic budget airline Wow Air has reportedly ceased all operations until it can raise more money — and has canceled all flights, leaving passengers stranded around the world.
“We’re paying money for it and we’re not getting our money’s worth. We’re kind of like cockroaches or garbage in their eyes,” Bjorn Kjartansson, a Wow Air passenger who is now stranded in Boston Logan Airport after his flight to Iceland was canceled, told the local CBS affiliate WBZ. Kjartansson said he had received several text alerts the night before his flight saying the trip was delayed, only to have it be canceled altogether.
Earlier this week, the airline claimed it was in the “final stages” of a funding round and told passengers flights were being delayed until “documentation with all parties involved have been finalized.”
But after the last-ditch fundraising effort failed, Wow Air was forced to cease all operations effective immediately, leaving passengers who had already purchased tickets — and some of whom were already at the airport — without a way to get to their destination.
“We have run out of time and have unfortunately not been able to secure funding for the company,” the airline’s chair Skuli Mogensen said in a letter to employees that was obtained by Bloomberg. “I will never be able to forgive myself for not taking action sooner.”
Saurabh Aggarwal, a passenger who was supposed to fly from Toronto to Reykjavik on Wednesday night, told CNN that passengers were given conflicting information about the flight’s status before it was eventually canceled. Aggarwal added that the airline did not provide the stranded passengers with accommodations nor did it issue refunds. “This really scared everyone. At that point we were finally given back our bags and no money as of now has been scheduled to me,” Aggarwal said.