The Midwestern US cities of St. Louis and Cleveland will see their maiden transatlantic services in 2018 with the launch of regular flights to Reykjavik Keflavik, Iceland.

In a statement, WOW air (Reykjavik Keflavik) said it would offer 4x weekly return flights to Cleveland Hopkins over the periods May 3 – June 26 and August 25 to October 30, 2018. Similarly, 4x weekly return flights to St. Louis Lambert International will run from May 17 – June 26 and August 25 to October 30, 2018. In addition, Icelandair (FI, Reykjavik Keflavik) will likewise launch its own four times weekly Cleveland-Keflavik service also in May 2018 in competition with WOW air.

According to the ch-aviation schedules database, Cleveland currently sees international connectivity to Mexico, Canada, the Bahamas, and Puerto Rico while St. Louis is connected to Antigua & Barbuda, Belize, Mexico, Canada, St. Maarten, and Puerto Rico.

"WOW air’s expansion across the Midwest will provide millions of Americans with affordable access to major European cities including: Berlin, Frankfurt International, Amsterdam Schiphol, Dublin International, Paris, and London," Skúli Mogensen, CEO and Founder of WOW air, said.

The Icelandic budget carrier is one of several Scandinavian operators vying for a piece of the transatlantic market given the improved range and operational performance of the A320neo and B737 MAX families of aircraft. Aside from the well-established Norwegian (Oslo Gardermoen) and its use of the B737-8 on flights connecting secondary European and US city pairs, Primera Air Scandinavia (Billund) has also announced its own plans to start transatlantic services in mid 2018, using A321neo technology.