Pittsburgh delegation traveling to Iceland ahead of Wow flight

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A delegation headed by Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald will fly to Iceland next week in advance of the inaugural Wow Air flight into Pittsburgh International Airport.

Accompanying Mr. Fitzgerald will be Christina Cassotis, CEO of the county’s airport authority, and two authority staff members; Craig Davis, VisitPittsburgh president and CEO, and two staff members; and Audrey Russo, president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Technology Council, and a staff member.

Members of the delegation will fly out Tuesday or Wednesday and return on Iceland-based Wow’s first flight into Pittsburgh on Friday.

The trip will cost the airport authority about $8,160. It is paying for Mr. Fitzgerald, Ms. Cassotis and its two staffers. VisitPittsburgh and the tech council are paying their own way.

Bob Kerlik, an airport authority spokesman who will be making the trip, said the purpose is to promote Pittsburgh in Iceland, as well as the flight itself.

The delegation will meet with the Iceland convention and visitors bureau; officials with Wow Air and Keflavik International Airport in Reykjavik; and about 20 European journalists who will be taking the flight into Pittsburgh.

Landing discount carrier Wow is considered as major coup for Pittsburgh International. The carrier offers budget fares as low as $149 one way to European destinations like London, Paris, Berlin, Frankfurt and Dublin.

Wow’s CEO Skuli Mogensen will be on the first flight into Pittsburgh.