Iceland’s low cost carrier Wow Air has canceled all flights and told passengers to book with other airlines. A travel alert has been posted on their website. The alert says that “WOW AIR has ceased operation. All WOW AIR flights have been cancelled.”

Passengers whose ticket was paid with a credit card are advised to contact their credit card company to check whether a refund of the ticket cost will be issued. WOW Air advises people who wanted to travel should now look for “so-called rescue fares” which may now be offered by rival airlines.

WOW grounded at least six planes in North America that were set to leave late Wednesday from Montreal, Toronto, Boston, Detroit, New York and Baltimore.

In Europe, Reykjavik-bound planes from seven cities – Amsterdam, Dublin, Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Frankfurt and Copenhagen – did not take off Thursday morning.

The airline had been in financial trouble for quite some time now. A takeover by rival Icelandair failed twice. So this wasn’t entirely unexpected, but the abrupt end had caused major headaches. The airline itself was still sending out emails as recently as last morning, advertising $99 fares to Europe, while certainly knowing that it would cancel all flights today.