PLAY Airlines is changing its business plan to focus on Iceland’s strong leisure markets while simultaneously reducing the priority of its passenger connecting business between North America and Europe.
Much of PLAY’s business is based on the point-to-point model primarily between Iceland and Southern Europe which has seen considerable demand from the start. The performance of the hub-and-spoke model on transatlantic flights has been reported to be dismal, particularly in 2024. The North American market has changed dramatically recently with an overall increase in supply having a negative effect on PLAY’s finances. As a measure, the low-cost airline has decided to significantly reduce its capacity on transatlantic routes.
This change is already underway and will continue into 2025. PLAY’s number of destinations in North America and Northern Europe will decrease by mid-2025, and there will be a focus on the airline’s leisure markets in Southern Europe. These changes will have minimal impact on customers who made their reservations with PLAY. The Icelandic low-cost airline will use part of its fleet outside Europe, PLAY will operate operations for Global X from November 1 to March 15. To materialize this project, the company has requested an air operator certificate in Malta. This process is expected to be completed in spring 2025.
PLAY plans to move its first aircraft under the new Maltese AOC to Tenerife, where it will operate flights from Reykjavik and Akureyri in Iceland and to other destinations. After these changes, the low-cost estimates to operate between 6 and 7 of its aircraft in its Icelandic AOC and between 3 and 4 in the Maltese AOC.
