PLAY Plans Two More European Routes

Icelandic startup PLAY is adding two new European destinations during the northern winter 2022/23 season with plans to offer flights to a second point in the UK and its first in Switzerland.

Liverpool (LPL) will join London Stansted (STN) in the carrier’s UK network from Nov. 4. The LCC intends to serve the city located in the northwest of England from Reykjavik Keflavik (KEF) twice a week on Mondays and Fridays through April 10, 2023.

Geneva (GVA) will also be served twice a week from Reykjavik, starting Feb. 1 until March 23. The route will predominantly target the ski market.

PLAY CEO Birgir Jónsson said the announcement of a second UK route within a year of launching is “an exciting milestone for the company.” The airline plans to offer connections for outbound passengers from Liverpool to destinations in the US.

Reykjavik-Baltimore Washington (BWI) will become the LCC’s maiden US service when the route launches on April 20. Flights will be operated daily.

Three more US routes will launch later in the summer 2022 season. Service to Boston Logan (BOS) begins on May 11, while flights to New York Stewart (SWF) start on June 9. Both routes will also be daily. Additionally, PLAY will open a route from Reykjavik to Orlando (MCO), flying three times per week from Sept. 30.

The airline, which began commercial operations in June 2021, currently operates three Airbus A320neo aircraft and expects to add three more during the summer 2022 season. It hopes to have a fleet of up to 15 A320neos and A321neos by 2025.

PLAY was launched by a team of former executives from WOW air and intends to operate a similar strategy to the defunct Icelandic carrier, stimulating demand between Europe and North America via Reykjavik with its low-cost fares.

“We’re looking up and down the US east coast and into Canada to find airports and open some creative city pairs,” Jónsson told Routes in February. “If you look at New York and London, the capacity and competition is huge and so we have to find something else that is slightly outside of the major cities.”

According to data provided by OAG Schedules Analyser, PLAY will fly from Reykjavik to 23 destinations during the summer 2022 season, offering some 14,800 weekly seats during the height of summer.