A new low cost carrier is set to fly in Iceland. PLAY airlines intends to launch sales before the end of the year, connecting passengers between Keflavik and European destinations. The company expects to expand to North American destinations in Spring 2020, using Iceland as a hub to connect passengers between the two continents.
PLAY is in everything we do, with professionalism at the core. At PLAY, safety comes first, with our core principles being on-time performance, simplicity, happiness and low prices.
The company’s executive team is led by Arnar Már Magnusson and features alumni from WOW and Air Atlanta. Their pedigree brings serious international aviation experience to the operation, including a background running services in Iceland. And they’re truly local to the market. That’s a significant step up compared to WOW II and its US-based operations.
The company claims it is close to securing its operating license from Icelandic authorities. Once that is accomplished it will launch services on a pair of A321s to six European destinations. North American routes will be added a few months later, giving the company a true transatlantic position for service into the Summer 2020 peak season. By that point PLAY anticipates operating a fleet of six aircraft. The number will grow to 10 within three years. Executives indicated that the initial slot portfolio at Keflavik is secured to operate the launch routes.
Read More: WOW Air is Dead; Long Live WAB Air
The growth plans for PLAY are, compared to many airline startups, rather boring. That’s probably a good thing for investors, for the operation and for passengers booking tickets on the new carrier. Unlike WOW’s efforts to grow at an irrational speed and diversify its fleet and destination mix too quickly, the current PLAY management appears focused on a far more stable approach to the industry. While executives did indicate that the financing was a challenge and it will quickly need to generate revenues to service the debt, it does not appear that growth at any cost is part of the company’s playbook.
The transatlantic market remains highly competitive and well served by LCCs and legacy carriers. And the lines between service levels and route networks offered is blurring. Norwegian in particular continues to grow across the Atlantic, despite the 737 MAX grounding. North America is now that carrier’s largest market by revenue. Icelandair is the obvious competitive comparison for PLAY, given a similar route structure and flight operations plan. That carrier is also suffering from the 737 MAX grounding and overly exuberant expansion in 2019. But Icelandair aims for a more rational 2020 operation. That arguably leaves room at the edges for a new carrier to pick at its business, but also means it is unlikely to suffer financial troubles along the way.
With seats expected on sale later this month and a 1000 ticket giveaway planned there’s bound to be plenty of hype around the new PLAY Airlines operation for the foreseeable future. Just how that translates into profitable ticket prices and a sustainable business model remains to be seen. But the executive team is all too familiar with the WOW failures. One can hope they’ve learned lessons from that experience and intend to not repeat that mess.
More from the WOW collapse and relaunch efforts:
- WOW Air halts operations; all flights canceled
- WOW Air assets sold to investors
- The bizarre backing behind WOW Air, redux
- Trying to make sense of the new WOW Air plans
- WOW Air II pivots to cargo
A favor to ask while you're here...
Did you enjoy the content? Or learn something useful? Or generally just think this is the type of story you'd like to see more of? Consider supporting the site through a donation (any amount helps). It helps keep me independent and avoiding the credit card schlock.
Good work as always, Seth. I have to say, the first thing I did when I saw this – seriously – was check to make sure today’s date isn’t April 1.
Thanks!
We knew this was coming given the drama around picking up the assets of WOW. The “WAB” that PLAY came out of made noise around picking up that bundle but skipped it in favor of (presumably cheaper) rebranding. And it definitely has some smart and experienced people on the team, though one could question just how smart anyone is when they’ve been through the pain of a failed airline and decide it was so much fun that they want to do it again.
This version stands a chance to get off the ground, figuratively and literally. The WOW II insanity, far less so.
Makes sense. And it’s worth noting WOW might have survived if it hadn’t lost its mind and gotten the A330s. The general idea (of roughly doing what then-profitable Icelandair was doing but without legacy cost burdens) wasn’t crazy.
The A330s absolutely accelerated (rapidly) the decline of the WOW I operation. But I’m also not entirely convinced that it was destined to succeed (or that PLAY can win). Yes, the Icelandair model worked. But part of that was it working for the established player that, despite somewhat higher costs, also had the right volume of traffic and flow. And it is not like Icelandair wasn’t dealing with competition overflying it even before WOW showed up. Norwegian’s push to make point-to-point TATL LCC operations work at costs comparable to Icelandair’s one-stop trips is definitely skewing the market.
Definitely. Icelanair’s best O&D markets of all were secondary U.S. to secondary Europe (MSP-OSL, for example), some of which (like that one) Norwegian never penetrated, but every time it overflew KEF with a new nonstop, no question things got tougher for anyone with a hub there.