It’s PLAY time
While the events of last year tipped several airlines over the edge, 2021 is shaping up to be a year for start-ups. Thomas Haynes caught up with Birgir Jónsson, the CEO of new Icelandic low-cost carrier PLAY, to find out more about his strategy for success
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The pandemic has materially altered the aviation industry in more ways than one, and has forced established carriers to plan and execute strategies aimed at surviving the storm the virus created. While most have been downscaling operations, several groups have, somewhat counterintuitively, been planning the launch of new airlines.
One such example is Iceland’s PLAY, which officially launched in May, with plans to initially fly to seven destinations from its base at Keflavík International Airport.
“PLAY is a new Icelandic low-cost airline, which aims to serve the US and European markets connecting in Iceland through a hub-and-spoke system,” said Jónsson, who was speaking to Airliner World from the company’s offices near Reykjavík.
“Our price point is on the lower end of the scale, so we are an LCC [low-cost carrier] model.”
The story of the operator stretches back to when another Icelandic budget outfit, WOW air, ceased operations in March 2019. It was a group of employees from the defunct carrier who went on to set up the new operator. The founders went through several iterations of trying to get the company off the ground and, last March, completed a financing round that funded the firm for around US$50m.