First Operational Month of PLAY a Success
- Highest on-time performance of all airlines from Keflavik Iceland in July
- Load factor was 41.7%
- New pandemic restrictions negatively impacted travel trend in July
July was the first operational month for PLAY and, as such, was a success.
PLAY’s main objective was to begin operation in a safe and trustworthy manner while focusing on the satisfaction of passengers. A key indicator of that success is the fact that PLAY had the highest on-time performance of all airlines operating to and from Keflavik Iceland in July, with 96.2% of all PLAY flights arriving on schedule.
PLAY received three A321 neo aircraft this summer following a very efficient and professional effort from its technical and operations teams. These aircraft will come into operation in line with the market demand while utilizing very favorable leasing terms that allows PLAY to control supply and thus costs in a very dynamic manner as per market development. PLAY is therefore well equipped and ready to handle the effect that COVID19 has on the travel market over the coming months.
In July, PLAY carried 9,899 passengers and the load factor was 41.7%. On most of its destinations, the utilization was in line with expectations as PLAY is a new operator, having begun ticket sales in late May in the middle of the pandemic. However, for leisure destinations expectations were substantially exceeded as demand was significantly stronger than expected.
Highly Positive Trend in Travel Scaled Down by Pandemic Restrictions
Everchanging travel restrictions predictably influenced the operational statistics for July in a negative manner. This was foreseen as the COVID19 pandemic was in full force when PLAY began operating. In the middle of the month a new rise in cases in Iceland inevitably scaled down a highly positive trend in demand for the month.
A number of Icelandic customers took advantage of PLAY’s flexible terms and changed the timing of their travel to a later date. For PLAY, this means transfer of income and load in time, but not loss of revenue. Positively, there were much fewer requests for change from incoming passengers. This is significant as a majority of PLAY’s passengers are incoming, i.e., beginning their journey outside of Iceland. PLAY already marks a growing demand from Icelandic customers and is cautiously positive about the coming months.
“The long-term objective is to make PLAY a strong and leading brand in aviation, and this first month is a very solid step in that direction. We are proud of our achievements in this challenging environment, and I want to thank our staff for their hard work and dedication as well as our passengers for traveling with PLAY and their faith in us” states PLAY’s CEO, Birgir Jónsson.
