PLAY Airlines Carries 100,000 Passengers In One Month

PLAY Airlines has reported its November 2023 results, which represent substantial rises in passengers carried, but other notable concerns exist.

Breaking Down The Results

PLAY says that for November, it carried 107,236 passengers, representing a 42% increase from the same period one year prior.

As part of the success with demand, PLAY also saw record sales day during the month. During the last week in November, the coverage linked with Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Travel Tuesday aided them.

Despite solid passenger demand, the load factor was down to 74.5% for the month, representing a decrease from 79% during the same period one year prior.

PLAY cites the disruption following seismic activity in the Reykjanes Peninsula as why certain business areas were impacted.

Year-on-year, there was solid growth in the unit revenue (RASK) and a 54% growth in available seat kilometres (ASK).

Interestingly, PLAY also highlighted where its passengers came from and travelled to. 26.3% of customers during the month departed from Iceland, while 32.7% were travelling to Iceland. Lastly, the airline says 41.2% were classed as connecting passengers.

For 2023 thus far, 1.4 million passengers have been carried with average load factors sitting at 84%, only brought down due to struggles that hurt the airline recently.

On-time performance across the month hit 88.9%, which PLAY notes highlights its persistent attempts to offer a robust service to customers.

PLAY Deals With Seismic Activity In Reykjanes Peninsula

A reduction in load factor comes following seismic activity in the Reykjanes Peninsula. Described by the CEO as the dangerous but extraordinary forces of nature, these captured headlines worldwide.

As a result, popular tourist destinations and locations with large populations were forced to evacuate. Therefore, the overall demand to book and fly dropped considerably for a short period as a direct response to the situation.

PLAY says that the situation has become more stable now and wishes the best for all those impacted. Their CEO also notes staff members exercised a substantial amount of professionalism during the period.

Comments From Executives

In November, we saw our load factor being impacted by the awesome forces of nature here in Iceland when seismic activity, earthquakes, and the possibility of a volcanic eruption captured headlines around the world. The town of Grindavík was evacuated on short notice, and the nearby Blue Lagoon, Iceland’s most popular tourist destination, was and still is, temporarily closed due to this uncertainty. The demand for air travel, and specifically for Iceland as a tourist destination, was subsequently reduced in the short term. This temporary cooldown of demand can be felt in our load factor data for the month of November and it’s clear that the same will apply for December as well.

Birgir Jonsson, CEO of PLAY

Analysing PLAY Airlines Further

According to the latest data, PLAY has ten aircraft in service, all spread across the next generation of Airbus aircraft from the A320neo family.

A total of four Airbus A321neos are in service, with these averaging an age of 4.4 years. The most significant fleet type, when measured by active units, is the A320neo series.

PLAY has six A320neos to its name, which average an age of 2.8 years. As a result, PLAY has one of the youngest fleets in Europe and around the world. The combined age currently sits at a small 3.4 years.

Per Cirium, for November 2023, the airline’s most important connection, when measured by flights, was its Copenhagen Airport and Keflavik International Airport pairing. PLAY offered 68 flights during the month.

The carrier saw 763 flights offered for the month, equating to some 146,000 seats across 20 routes. Year-on-year, the airline increased its route count by seven and added four countries to its operation.