PLAY Records Strong Growth

PLAY has recorded strong growth for September, highlighting its continued improvement within the industry

Breaking Down PLAY’s September 2023 Results

The airline says it carried 163,784 passengers in September 2023, representing a 77% increase from September 2022.

Only 92,181 passengers were carried for the same period last year, where the load factor also stood at 81.5%. The company increased its load factor for the same month this year, which reached 85%.

Interestingly, for PLAY as well, in September, 22.9% of their passengers were departing from Iceland, 31.6% were travelling to Iceland, and the largest portion of their traffic was 45.5% connecting passengers.

Examining the PLAY Fleet

The acquisition of four new aircraft since 2022 has substantially aided the airline in growing capacity, offering customers more opportunities to fly and thus reporting high passenger numbers.

PLAY currently operates a fleet of Airbus aircraft, including ceo and neo variants. Its fleet remains one of the youngest going around, with its A321neos averaging an age of just a handful of years. Alongside A320neos that sit at a mean of 2.5 years.

Additionally, the airline says September is historically a slow month as the industry moves away from the busy summer. However, seeing a 77% increase in passengers carried is promising for future potential.

A USD 12 Million Profit For Summer 2023

On top of the increase in flying for September, PLAY recorded a USD 12 million profit over the summer months for 2023.

Notably, for PLAY, this is the first time they’ve reported a profit from operations during the summer season after tax.

It shows the positive direction for the business and a working business model.

Exploring The Business Model At PLAY

PLAY focuses on offering low-cost flights utilising Iceland as a critical stopover point. Whether this is to feed traffic onwards to U.S. cities or European ones, it would also like to use Iceland as a vital port to visit.

The Icelandic low-cost carrier doesn’t look to only fly into major U.S. airports where fees are high. Instead, The airline seems to have a balance of vital airports within the United States and smaller ones that remain underserved on transatlantic operations.

By flying to smaller airports, they can offer cheaper alternatives for travellers.