Another low-cost airline involved in transatlantic traffic via theIceland finally threw in the towel. PLAY, based at the international airport of Keflavik, ceased trading on 30 September after announcing bankruptcy on 29.
On the transatlantic market, PLAY aimed to compete with the majors and Icelandair with flights to Boston, Baltimore/Washington, New York (Stewart) and Toronto (Hamilton). Like Icelandair, the aim was to connect these North American destinations with many European cities via the Keflavík hub (KEF).
These routes, which are exposed to strong competition, have proved to be fragile, in particular with falling demand from the United States this year. During the summer, the management had gradually closed its routes to the United States, announcing the suspension of its last service to Baltimore at the end of October.
In Europe, the company had refocused on scheduled and seasonal flights to leisure or "holiday" destinations. bleisure " as Barcelona, Alicante, Malaga, Lisbon, Porto, Split, Antalya and Madeira. The aim was to reposition the network on more profitable routes in the short term. PLAY has operated a direct service from Paris CDG to Keflavik since July 2021..
At the same time, PLAY was working on its legal transformation. It wanted to set up an entity in Malta called "Play Europe".to facilitate its intra-European operations. And to offer flights on demand. Its fleet of 6 Airbus A320neo and A321neo aircraft was to be reduced to 4.
