Low-cost Icelandic air carrier PLAY has had quite a year. It began service from the U.S. to Europe in April and has been steadily growing and adding routes since then.
Now the air carrier has announced it will also begin service to Hamburg, Germany, and Stockholm, Sweden.
“We are pleased to announce that service to Hamburg and Stockholm will begin next spring,” Birgir Jónsson, PLAY’s CEO, told TravelAwaits.
“Since Stockholm is the capital and largest city in Sweden, and Hamburg is the second-largest city in Germany after Berlin, these new routes are key to expanding our presence as leisure travel rises and we expect growth in 2023,” Jónsson said. “By offering low fares and convenient flights, PLAY aims to capture passengers’ attention in these two new regions while giving American travelers low-cost flights to these exciting destinations.”
Steady Expansion
PLAY launched its U.S. operations by beginning flights from Baltimore/Washington, D.C. earlier this year, then quickly followed by adding service to Boston and New York.
To expand U.S. operations, PLAY recently announced it will also begin offering service to Dulles International Airport, near Washington, D.C. Those flights will begin on April 26, 2023.
Internationally, PLAY also announced it will begin service to Athens, Greece, and Liverpool, England, next year. Those flights will begin next summer.
The flights to Stockholm will begin on March 31, 2023, while flights to Hamburg will begin on May 16, 2023, as Jónsson notes, “just in time for peak travel season.” The service to those cities is seasonal, however, and will end in October.
PLAY will offer flights to Hamburg weekly on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Flights to Stockholm will be offered four times each week on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays.
Support For Continued Growth
PLAY was founded in 2019 and began offering service across Europe in June 2021. In its first year of operations, more than 100,00 passengers flew on PLAY aircraft.
Now, Jónsson explains that forecasts call for 800,000 passengers to travel on PLAY this year.
Jónsson adds, however, that there’s more to growth and expansion than simply adding routes.
“To support expansion, PLAY has continued hiring, having announced a recruitment drive to fill 150 cabin crew and 55 flight crew positions.” He went on to share that PLAY has “also tracked a rise in consumer confidence, with cancellation protection purchases dropping 30 percent.”
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