Busiest month ever for PLAY. Load Factor hits 91.1% with over 191 thousand passengers flown.
PLAY carried 191,577 passengers in July, which is a new record in the airline ‘s history. The number of passengers in July is 19% higher compared to June when PLAY carried 160,979 passengers, which was also a record month for the airline. PLAY not only broke its record for number of passengers in July but also the record for load factor which was 91.1% in July, making it the biggest month in the history of PLAY. The airline provided an on-time performance of 80.2% which is more than acceptable in the busiest month of the year in aviation.
Of all passengers flying with PLAY in July 2023, 26.8% were departing from Iceland, 32.1% were traveling to Iceland, and 41.1% were connecting passengers (VIA).
This record month of July saw strong demand in PLAY´s markets in North America with yields significantly higher than last year. PLAY´s North American destinations performed very well, with a load factor well over 90%. This strong demand from our North American markets is also evident for the coming months. In our European markets, Copenhagen, London, Paris and the leisure destinations performed well in July with a load factor of over 90%.
PLAY has been gaining higher market share in Iceland as both awareness and trust from the Icelandic public increases. In June 2023, 54% of all Icelanders who traveled from Iceland chose PLAY. This is a clear sign that PLAY is fast becoming the number 1 choice of the Icelandic public.
In July 2022, PLAY flew 109,937 passengers, which means July 2023 sees a 74% growth in passenger numbers from the same month last year. The July load factor also significantly improved from last year, from 87.9% in 2022 to 91.1% in 2023.
Since spring 2023, PLAY has added and/or relaunched 20 new destinations to its network.
New destination & PLAY nominated for the British Travel Awards
PLAY launched ticket sales to Frankfurt in Germany in July. PLAY´s first flight to Frankfurt will be on December 14, 2023, operating four to five flights a week over the winter period. Frankfurt will have direct connectivity to PLAY’s destinations in North America and is PLAY´s fourth destination in Germany along with Berlin, Düsseldorf and Hamburg.
PLAY is nominated as the best airline for low-cost flights at the British Travel Awards. The winners are based on the number of verified consumer votes cast. PLAY is nominated with well-established major airlines, which is a good recognition for a young airline that only celebrated its second anniversary last month.
Birgir Jónsson, CEO of PLAY said: “Following a strong second quarter, where we saw the operational results of PLAY pivot from loss to profit by about USD 15 million from the same quarter last year, we are pleased to report that July was yet another milestone month for us. For the first time, our load factor reached 91% and the number of passengers was over 191,000, up 74% from the same month last year. The all-important summer season in the third quarter is looking strong with increasing revenues and robust demand. We continue to be very proud of our market share in our home market as we see that 54% of all Icelandic people that traveled abroad in June chose PLAY for their journey. A very strong vote of confidence and a clear sign that as we are now in our third summer of operation, we are becoming very established and accepted in this important market.
It is truly an awesome feeling to witness our business model kick into gear after being exceptionally well executed by our great team of people in the challenging ramp-up phase over the last two years. Every one of us here at PLAY is focused on giving our passengers a great price and getting them to their destination in a safe and punctual manner and we will continue to do so in the future while having fun at the same time.”