PLAY has, however, experienced a reduced demand due to this and especially notes that the demand for seasonal short-term bookings to Iceland has been, and will be, considerably lower in the coming period, which will impact the financial performance of the airline.
Due to this, and the ongoing seismic situation and uncertainty, the financial year-end guidance communicated to the market in September and again in our quarter three results in October no longer applies.
The cash position at year-end will be slightly lower than communicated but is still considered secure. PLAY is taking various actions to ensure that there is minimal effect on operational results and liquidity position, such as modifying the route network and adjusting capacity to this softer demand in the coming weeks and months.
Birgir Jonsson, CEO said: “We will use the flexibility in our business model and our proven resilience to meet these new challenges, and the PLAY team is already hard at work doing just that. Over the last two weeks, we have seen some very extensive news coverage globally which has sometimes been slightly misleading and sensationalist and taken out of context, does not encourage tourists to come to Iceland, for example, on short breaks before Christmas and in the new year. In recent days, we have, however, seen the demand returning to the market, which is very positive and reassuring for the coming months but a little too late for the travel season in the coming few weeks.
The people of the town of Grindavík have been evacuated from their homes and face many uncertainties in the run-up to Christmas. Our thoughts are with them, and I sincerely hope that this situation will be resolved quickly and that they can return home to resume their normal lives.”
On its website, the carrier advises Recent events in the Reykjanes peninsula in Iceland with increased seismic activity do not affect Keflavik Airport or PLAY’s flight schedule.
A state of emergency was declared in the town of Grindavík on the south coast of the Reykjanes peninsula and the town has been evacuated. The increased seismic activity may lead to an eruption which could flow peacefully in an uninhabited area as previous eruptions in the area have done, or within the town of Grindavík causing damage to infrastructure and the surrounding area. As a precaution, the town has been evacuated. An underwater eruption off the coast of Grindavik is considered unlikely. Such an eruption may produce an ash cloud. In such an event, Keflavik Airport will shut down during an assessment period of the airspace and incoming flights directed to alternate airports during the closure.
