"Ólafur has been a great team member at PLAY. He was instrumental during the capital raise in Q1 and now leaves the company in a strong position. I wish Ólafur all the best in his upcoming ventures,“ says Einar Örn Ólafsson, CEO of PLAY.
"I am truly grateful to have gotten the chance to be a part of this PLAY journey. After a successful capital raise, I feel it is the right time for me to step aside and turn my attention to other ventures. I would like to use this opportunity to wish PLAY and my colleagues all the best and I look forward to see the company take the next steps into a bright future," says Ólafur Þór Jóhannesson.
The airline recently released its latest figures for the first quarter of 2024. The budget carrier saw revenues increase by 66% between years, from USD 33 million in Q1 in 2023 to USD 54 million in Q1 2024 despite a capacity increase of 63%.
PLAY’s cash position was USD 17.1 million at the end of Q1. PLAY has since received USD 32 million following a share capital increase and will go into the summer season with a healthy cash position. Uplisting to Nasdaq Iceland Main Market is in process as planned.
PLAY carried 349 thousand passengers in Q1 2024, which is a 64% increase from Q1 2023.
The load factor increased at the same time, from 78.4% in Q1 2023 to 81.8% in Q1 2024.
Q1 was operationally successful with an on-time performance of 87.8%, which is a considerably better performance than with the airline’s main competitor.
Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) in Q1 were negative USD 20.4 million. EBIT was negatively impacted by inaccurate news coverage of seismic activities in the Reykjanes Peninsula.
Total revenue per available seat kilometre (TRASK) was 4.2 US cents, same as during Q1 2023.
Cost per available seat kilometre (CASK) was 5.9 US cents in Q1 2024, which is 8% less than in Q1 2023 mainly due to favourable trends in ETS prices impacting fuel expenses positively.
CASK ex-fuel is down 4.2% YoY and was 4.3 US cents.
Yield was USD 151 driven by strong ancillary revenue per passenger of USD 50.