Fly Play hf.: 13% Increase in the Local Market, improved forward bookings and yet again more punctualPlay carried 187.835 passengers in July 2024, achieving a load factor of 88.4%. Of these passengers flying with Play in July, 31.1% were flying from Iceland, 30.7% were flying to Iceland, and 38.2% were connecting passengers (VIA).
Play continues to gain market share in Iceland, with a 13% year-over-year increase in passengers flying from Iceland—58 thousand in July 2024 compared to 51 thousand in July 2023. Play's on-time performance was 85.4% in July 2024, compared to 80.2% in July 2023. "It is encouraging to see our number of passengers traveling from Iceland, our local market, rise by seven thousand year-over-year. We aim to have a wide selection of leisure destinations that people from Iceland want to visit, and we are seeing a good return from that decision. We feel that people in Iceland are happy with our services and the numbers reflect that.
As we reported in our Q2 result, the VIA market this summer has been soft due to growth in seat capacity on direct services across the Atlantic. This is reflected in our July traffic numbers. However, forward bookings are currently ahead of last year giving us the encouraging sign that the trend will reverse in the coming months. Also, we have adjusted our route network by reducing our seat capacity to/from North America for the fall and winter to reflect fluctuating demand better, and simultaneously, we are adding more seats to existing and new leisure markets in Europe and Africa, which have yielded higher returns for Play. This demonstrates the flexibility of our route network, allowing us to adjust based on demand. This adaptability would not have been possible without my outstanding colleagues at Play, who once again made Play the most punctual of the leading airlines operating flights from Keflavík International Airport. This significantly aids our operations and ensures our passengers enjoy timely and pleasant flights," says Einar Örn Ólafsson, Play's CEO.
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