Fly Play hf.: 92 thousand passengers and 81.9% load factor in October
92 thousand passengers and 81.9% load factor in October PLAY carried 91,940 passengers in October. The load factor was 81.9% compared to an 81.5% load factor in September. 35.1% of the passengers were passengers traveling from Iceland, 28.5% were traveling to Iceland and 36.3% were connecting passengers (VIA). In general, demand from passengers coming to Iceland has been lower than anticipated in the past months due to, amongst other factors, the capacity situation within the Icelandic tourism sector, which was at maximum capacity with hotel and rental cars fully booked. This resulted in more VIA passengers than were expected which deliver less unit revenue than TO/FROM passengers. PLAY is now seeing positive development as the capacity issues in the Icelandic tourism sector are largely solved and as prepaid COVID-19 vouchers,e.g., airfare, hotels, and rental cars, decrease. PLAY clearly sees a strong booking trend to Iceland for the winter and next year. The Icelandic Tourist Board anticipates 40% increase in passengers coming to Iceland next year compared to 2022 which will have a positive effect on PLAY’s business.
On-time performance (OTP) in October was 95.4%. “Last week we presented our Q3 results and I feel that it is a significant achievement for such a young company to have made an operational profit (EBIT) since the majority of our destinations were brand-new to our network and PLAY therefore mostly unknown in these markets. The load factor in Q3 was very acceptable at 85% and continues to be acceptable in October. We are seeing that trend continuing into the winter months which is a very good sign. On a very positive note, we see that the TO traffic (passengers traveling to Iceland) is increasing for the next months. The fabulous PLAY team is already hard at work preparing for our next expansion phase and is hiring people, receiving four additional aircraft, and adding new destinations to our network. I look forward to the future as we are already seeing PLAY grow into a strong and profitable low-cost airline with a growing revenue base and happy customers,“ says Birgir Jonsson, PLAY’s CEO.
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