83% Load Factor and a 68% growth in passenger numbers

PLAY carried 154,479 passengers in October, which is a 68% increase from October 2022 when PLAY carried 91,940 passengers. The load factor in October 2023 was 83%, compared to 81.9% load factor in October 2022. PLAY had an on-time performance of 85.8% in October 2023.

Of all passengers flying with PLAY in October 2023, 28.4% were departing from Iceland, 33.9% were traveling to Iceland, and 37.6% were connecting passengers (VIA).

10 of PLAY’s destinations had a load factor of more than 90%, 2 of which (London and Porto) had an impressive load factor of over 95%.

Average ancillary revenue continues to rise for PLAY, being 20% higher in October 2023 compared to October 2022, and the trend is looking strong for the coming months.

PLAY has carried 1.3 million passengers year to date. The load factor year to date is 84.9%. Of all passengers flying with PLAY year to date, 27% were departing from Iceland, 32.6% were flying to Iceland and 40.3% were connecting passengers (VIA).

New ancillary products

PLAY has introduced Space seats which are aisle or window seats with more legroom on selected flights at the front of the plane without a neighbor. The middle seat is blocked with a comfortable side table. This reduces capacity in the low season to 200 seats per Airbus A321neo aircraft instead of 214 seats and therefore reduces cost as fewer crew members are needed. The product increases ancillary revenue and is easy to remove when seasonal demand returns.

5.2 million USD profit in Q3

PLAY turned a USD 5.2 million profit in the 3rd quarter of 2023 compared to net loss of USD 2.9 million in Q3 2022. Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) in Q3 increased almost tenfold from USD 1.3 million in Q3 2022 to USD 12.9 million in Q3 2023. The third quarter showed ongoing growth in ancillary revenue with 150% growth year-to-date compared to 2022. Ancillary yields per passenger have grown 35% year on year.  In Q3, PLAY broke its previous record for number of passengers carried in one month in July with 191,577 passengers and a load factor of 91.1%.

Birgir Jonsson CEO:

October delivered a very acceptable load factor of 83%, up from 82% last year, while the number of passengers grew by 68% from last year to 154,000 and PLAY had an impressive on-time performance of 85.8%. 

 October marks the end of the official summer season and the change over to the network’s winter schedule. Demand from the USA for flights to Europe has been very strong this year, with prices and yields high compared to last year. We continue to see growth in average yields and ancillary revenue across our network. We see a relatively healthy booking flow and status in most markets for the winter but are noticing a slight softness in demand due to seasonality as well as the current challenging economic situation in the world. We are, however, prepared for this situation and will use the flexibility of our business model to fine-tune our capacity in line with the demand in the markets as we have done before with good results. The PLAY team is ready for the coming winter months and will meet the dynamic changes in the market as well as challenging weather-related winter operations in a professional manner and with a big smile on our faces.