Icelandic Carrier PLAY Airlines Drops All U.S. Flights

PLAY Airlines, the Iceland-based low-cost carrier, will halt all flights from North America this October.

The airline had already announced plans to stop Canadian flights, and it will now end all U.S. flights and significantly cut its Northern Europe schedule, just a few years after its launch. PLAY was flying from several U.S. airports, including Baltimore/Washington (BWI), Boston (BOS), and Newburgh/Stewart (SWF), and had interline agreements with Alaska Airlines and Spirit Airlines.

Instead, PLAY says it will focus on connecting Iceland to sun destinations. Four aircraft will operate these routes to and from Iceland, mainly to sunny destinations. The remaining six aircraft will be leased to other airlines in ACMI projects. This shift comes as CEO Einar Örn Ólafsson and Vice Chairman of the Board Elías Skúli Skúlason work to take the airline private.

“We’re focusing on the profitable aspects of the business—sun destination flights—and discontinuing those that have not yielded results,” CEO Einar Örn Ólafsson said.

Those flying from Iceland will not notice any changes in service, PLAY said, including with its branding and with the remaining aircraft.

PLAY’s pitch, similar to that of other low-cost carriers in North America, was that travelers could pay for basic no-frills flights and then allocate more of their budgets to their destination experiences. PLAY operates flights on a modern fleet of Airbus A321neo and A320neo aircraft.