Icelandic ULCC PLAY To Drop Canadian Flights April 22

Icelandic ultra-low-cost carrier PLAY Airlines is leaving Canada effective April 22, less than two years after launching flights from Hamilton, ON (YHM) to several European cities via its hub in Reykjavik. 

“I can confirm that, unfortunately, PLAY Airlines will end its service from John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport as of April 22, 2025,” YHM spokesperson Colleen Ryan told the Toronto Star in an emailed statement. “While we are disappointed with this decision, we remain confident in the future of Hamilton International.”

Launched in June 2021, PLAY operates a fleet of 10 young aircraft, including six A320neos and four A321neos. The airline carried more than 1.5 million passengers in 2023, more than double the number it carried in 2022.

The departure doesn’t come as a big surprise. Near the end of 2024, PLAY announced a new strategy that shifted its core focus from North Atlantic connections over Reykjavik to point-to-point leisure destinations, mostly in southern European nations like Spain and Portugal. 

It also described its intention to expand its ACMI/charter operations for other airlines, as a way to optimize aircraft usage and mitigate seasonality. In its strategy documents, PLAY characterized the Iceland-North America market as highly seasonal, oversupplied with capacity and increasingly competitive.

Canadian travellers who booked flights with PLAY post-April 22 are waiting to learn how the airline will handle the cancellations. Passengers are entitled to be rebooked on another flight, as mandated by Canada’s Air Passenger Protection Regulations, the Montreal Convention and EU regulations.