Icelandic airline Play’s US launch not dimmed by inflation, oil prices

Icelandic startup Play’s CEO Birgir Jónsson is unconcerned about the potential fallout from the war in Ukraine or Covid on the realization of the airline’s transatlantic ambitions. All three of its initial US destinations — Baltimore-Washington, Boston, and New York Stewart — are meeting expectations, and inflation is not expected to deter American travelers from their long-awaited European holidays. “If you’re going on holiday, you’re not going to abort your summer vacation if you have to pay $30 more for the airfare, especially if you’re going transatlantic,” Jónsson said. “In actual fact, the way consumers behave, it’s the price of a beer.” The beer in his analogy is equivalent to added fuel expenses that Play estimates it needs to recoup since oil prices spiked after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February. And even then, Jónsson said, the airline’s estimates were made in March when Brent crude prices were over $120 per barrel. Brent now hovers just over $100 per barrel. Play is one of a new crop of long-haul, low-cost startups with their eyes on the transatlantic. Norse Atlantic Airways plans to begin flights between its Oslo base and three US destinations by the end of June with former Norwegian Air Boeing 787s. Both Play and Norse follow in the footsteps of failed predecessors. Play embraces its likeness with defunct Wow Air, while Norse distances itself from Norwegian Air’s former long-haul operation, which it increasingly mimics.<br/>