Iceland's PLAY eyes more aircraft as demand grows

PLAY is in talks to lease an additional aircraft in 2024 and a further four in 2025 as the demand for its flights is growing, the carrier said in its quarterly report. "Further fleet additions and various fleet development scenarios in the years following 2025 are also being explored," it added. The new aircraft will take the Icelandic low-cost carrier beyond its original plan of 15 aircraft beyond 2025. CEO Birgir Jónsson told Aviation Week that PLAY would stick with the A320neo Family, and the new batch was likely to include A321-200NX(LR)s. He added that the carrier was very interested in the A321-200NY(XLR) "when it comes to the market". PLAY carried 392,000 passengers in the second quarter of 2023, more than double its result from the same period last year, and posted an operating profit of US$0.4m, an improvement over a US$14.1m operating loss in the April-June 2022 period. It aims to record operating profit for the entire 2023 year.<br/>