No-Frills Icelandic Airline PLAY Has Called It a Day

In 2019, WOW Air, known for its low-cost flights from the U.S. to Iceland (and from Iceland to the rest of Europe), abruptly ceased operations, leaving plenty of passengers around the world stranded. This week might bring with it a sense of deja vu, as an airline founded by several WOW alumni — PLAY, which took a similar approach to low-cost international travel — has also announced that it’s flown its last flight.

On Sunday, September 28, the airline updated its website and directed travelers to an announcement. “Fly PLAY hf. has ceased operations, and all flights have been cancelled,” the airline stated. The message added that the airline was “deeply sorry for the disruption this causes.”

According to reporting from Jenny Gross at The New York Times, around 1,750 travelers were affected by the airline’s closure on Monday alone. People with travel booked on PLAY flights later in the week (or in the year) will now have the unenviable task of seeking refunds and looking into whether alternative flights are still available for their preferred dates.

This is an abrupt change from the airline’s position less than a month ago, when it touted that its “unit revenue reached its highest level ever for the month of August.”

Wow Air Collapsed, Leaving Thousands of Passengers Stranded

The discount airline cancelled all flights in middle-of-night announcement

There were some signs that all was not well with PLAY before this week’s news. As One Mile at a Time’s Ben Schlappig noted, the last few years have seen PLAY adopt a number of different business strategies to keep the business functional, including cutting its routes to the United States.

PLAY’s news comes at a decisive time for tourism in Iceland. As Stefano Montali recently reported at The New York Times, Iceland is currently pondering how much tourism is too much, and what effect it’s having on the nation as a whole.

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Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll lives and writes in New York City, and has been covering a wide variety of subjects — including (but not limited to) books, soccer and drinks — for many years. His writing has been published by the likes of the Los Angeles Times, Pitchfork, Literary Hub, Vulture, Punch, the New York Times and Men’s Journal. At InsideHook, he has…