PLAY (Iceland) (OG, Reykjavik Keflavik) 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 USD0.4 million, an improvement over a USD14.1 million operating loss in the April-June 2022 period. It aims to record operating profit for the entire 2023 year.
The ch-aviation fleets module shows the airline currently operates six A320-200neo and four A321-200neo. The carrier planned to add its first A321neo(LR) during the Summer 2022 season for a proposed route to Orlando International, but eventually agreed with AerCap to replace it with an A320neo as rising fuel prices made the Florida service unviable.
Jónsson told ch-aviation earlier this year that the (XLR) was more appealing than the (LR), as it would also open US West Coast markets to the carrier. The (LR), in turn, would be limited to Florida from the carrier's prospective long-haul destinations.
