Play’s CEO says that the airline could have scheduled flights with days or a week’s notice. The company has secured several Airbus planes. The possibility of beginning scheduled flights over the summer or in the fall is currently under review.
It has been half a year since former key executives from the now defunct WOW Air announced the creation of a new low-cost airline: Play. The plan had been to start flights to Copenhagen, London, Paris, Berlin, Tenerife, and Alicante last December, but this did not happen.
CEO Arnar Már Magnússon states that preparations for flights are going well, RÚV reports.Their goal is to fly every day of the week. As reported, anonymous investors are putting their money into preparations for the new airline Play, which seeks to takeover from Icelandair if the Icelandic flag carrier should fall into bankruptcy in the midst of its severe financial woes due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
“It’s very difficult to say anything definitive about the first flight as things stand currently. But there are many scenarios where we can take advantage of the situation and start flying at very short notice,” say Arnar said in a televised interview.
With how short notice?
“We could manage to start in just days or weeks. But we are currently planning on starting later on towards the fall, in terms of scheduled flights, though we could start sooner if needed,” says Arnar.
Even in July?
“Yes.”
Have you gotten a hold of some airplanes yet?
“Yes, from the Airbus 320 family.”
Many of them?
We have already secured several of them, but we have good access to more of them,” says Arnar.
And will you still have access to these planes even after flights start, if they do so normally?
Yes, this will not affect the future of Play.”
How many passengers can each plane seat?
“The ones we’ve got so far each have 200 seats.”
What about flight crews?
“We already have crews for the start, but we also have access to the wonderful former employees of WOW Air, who are of course trained to work with this type of aircraft.”
How many are there on payroll?
“There are currently 36 of us working for Play.”
So there are no crew members among them?
“The 36 of them are pilots.”
How are things with the fuel contracts?
“We have not reached any agreements for fuel contracts as things stand currently. This will be easily sorted when the time is right, but right now is not the time.”
How well-off is the company right now?
“There are sufficient resources to operate Play. The company has a strong ownership and Elías Skúli Skúlason is leading a group of investors,” Arnar says.
Elías Skúli is one of the owners of aviation service company Airport Associates. The company laid off 131 employees at the end of last month, and has commented that the Minister of Finance’s bill on state aid to pay wages during notice periods is not used well enough. Arnar says that all investors are domestic, but does not wish to disclose their amount of capital. Both Play and Airport Associates are on the list of companies that took advantage of the subsidy system.
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