Representative of Icelandic ultra low cost carrier PLAY have held talks with the Slovenian government over the potential introduction of flights to the country. It comes as the airline announced a strategic shift, which will see it reduce operations to North America next year and instead focus on expanding leisure operations in Europe. The Slovenian Ministry for Infrastructure said, “The representatives of the Icelandic carrier PLAY Airlines presented to the Ministry their business development so far and the possibilities of expanding their network. In this regard, they were presented with measures for improving Slovenia’s air connectivity with the possibility of subsidising air carriers to start operating new routes to/from Slovenia based on the Public Tender for improved air connectivity in Slovenia, which has been in place since last April”.
Within the region, PLAY currently serves Split on a seasonal summer basis and will introduce flights to Pula next year. Ljubljana Airport already boasts leisure charter flights to Reykjavik. During the January – August period, 1.056 passengers flew on charters between the Slovenian and Icelandic capitals, while that figure stood at 2.644 for the whole of last year. The Slovenian government recently issued a sixth public call to airlines for the introduction of new routes to Slovenia in return for subsidies, with the deadline for the submission of bids set for October 27.
PLAY Airlines’ CEO, Einar Orn Olafsson, said yesterday, “We’ve announced a major change in PLAY’s strategy, focusing more on strong leisure markets from Iceland and reducing our emphasis on connecting passengers between North America and Europe. This shift comes after disappointing yields on our transatlantic routes, particularly in 2024, as the North American market evolves with longer-range narrowbody aircraft and increased supply”. He added, “Our point-to-point routes, mainly between Iceland and Southern Europe, have been profitable and popular, so we are reducing capacity on our North Atlantic routes through 2025. Around mid-year 2025 we will see these changes come into action where we will decrease capacity in our North America destinations and put more emphasis on leisure destinations in Southern Europe”. PLAY operates a fleet of ten aircraft, including six Airbus A320neos and four A321neos. It currently only serves the Croatian and Greek markets in southeastern Europe but will add Antalya in Turkey to its network next April.
