Iceland’s PLAY starts strong in Split, plans limited Zagreb service


Ultra low cost carrier PLAY inaugurated flights between Reykjavik and Split in late May, becoming the first Icelandic airline ever to serve a destination in the former Yugoslavia on a scheduled basis. The seasonal flights, which run weekly, were originally to be maintained until August 13, but have been extended until October 29. “We are pleased with how our Split services have been received. The majority of our passengers on the Split route are Icelandic. However, we are hopeful that, over time, the local population in the Split area will discover our services and take advantage of the opportunity to catch low cost flights to Iceland and our North American destinations”, PLAY told EX-YU Aviation News.

Despite being a low cost carrier, PLAY offers transfer flights with inbound services from Europe connecting onto the airline’s North America network, which currently counts five destinations, including Boston, New York Stewart, Baltimore, Washington Dulles, and Hamilton Airport in Canada, which serves Toronto. “We are also seeing passengers from North America taking advantage of our stopover option. With this option, passengers can book up to a ten-day stay in Iceland at no additional cost before continuing their travel to Europe. A portion of our North American passengers are choosing Split as their final destination”, PLAY said.

PLAY will be spreading its wings this coming winter by launching a limited service between Reykjavik and Zagreb. The flights will cater for fans heading to the 2025 World Men's Handball Championship, which will be held in Croatia, Denmark, and Norway from January 14 until February 2, 2025. PLAY will operate flights from the Icelandic capital to Zagreb on January 16, 21 and 27 with tickets available for purchase through the airline’s website. “We are always exploring further options and new destinations. However, as a publicly listed company, we cannot disclose our business plans before reporting them to the market. That said, we have already announced flights to Zagreb starting in January 2024, coinciding with the games that our national handball team will play in the World Cup. So, get ready to see a lot of Icelanders in the Croatian capital next January”, PLAY concluded.


Comments

  1. Anonymous09:12

    Wow! Very nice!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous09:21

    Who would have thought Split would be the first city in the region with flights to Reykjavik.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:19

      Everyone wants to visit beautiful Dalmatia!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:24

      Anonymous 10:19, there's a whole world waiting for Dalmatians to discover it.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous17:50

      I would think that Dalmatians have already discovered Dalmatian.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:21

    It's good and for croatian tourists, Iceland is popular for croats and slovenians. Seasonal scheduled flights are possible, the market is here. LJU also have potential, Trade Air operates this route on charter base.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:24

      This year maybe will be Klas Jet, Trade Air no capacity for two based planes in Slovenia, some greek routes this summer are with Lithuania s Klas Jet. Trade Air business now is wet leases...

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:34

      One weekly to ljubljana in dummer would work. Iceland is super popular in slovenia. We sll gly from venice

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:12

      It would work. But Fraport could not be bothered to attract Play or Icelandair.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous12:18

      Would work but it won’t happen becouse this is Ljubljana airport and Slovenian aviation

      Delete
    5. Anonymous14:15

      Keflavik is already served by Edelweiss, which is part of the LH Cartel, so LJU will continue to be restricted to charters

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:22

    Congrats! Happy the flights are working out.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous09:23

    If they actually scheduled the Split flights to connect to/from US/Canada they would be able to add second weekly flight.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:15

      True, the stop is too long. Something like 10 hours.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:39

      From April 25 there are twice weekly flights on sale

      Delete
    3. Anonymous15:58

      Next year?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous16:30

      Yes april 2025

      Delete
    5. Anonymous16:32

      Nice. Great that tickets are already on sale.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:25

    Athens route is very popular, greek tourists, American tourists, SPU will be like ATH 100%.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous09:29

    Looks like the next route will be Zagreb.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:08

      +1

      Delete
    2. Anonymous15:16

      I would prefer if Icelandair started Zagreb

      Delete
    3. Anonymous15:20

      Why?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous15:44

      Because it is a better airline

      Delete
    5. Anonymous03:29

      lol

      Delete
  8. Anonymous10:12

    Anyone flown with them?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:09

      They are typical LCC.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:40

      An LCC, but definitely more comfortable than Ryanair, easyjet or Wizz, mostly cause they're a bit lower density (their A320 only has 29 rows)

      Delete
    3. Anonymous15:19

      Flew with them from ATH pretty good LCC airline.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous03:29

      Good to hear

      Delete
  9. Anonymous10:14

    Bravo Hrvatska!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous10:16

    How far is New York Stewart from Manhattan?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:19

      A bit over 100km

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:07

      Very convenient 😃

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:38

      Around 80km, the problem is the lack of rail connections, though, since you need to bus to Beacon Station, which can take half an hour

      Delete
    4. Anonymous14:00

      Even 80k is way too far unless the price of the ticket is 50% or less than flying with the full service airlines via frankfurt, Amsterdam or London.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous14:19

      It's like 300 bucks for a return ticket between Stewart and Reykjavik, which is pretty decent, considering Icelandair costs 500 and United 550

      Delete
    6. Anonymous15:13

      But how much does it cost to get from Stewart to downtown New York?

      Delete
  11. Anonymous11:07

    WOW 2.0

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:39

      Exactly my thought

      Delete
    2. Anonymous03:29

      Hope it has a better fate than Wow.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous13:46

    I hope they start BEG. A good way to connect to Toronto and other North American destinations as they are about half-way between the two.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:14

      Would be nice but there is no P2P demand from either end and I don't think they would be able to sustain the route simply on transfers.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous03:28

      Not gonna happen unfortunately.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous14:39

    Very nice- good connections to the USA :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous14:40

    Very unexpected, yet extremely welcome. Would be nice to see seasonal flights to LJU or ZAG

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous15:10

    Congratulations Croatia! This is absolutely remarkable!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous15:12

    What are the KEF-SPU fares like?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous15:15

      Check their website

      Delete
  17. Anonymous03:28

    Now that's a striking livery.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous08:15

    They already increased SPU to 2 weekly from next year

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

EX-YU Aviation News does not tolerate insults, excessive swearing, racist, homophobic or any other chauvinist remarks or provocative posts with the intention of creating further arguments. A full list of comment guidelines can be found here. Thank you for your cooperation.