1,750 Passengers Stranded as Low-Cost European Airline Suddenly Ceases Operations
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NEED TO KNOW
- Passengers were stranded when Play, a low-cost European airline, shut down abruptly on Monday, Sept. 29
- Play carried 1.6 million passengers in 2024, with 10 planes serving 42 destinations
- “Dear passenger, Fly PLAY hf. has ceased operations, and all flights have been cancelled,” the airline said in a statement
Passengers found themselves stranded when Play, a low-cost airline in Iceland, shut down on Monday, Sept. 29.
“Dear passenger, Fly PLAY hf. has ceased operations, and all flights have been cancelled,” the airline said in a statement. “We kindly advise you to check flights with other airlines. Some carriers may offer special ‘rescue fares’ considering the circumstances.”
The airline then advised customers who purchased their airfare using credit cards to contact their card issuers for refunds. The same applies to flights booked through travel agencies. Play operated flights between Reykjavik, Iceland, and cities in Europe, Canada and the United States, The New York Times reported.
Gudjon Helgason, a spokesman for Keflavik Airport near Reykjavik, confirmed to the outlet that the airline’s closure affected about 1,750 passengers upon their abrupt shut down. Play flights that had been scheduled to fly to Baltimore, Barcelona and Lisbon were canceled, as were flights to Reykjavik from cities including Paris, London and Copenhagen, per the Times.
Five hundred staff members at the company have lost their jobs, The Independent reported.
Play debuted in 2021, following the 2019 bankruptcy of WOW Air, another low-cost Icelandic airline. The airline carried 1.6 million passengers in 2024, with 10 planes serving 42 destinations, per a financial report published in February.
The financial results report also referred to the company’s profits before taxes as “substandard,” and acknowledged that the company was facing financial hardships, but CEO Einar wrote in a statement that the company was “optimistic about continued progress” in 2025.
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Before the sudden closure, the company had been planning on shifting to serve more vacation destinations in order to increase profits.
PEOPLE has reached out to a representative for Play for comment.
Credit to Nypost AND Peoples
