Icelandic budget carrier PLAY Airlines is continuing on its steady path for growth by announcing a sprinkling of new routes being added to its network for 2024. From October 2024, the carrier will be serving both Marrakech in Morocco and Funchal in Madeira with direct services from the airline’s hub at Keflavik Airport (KEF) near Reykjavik in Iceland.
The announcement comes quickly after PLAY announced the commencement of services between Iceland and the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius in May 2024.
On March 5, 2024, PLAY launched ticket sales for flights from Marrakech (RAK) in Morocco to Iceland. The first flight from Marrakech will depart on October 17, 2024, with the carrier operating flights twice a week on Thursdays and Sundays.
“We are thrilled to be launching flights from Marrakech through our partnership with the Moroccan National Tourist Office,” said Birgir Jónsson, PLAY´s CEO.
“This is a magical city that is rich with history and culture. Everywhere we go, we give the competition a run for their money. We want to make travel more affordable, and I am sure our Marrakech services will be well received by people who want to visit our beautiful country of Iceland,” he added.
Meanwhile, Morocco is not the only country that will be seeing the arrival of PLAY’s all-red planes in 2024. On the same day that the Marrakech services were announced, the carrier also revealed that it is also launching flights from Funchal (FNC) in Madeira to Iceland. The first flight is scheduled to depart Funchal on October 15, 2024, with the company operating weekly flights on Tuesdays throughout the northern winter season.
“We are thrilled to be launching flights from Madeira,” said Jónsson. “The island is absolutely stunning, and I believe that there will be a lot of interest in our flights between Iceland and Madeira.”
These two latest route announcements come hot on the heels of the announcement of the airline’s first foray into the Baltic States. In mid-February 2024, the airline said it would also be starting a new route between Iceland and Vilnius, the capital city of Lithuania.
Reservations opened for flights between Vilnius (VNO) and Iceland on February 13, 2024, with PLAY offering weekly flights on Saturdays over the summer months. The first flight will operate between the two cities on May 25, 2024.
PLAY is a low-cost airline from Iceland operating a hub-and-spoke network and offering flights between cities in North America and Europe and using Iceland as the hub in the middle. PLAY´s destinations in North America currently include Baltimore (BWI), Boston (BOS), New York-Stewart International (SWF), and Washington DC (IAD) in the United States, as well as Toronto (YYT) in Canada.
The addition of these three new routes brings the carrier’s eastbound network from Iceland to 36 destinations, stretching from Tenerife (TFS) in the Canary Islands to Athens (ATH) in Greece.
PLAY flew its inaugural flight in June 2021 and currently operates a fleet of 10 Airbus A320neo family aircraft made up of six A320neos and four A321neos. The average age of PLAY’s aircraft is just over two years, making it one of Europe’s youngest airline fleets.