After less than two years of being in the Canadian market, PLAY Airlines is planning to cancel its services in Canada on April 22.
According to the low-cost Icelandic airline’s schedule, it will be stopping its four flights per week from Hamilton International Airport to its headquarters in Reykjavik, Iceland, as a stopping point for trips to Europe.
The airline is budget-friendly with it having one of the lowest fares for flights to Europe, along with an option to stay in Iceland at no additional cost.
With the airline offering low fare prices, the rising cost of airplanes, jet fuel and staffing crept up on them making it hard for the airline to stay financially viable in the Canadian market.
Toronto Metropolitan University Tourism Management Professor Frédéric Dimanche said there could be multiple other reasons behind PLAY Airlines’ departure from the Canadian market.
“It could be because the other airlines added seats, those being Air Canada or WestJet, there are also the French companies, English companies, German companies, all that fly directly towards the Toronto market,” Dimanche said.
He also said PLAY Airlines may have been not very recognizable or well-known to a majority of the public.
“I’m not sure there are too many people who know about the company and the service they provided, you don’t see their name very often,” Dimanche said.
This may also be because PLAY flies from Hamilton International Airport.
“Hamilton has a smaller airport, it gets less coverage, it may also be less accessible to the public,” he said. “They chose Hamilton because it’s a localist airline and they tend to go to alternative airports to get cheaper airport fees. However, this doesn’t give them the visibility they could have had.”
In an email response, PLAY Airlines said they were making changes with a new focus in mind.
“The reason behind this is that we announced a strategic shift in our business plan last fall, we chose to place greater emphasis on leisure destinations in Southern Europe,” they said. “As a result, the frequency of North American flights was adjusted to align with the updated focus, leading to the cancellation of our YHM operations.”
The airline also said the decision was influenced by an increase in capacity within the market for travelling between Europe and North or South America.
It impacted the demand for connecting flights, which prompted them to realign their resources to better match market conditions.
PLAY Airlines said they have contacted passengers about this change and are currently offering a few options including a refund, a voucher with extra value, or rebooking to another destination with PLAY’s current schedule.
While all operations from the airline will be cancelled in Canada, the air carrier said they will continue to offer convenient and affordable flights out of Baltimore, Boston, and New York in the United States, continuing to connect passengers to destinations in Europe.