Play Airlines has reported a full year 2024 EBIT loss of $30.5 million on a 4.0 percent year-over-year increase in revenue to $292 million.
On Sunday (February 16, 2025), PLAY Airlines reported their fourth quarter and full-year financial results for the period ending December 31, 2024. The carrier reported a full year negative EBIT of ($30.5) million on a year-over-year increase in revenue of 4.0 percent to $292 million. PLAY’s fourth quarter EBIT improved $4.7 million compared to the same period last year, with revenue per available seat kilometer (RASK) increasing by 17 percent. The airline’s fourth quarter cost per available seat kilometer (CASK) increased 2.1 percent compared to Q4 2023 to 6.1 cents, while costs excluding fuel (CASK-ex) was 4.4 cents, up from 4.2 cents in the same period last year.
In Sunday’s announcement, PLAY Airlines’ CEO, Einar Örn Ólafsson, said,
“The transformation of PLAY’s business model is becoming increasingly evident, and its impact is reflected in our Q4 results. While our EBIT remains substandard, we saw a clear improvement in Q4, signaling that our revised flight schedule is already driving higher revenues and improved financials. Looking ahead to 2025, we are optimistic about continued progress.
“The positive impact of the new business model cannot yet be factored in the unmodified audit opinion of PLAY’s financial statements. We, however, firmly believe that these changes will improve the economics of the company significantly in 2025. Our cash position has strengthened compared to the same period last year, and PLAY’s business outlook has significantly improved. Market conditions may change, however, so raising capital cannot be ruled out. The net loss of the year 2024 is much higher than the actual operating loss. This is due to write-down of tax assets of USD 24.1 million, which is a non-cash event and purely an accounting measure. This is a cautious accounting approach on the company’s behalf.
“Icelanders are choosing PLAY in greater numbers and 477 thousand passengers flew from Iceland with PLAY last year, which is a 17.1% increase from the previous year, or 70,000 more passengers. Our shift toward leisure-focused routes has yielded positive results, with sold seats to leisure destinations growing by 18.4%. All this indicates that PLAY has become the airline of choice for Icelanders booking sunny getaways, with many passengers choosing to fly with PLAY multiple times throughout the year.
“We remain committed to implementing our new business model, focusing on popular and profitable routes while finding new projects for our fleet. Play has negotiated commercial terms of deployment of three aircraft from next spring on long term ACMI to a European airline until 2027. This project will put PLAY’s profitability in line with the company’s previous projections, adding highly stable and positive operations to this portion of the company’s business.
“Our key focus in 2025 is to maximize cost efficiency, and we have already taken measures expected to reduce overhead costs by 15-20% during the year. We remain committed to identifying innovative ways to further improve services while controlling expenses. With higher yields and lower costs, we anticipate considerable improvements in our operations.
I am grateful to my colleagues at PLAY for their immense contribution. Their professionalism, adaptability, and resourcefulness has been vital as we navigate new challenges. As in previous years, we will continue our mission to maintain world-class on-time performance while delivering exceptional service and competitive fares to our passengers.”
Founded in 2019 by Arnar Magnússon and launched in June 2021, PLAY is a new Iceland-based low-cost carrier (LCC) which operates flights to nearly 40 destinations between Iceland and Europe, as well as to North America. Currently, PLAY operates flights from Baltimore, Boston, New York, and Washington D.C. in the U.S., as well as from Toronto, Canada. The carrier’s core motto is ‘Pay Less PLAY More’, meaning that the airline’s customers spend less on airfare and more while enjoying their holiday destination. PLAY’s fleet of 10 Airbus A320/A321neos is the youngest fleet in Europe.
Source: PLAY Airlines