Play launches several new flights between the United States and Europe via Iceland
Before the Covid crisis, Icelandair and Wow, two Icelandic airlines, enjoyed commercial success by offering flights between Europe and the United States or Canada with a stopover in Reykjavík, the capital of the island. But that came to nothing with the bankruptcy of Wow, now recovered as a cargo airline. The Covid has definitively buried the model.
But now he is risen. You have seen that a new Icelandic airline, Play, has been operating for a few months, which, among other things, serves Barcelona. This company initially established links between mainland Europe and the island, but now, since this summer, it is recovering the old model. You can fly from Paris or London, initially, to New York, Boston and Baltimore, for only 160 euros, with a stopover in Reykjavík. June 9 will be the first flight from Paris and June 10 will be the first flight from Stansted to London. Presumably soon all European flights will allow a stopover of around an hour in the Icelandic capital, to connect with New York or the other two destinations.
New York is a word because, to get those prices, Play doesn’t fly exactly to New York or its usual airports but 60 miles, a hundred miles north of Manhattan, to a place called Stewart, where Norwegian has already stolen.
Birgir Jonsson, CEO of Play, explained that this airport is 80% cheaper than those in New York. A bus will connect with the capital in one hour. There are trains very close to the airport. Play says the airport is much faster through customs, with no passengers, with what gets lost one way, it gets saved another.
Play in Paris will operate from April to May, first to Boston and then to Baltimore from Charles de Gaulle, with five flights per week, except Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Departures from Paris will be at 3 and 3 pm and will arrive in the United States two hours later. The return leaves at 6:45 p.m. and arrives at 4:40 p.m. in Paris, for a duration of just over six hours.