WOW Air to relaunch as PLAY already this year!

The new Icelandic airline founded from the bankruptcy of WOW air will be called PLAY. The company’s representatives held a press conference in Reykjavík’s Perlan building yesterday morning to present the new company’s name as well as details of its coming operations.

PLAY will swap out WOW’s quintessential fuschia colour for red.

According to PLAY’s CEO Arnar Már Magnússon, the colour red was chosen to represent passion as well as Icelandic nature.

Last September, Michele Ballarin held a press conference in Iceland announcing her company USAerospace Associates’ purchase of WOW air’s assets, and their intention to resurrect the airline. At that time, Ballarin announced the airline would begin operations in October.

Last month, that date was delayed until December and it was stated that the new airline would focus on cargo transport before it began operating passenger flights.

Arnar stated that the company has yet to obtain an air operating licence, but is in the final stages of the process.

The airline will begin operations with flights to Europe, but plans to eventually operate flights to North America as well. Flights west across the Atlantic are expected to begin next spring, when the airline’s fleet will increase to six aircraft. Arnar declined to give details about specific destinations, but stated that PLAY plans to operate ten aircraft within the first three years of operations.

The airline has already chosen Airbus A321 as its launch aircraft of choice. According to its new CEO Arnar Már Magnusson, this is a good fit for its initial destinations with good fuel efficiency. The airline is targeting both passenger and freight operations and will carry some 200 passengers per flight.

The airline’s website is up and running, and ticket sales are scheduled to begin this month. The airline is giving away 1,000 tickets to mark the beginning of operations. Arnar stated that PLAY will need an enormous amount of staff in a variety of positions, including flight crew and pilots.

Positions in marketing, finance, programming, and customer service will also be available.

Prices, it says, will vary by dates and destinations but, “PLAY will provide strong competition in the Icelandic market and strive to offer the best prices at any given time.”

Revealed at the press conference, the new airline has already received some $40m from an investment fund owned by Aislinn Whitley-Ryan, a descendant of the founder of Ryanair.