Flight Friday: Play, Braathens International Cease Ops After Brief Runs

Recent news about operators Play and Braathens International Airways ceasing operations prompts this week’s Flight Friday examination of flight hours for those operators and Play’s predecessor, WOW Air.

WOW Air carried its first revenue passenger in 2012 but ceased operations in the first quarter of 2019, apparently after plans to transform Iceland’s Keflavik Airport into a connection hub between the U.S. and Europe failed. Later in 2019, two former WOW Air executives announced formation of a new airline that ultimately became Play.

In 2021, Play carried its first revenue passenger and maintained a strikingly similar business plan to WOW Air’s. Again operating an all-Airbus fleet, Play sought to connect the U.S. to Europe with affordable rates while encouraging tourists to stopover in Iceland to experience the country’s natural beauty. However, in 2024, Play announced plans to shift its business model from connecting the U.S. and Europe to focusing on European and North African networks. This included establishing Play Europe with a Maltese air operator certificate (AOC). Play managed to operate through the northern hemisphere summer season until the end of September before ceasing operations.

Regarding utilization, Play maintained busy summer schedules in 2023 and 2024, but data shows summer 2024 flying dropped approximately one-third from previous summer peaks.

Braathens’ venture into jet aircraft operations began in 2023 when it took a leased Airbus A319 to begin operations under the Braathens International Airways brand, established as a separate AOC to operate charters from Scandinavia to southern Europe. Later in 2023, after adding more A319s, Braathens introduced the larger A320 to its fleet.

Where Braathens differs from Play is that Braathens had its best summer season in terms of flight hours. But with contracts expiring for charter flight operations with tour companies, Braathens has ended Braathens International Airways and its Airbus jet operations.

This data was put together using Aviation Week’s Tracked Aircraft Utilization database.