Iceland’s potential WOW air replacement, PLAY, has pushed back the launch date for its ticket sales. Originally tickets should have gone on sale before the end of November, but now the airline says we all need to wait a little longer. Despite this, six cities have been noted to be of interest for initial services, and the airline remains confident on its plan going forward.

In a Facebook post, the airline noted that ‘things can sometimes take a little longer than planned’, which as anyone knows is indeed very true. It goes on to confirm that, despite an original goal to start selling tickets in November, things would have to wait a little longer.

It was previously known that the airline was looking for equity financing in order to begin services. Reports suggest it was looking for ISK 1.7bn (around $14m) from Icelandic private investors to add to the ISK 5.5bn on loan from Athene Capital. Whether this is what’s slowing things down is unknown.

As well as this, it’s unknown whether the airline has established its operating license yet.

Exciting times ahead

Despite the delay in the ticket sales, PLAY is pressing ahead with its plans to begin service. While there’s been no confirmation of destinations, flight schedules or fares, the airline has been dropping some pretty big hints about its future destinations.

The airline has posted images of various cities around Europe. One is of a red bus in London, another of a man in the ocean off the coast of Alicante. A woman rides a fairground swing in Copenhagen and a couple go hiking in Tenerife.

As well as these tempting tidbits, hidden away in the comments of the airlines’ social posts was almost a destination announcement. A reader asked about airports in Paris, and PLAY’s social representative noted the airline was ‘looking at’ Paris. Presumably, that’s Orly and not CDG.

Six European cities

Local Icelandic media site Kjarninn has shared details of what was supposed to be a confidential investor presentation shared by Icelandic Securities. Within the presentation, the airline says it will fly to six European cities. Specifically, these are named as Alicante, Berlin, Copenhagen, London, Paris and Tenerife.

The presentation also detailed an increase to six aircraft by May 2020 from the current two. This would be increased to eight in 2021 and 10 by 2022. There were also mentions of destination expansions including to the US, although specifics were not shared.

Kjarninn says that the airline has already secured slots and facilities at the airports where it plans to begin service.

It would be great to see PLAY start selling tickets before the new year, but starting an airline is no mean feat. Some delays are unavoidable, but with any luck they are just that – delays, as opposed to cancellations.