Icelandic budget carrier Play delivered a $15 million financial turnaround in the summer as revenue almost doubled.
The airline turned a loss of $3 million in summer 2022 into a profit of $12 million during this year’s peak travel season.
Revenue nearly doubled year-on-year from $63 million to $116 million on the back of a 70% increase in seat capacity as 527,000 passengers were carried with a load factor of 89%.
Play introduced four new aircraft and added 13 destinations during the summer.
Looking forward, the carrier projects a third quarter profit of $4 million.
Based on current projections the airline expects to carry around 1.5 million passengers in 2023 and cut its annual operating loss to $10 million from $44 million based on revenue of $280 million.
Passenger numbers are projected to rise to 1.8 million in 2024 with estimated revenue of around $340 million and the airline achieving an annual operating profit.
Two additional aircraft have been secured for the 2025, which will expand its fleet to 12 Airbus A320neos.
Chief executive Birgir Jonsson said: “As we draw nearer to the end of the peak season, we are very proud of Play’s performance over the summer months and optimistic for the future.
“We see solid financial results with revenue in the summer months nearly doubling from last year and the airline delivering a net profit of $12 million in the same period. That is a turnaround, from net loss to net profit, of around $15 million from last year.
“We foresee that we will again almost double our revenue in the third quarter and that our operational margin (ebit) will be nearly ten times higher than last year, as well as Play delivering a quarterly net profit for the first time.
“The fact that we have managed to keep our costs low while increasing our unit revenue and nearly doubling our capacity is a true testament of how well-established we are becoming in our key markets and gives us great confidence for the future.”
He added: “Our cash position remains solid and, when adjusted for investments in fleet expansion, we have reached a neutral cash flow.
“We do not intend to raise new equity in the current market environment.
“After a period of steep growth, we have now reached the required scale to run an efficient and profitable operation and can begin to focus on optimising our operation.”