Icelandic low fares minnow Play continued to be loss-making in the second quarter of the year ahead of a ramp up in services for the summer peak.
While revenue rose year-on-year from $9.6 million to $32.5 million, the carrier reported a loss of $14.4 million in the three months.
The increased revenue was attributed to enhanced activity, expansion to a hub-and-spoke network and a strong flow of bookings.
The airline expects to make an operational profit later this year as unit costs fall, excluding fuel. It had cash and cash equivalents amounting to $39.5 million at the end of June.
Established in November 2019 just before the pandemic shut down all international travel, Play now operates six Airbus A320neo and A321neo aircraft with four more due to enter service by spring 2023.
The airline carried 182,000 passengers in the three months to June with a load factor of 74.8%.
The upward trend continued into July with 110,000 passengers flown, mainly due to the introduction of transatlantic routes between Europe and the US. The booking status for autumn and winter “remain good”.
Chief executive Birgir Jonsson said: “We can safely say that Play has now emerged from the tough obstacle course of the start-up and expansion phase.
“Over the past few months, we have created a solid foundation which we will use to keep developing Play as a successful company.
“The second quarter of 2022 was the last hurdle towards running our business model which came into full effect in July. After rapid expansion with many new destinations, the deployment of our via operations and receiving new aircraft, our operations are now stable.”
He added: “I am so proud of the people working at Play who have managed to start this company during a volatile time, in a complicated business environment.
“We are now coming out of the development phase with a strong financial position and finally the external conditions are in our favour after strong headwinds these last quarters. Oil prices are, for example, going down fast and we see brighter times ahead.
“Bookings are strong, and we plan on showing a positive operating result later this year.
“People are clearly not deterred from travelling because of Covid-19 anymore – we see that in the increase of our long-term bookings and a drop in cancellation coverage.
“Our biggest objectives this coming winter are receiving four new aircraft, which will be added to our fleet next year, and hiring more crew members. 300 people are already working at Play and that group will be even bigger next year when we will hire 200 more.”