PLAY Airlines Collapses Following Stewart Pullout

Short-lived airline shuts down just after cutting ties with Stewart International Airport.

In July 2019, two former Wow Air executives, Arnar Már Magnússon and Sveinn Ingi Steinþórsson, announced the formation of a new airline, tentatively named WAB air ("We Are Back"). Avianta Capital, an Irish investment fund owned by Aislinn Whittley-Ryan (daughter of Michael Kell Ryan, one of the founders of Ryanair), held a 75% stake; the remainder was held by Neo, a company founded by Arnar Már and Sveinn Ingi.

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The company aimed to operate six aircraft to 14 destinations across Europe and the United States, with a target of one million passengers in the first year. The new company applied for an air operator's certificate (AOC) from the Icelandic Transport Authority.

It was announced back in June by Hudson Valley Post that PLAY Airlines would leaving New for good, cutting ties with Stewart International Airport, shocking Hudson Valley residents. The airline announced service out of New York Stewart International Airport in Newburgh in early 2022 with PLAY offering flights from the Hudson Valley to 22 European destinations. Reports said the airline's final Stewart flight would depart on September 1.

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According to The Points Guy, PLAY closed its doors Monday after struggling to turn a profit since launching four years ago. In a statement Monday, PLAY's board of directors blamed the closure on weak performance and ticket sales in recent months, "following negative media coverage of its operations." The company ended all flights on Sept. 28.

A number of former executives from Wow Air, a previous Icelandic budget airline that shut down in 2019, launched PLAY in 2021. PLAY's strategy was very similar to Wow's: Offer dirt-cheap, no-frills airfare that comes with fees for everything from seat assignments to water on transatlantic trips via KEF.

When Birgir Jonsson, PLAY's first CEO, was asked in 2021 about the parallels between failed Wow and PLAY, he took the comparison as a compliment. "Everyone has learned a lot, he said, what happened at Wow Air [is] they simply grew too fast," and he promised that PLAY would not repeat that mistake.