PLAY: Flights from Athens to Iceland and the US as of June 2023

Icelandic low-cost airline PLAY will begin services from Athens to Iceland and the United States of America, with an initial schedule of two flights per week, from next summer.

PLAY offers transatlantic flights between the US and Europe and has 27 destinations in its route network.

“We can’t wait to start our operations in Athens,” said Birgir Jónsson, the CEO of PLAY, in an announcement.

Flights from Athens to Reykjavik will begin on 3 June 2023 every Tuesday and Saturday.

“Where we have begun our services, the airfare prices have dropped so that is our goal also for Greece, to come in with a bang and lower the cost of flying to Iceland and the US from Athens,” Jónsson added.

From Iceland, PLAY passengers can continue their journey to the US, where the airline operates to four destinations: New York, Washington DC, Boston and Baltimore.

The flight time from Athens to Reykjavik is approximately 5 hours 30 minutes and for those travelling to the US the connecting flight time will be approximately 2 hours.

According to data provided by PLAY, the number of travelers from Athens to Iceland has increased significantly in recent years, even before the pandemic (20 percent annual growth rate between 2015 and 2021).

Even more impressive is the increase in the past year (around 8,700 travelers between July 2021 and August 2022, with most choosing to travel to Iceland in August), the data shows.

“This, coupled with the fact that New York is the most popular destination in North America from Athens, with 500 daily flight passengers, are the main reasons that prompted PLAY to enter the Greek market with a strong push to change the terms of its… game,” the airline’s management said.

Founded in Reykjavík in 2019 by a management team with significant experience in the aviation industry, the company operates flights on new Airbus A321NEO and A320NEO aircraft.

An Icelandic-listed company, PLAY aims to make travel affordable for all. Its core motto is “Pay less, PLAY more”, which means that its customers spend less on their airline tickets so they can spend more while having fun at the destinations PLAY takes them to.

From the new year, the airline’s fleet will include 10 Airbus A320/A321neo aircraft.