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Low-cost carrier Play Air launches service between Canada and Europe

The airline will fly out from Hamilton International Airport

Alicja Siekierska
·2 min read
An airplane of a Nordic airline newcomer Play is seen on a tarmac in Keflavik, Iceland in this undated handout photo. Play/Iris Blondahl Kjartansdottir/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY.
Play Air, an Icelandic-based airline that operates flights between Iceland and Europe, announced on Tuesday that it will start flying to Canada on June 22. (Supplied) (Handout . / reuters)

A new low-cost airline is coming to Canada this summer.

Play Air, an Icelandic-based airline that operates flights between Iceland and Europe, announced on Tuesday that it will start flying to Canada on June 22. Starting Tuesday, travellers will be able to book flights between Hamilton International Airport and 26 cities across Europe, including London, Paris, Berlin, Copenhagen, Dublin and Brussels.

Play Air is a low-cost carrier that was founded in 2019, offering low base fares and no-frills service while charging for extras such as seat selection and larger carry-on luggage. The airline operates a fleet of Airbus A321NEO and A320NEO aircraft. It started with service between Iceland and Europe in 2021, before expanding to the United States in 2022. Hamilton is the airline's first Canadian destination.

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"Travellers around the world are hungry to venture to new destinations and recent data show that 73 per cent of global travellers want vacations outside of their comfort zone," Play Air chief executive Birgir Jónsson said in a statement.

"With our reliable and affordable flights, travellers can enjoy their destination rather than overspending on the flight to get there."

As part of its Canadian launch, the airline is offering tickets for as low as $169 to 13 destinations in Europe for flights between August and October this year. The promotion is available through to midnight on Jan 31.

Play Air is not the first airline to offer service between Europe and North America via Iceland. The airline's model is similar to that of Wow Air, the Icelandic ultra low-cost carrier that ceased operations in March 2019. According to Bloomberg, several Play Air executives were previously employed at Wow.

Competition in the Canadian airline market has been heating up in recent years, with the launch of low-cost carriers such as Swoop, Flair Airlines, Lynx Air and Jetlines.

Alicja Siekierska is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow her on Twitter @alicjawithaj.

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