PLAY (Iceland) (OG, Reykjavik Keflavik) will close its Icelandic air operator's certificate, discontinue the hub-and-spoke network via Reykjavik Keflavik, and focus on leisure and ACMI operations through PLAY Europe (FPE, Malta International) if a proposed buyout by the chief executive officer, Einar Örn Ólafsson, and board vice-chairperson, Elías Skúli Skúlason, goes through.
The two executives submitted a voluntary acquisition proposal through their newco, BBL 212 hf. Ólafsson and Skúlason, who currently hold 20% in the airline through various controlled and related parties, said they had already raised USD7 million through equity and loans, and would need another USD13 million to complete the buyout of the remaining shareholders. They are offering to acquire the shares at ISK1 Icelandic króna (USD0.008) per share, representing a 24.2% premium over the June 10, 2025, stock closing price.
The bidders said they would need to acquire at least a 90% stake in the company to initiate a mandatory buyout of the remaining shares, if any. Once they have full control of the airline, they intend to delist it from the Nasdaq Iceland stock market.
The airline's ownership is heavily diversified, and the currently largest individual shareholder, the Birta lífeyrissjóður pension fund, holds a 10.35% stake.
If the acquisition succeeds, the new owners plan to end all remaining North American flights and substantially scale down the Northern European network as of October 2025. They will focus on leisure and visiting friends and relatives flights (the latter mainly to Lithuania and Poland, home countries of the large diasporas in Iceland). Those will require around four aircraft. The remaining six aircraft will be dedicated to the ACMI out market.
The PLAY executives estimate that the ACMI out business will contribute around 40% of its revenues in 2026 and 2027, with the remainder coming from the leisure/VFR scheduled flights. The new strategy is forecast to allow the airline to be cash-flow positive and have a positive EBT in 2026.
The airline does not plan to retire any aircraft. The bidders said that its six A320-200Ns and four A321-200Ns were leased at market rates well below the current level, generating around USD10-12 million in savings compared to what airlines have to pay now. However, as part of the restructuring, all seven aircraft remaining on the Icelandic AOC will be moved to Malta. The branding will be retained, but the Icelandic unit will remain solely as a virtual carrier without its own certificate.
In an investor presentation, the bidders hinted at likely lease extensions of the current fleet.
"By the time the current leases expire, the aircraft will have reached an ideal age for continued lease operations: older but still equipped with fuel-efficient engines compared to alternatives, making them highly attractive to leasing operators," they said.
The bidders said this strategy built on a strategic pivot in the fourth quarter of 2024, which saw PLAY branch out to Malta, enter into a large ACMI out deal with SkyUp MT (U5, Malta International), and curtail its loss-making hub-and-spoke operations.
Ólafsson and Skúlason said that the "same Icelandic crews" would retain their current wages, although they did signal the plan to downsize the Icelandic office in favour of the Maltese and Lithuanian ones. PLAY opened a support office in Vilnius in 2021.
While the investors plan to delist PLAY on the completion of the transaction, they said that the restructured airline could "become an attractive acquisition target within the leasing market" and "would be well-positioned for a future IPO or private equity exit at a premium valuation."
