Purchase agreement will provide Icelandic flag-carrier with flexibility to ‘streamline’ operation.
Icelandair Group is paying $686,000 for a 49% shareholding in the company Play Europe, the Maltese division of Icelandair’s former budget rival Play.
The agreement – the subject of a tentative pact earlier this year – is intended to give Icelandair Group access to a Maltese air operator’s certificate.
Icelandair Group says it will have the option to increase its shareholding at a later date.
Play Europe was set up by low-cost carrier Play before the airline collapsed in September last year.
Before ceasing operations it had transferred a number of its Airbus A320neo-family jets to the Maltese registry.
Icelandair Group says access to the Maltese AOC will “enhance the company’s operational flexibility” and enable it to “simplify and streamline” its Icelandic operation.
Chief executive Bogi Nils Bogason says the acquisition is being conducted “with the aim of supporting the continued development of our Keflavik hub”, adding that it will strengthen Icelandair’s competitiveness.
Completion of the transaction is subject to reaching an agreement with the Maltese aviation authorities regarding the continued use of the AOC.
Icelandair Group has taken the 49% share in Fly Play Europe Holdco – the parent of the AOC holder – from Isafold Capital Partners fund FPE.
The post Icelandair Group agrees price for share in former rival Play’s Maltese AOC holder first appeared on FlightGlobal.