Icelandic airline Play is to offer its first transatlantic flights to Canada from June 2023.
The start-up budget carrier, which already flies to four US destinations from Europe, will operate to Hamilton International airport, near Toronto, in Ontario from 22 June.
Services to Canada will operate from London Stansted and Liverpool John Lennon airports via Reykjavik with an 80-minute stopover in the Icelandic capital.
Stansted flights will operate five times per week on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, as well as twice weekly from Liverpool on Thursday and Sunday.
Birgir Jonsson, Play’s CEO, said that Canada would be a “major market” for the airline.
“I am excited to be able to offer more people the opportunity to travel between North America, Iceland and Europe at affordable prices,” added Jonsson.
“Toronto, with its population of approximately eight million, will greatly expand our market reach as people there will now have a reliable and cost-effective way to reach our many destinations in Europe and Iceland.”
Play carried nearly 75,000 passengers in December with a load factor of 82.8 per cent, with its routes from London and Paris being the most popular. Connecting transatlantic passengers accounted for 40 per cent of the airline’s traffic.