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About PLAY

The sky is our playground!

PLAY is a new Icelandic low-cost airline operating flights between North America and Europe. PLAY offers low-cost flights and a safe and pleasant journey in our new and comfortable Airbus aircraft.

At PLAY, safety is the name of the game. Our other core values are on-time performance, simplicity, happiness, low prices, and safety. Yes, we said safety twice because that’s how we play it.

Birgir Jónsson, CEO

Birgir has extensive experience in international management and operations. He was Ossur's Regional Director in Asia, based in Hong Kong, CEO of Iceland Express and later Deputy CEO of WOW air. He lived and worked in Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary, where he was CEO of Infopress Group, one of the largest printing companies in Eastern Europe. He was CEO of Iceland Post and has also been involved in many projects in the field of restructuring and transformation across a diverse range of industries.

Birgir holds an MBA from the University of Westminster in London and a BA (Hons) from the University of the Arts London.

PLAY Management Team

Arnar Magnússon

Chief Operations Officer and Founder

Arnar Magnússon is the COO and one of the founders of PLAY.

Arnar has excellent leadership and management skills and over 15 years of experience within the aviation industry.

Arnar worked for WOW air for six years before joining PLAY. He held various positions within the airline, such as VP of Operations/Accountable Manager and Director of Flight Operations.

Arnar graduated as a licensed pilot from Oxford Aviation Academy in 2007 and worked as Chief Pilot, Captain and Training Captain for WOW air and as Captain for Ryanair.

Daníel Snæbjörnsson

Chief Network Officer

Daníel Snæbjörnsson is the CNO at PLAY. Daníel designs the network, focusing on optimizing PLAY’s key resources, including fleet and slots, as well as monitoring market trends and searching for new destinations.

Daníel has extensive experience within the aviation industry, having worked for both airports and airlines. Before joining PLAY, Daníel served as a manager within the network planning and scheduling team at Icelandair.

From 2014 until 2019, Daníel was Vice President of Network Planning at WOW air. Before joining WOW air, Daníel co-founded Altitude Aviation Advisory, a UK based consultancy firm focusing on the aviation industry. Previously, Daníel worked as a Consultant for AviaSolutions/GECAS from 2007 until 2013 and as an Aviation Analyst at Ascend Worldwide from 2006 to 2007, based in the UK. From 2004 to 2005, Daníel worked in operations at Íslandsflug and Air Atlanta Icelandic. 

Daníel earned his bachelor’s degree in Aviation Business Administration from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University. He later received a master’s degree in Air Transport Management from Cranfield University. He holds an Icelandic Private Pilot’s License.

Georg Haraldsson

Chief Information Officer

Georg Haraldsson is the CIO at PLAY and leads the company‘s Digital Development and Information Technology.

Georg has a diverse international experience. He worked as Ecommerce and Distribution Manager for Iceland Express, Iceland’s first low-cost carrier, for 6 years and as Ecommerce Manager for Dohop for a year. Georg was Managing Director and Regional Sales Director in the Middle East for Marorka for a few years and later Product Director for Valka and CCO at Iceland Travel. For the past two years Georg worked as Chief Information and Digital Officer at Posturinn, the national postal service of Iceland.

Georg holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and a master’s degree in International Business from Reykjavik University in association with IE Business School in Madrid.

Jónína Guðmundsdóttir

Chief People Officer

Jónína Guðmundsdóttir is the CPO at PLAY and leads the division of People and Culture, which includes the HR department, Payroll, Uniforms and Travel.

Jónína’s experience within the aviation industry includes her work for WOW air as Senior Vice President of Human Resources from 2015 until 2019. 

Jónína holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a focus on tourism from the University of Akureyri and later earned a master’s degree from Strathclyde University, where she studied Human Resources, focusing on the tourism and hospitality industries. Before her career in aviation, she worked for the information technology service corporation Advania, as Human Resource Manager from 2012 until 2015. Jónína also worked in recruitment and as an HR consultant for Capacent from 2005 until 2012.

Sonja Arnórsdóttir

Chief Commercial Officer

Sonja Arnórsdóttir is the CCO at PLAY and leads the company‘s efforts in sales, marketing, customer service, PR, revenue management and distribution.

Sonja holds a bachelor‘s degree in financial engineering from Reykjavik University and has worked in revenue and sales in the airline industry for the past 10 years. She worked as a revenue specialist at WOW air where she led a team of 10 and has been the Director of Revenue and Sales at PLAY since 2019.

Ólafur Þór Jóhannesson

Chief Financial Officer

Ólafur Þór is the CFO at PLAY and leads the division of Finance, which includes Legal. Ólafur has extensive experience working in finance, operations and business management.

Before coming to PLAY, Ólafur worked as CEO, Assistant Director and CFO at Skeljungur hf. from 2019 until 2022. He has previously held various management positions, worked as an independent consultant, sat on various boards and been an accountant and partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Ólafur Þór has a degree in Business Administration from the University of Iceland and has been a lecturer at Reykjavik University’s Department of Business Administration.