LONDON – Following PLAY’s incredible milestone of 1,000,000 passengers handled, AviationSource got to sit down with Ikechi Apakama, the lucky passenger who has been given free life-time flights.
PLAY CEO Birgir Jonsson said the following on this incredible milestone from the carrier via his LinkedIn page, as well as the price that Apakama received from the airline:
“PLAY airlines reached a truly great milestone last week when we welcomed our 1 millionth passenger!
Congratulations Ikechi!”
“We look forward to welcoming you on board as often as you want in the future! It is sometimes hard to believe that it is only 1.5 years since we performed our first flight in the middle of the pandemic.”
“So much has happened in that space of time and so much is still to come! I am truly looking forward to the future and reaching many great milestones with all my fantastic teammates at Play!”
Sitting Down with PLAY’s 1,000,000th Passenger: Ikechi Apakama…
Ikechi was flying from Liverpool to Reykjavik, when he was surprised with being the 1,000,000th passenger to ever use PLAY.
“Honestly it feels surreal. It hasn’t properly set in yet, I don’t think it will do until I go to book a flight and I see the total cost! But at the time I couldn’t believe it, it’s one of those things you just never expect to happen to you”, he said to AviationSource.
“PLAY were so generous with the presentation they set up, they hired a driver in a Cadillac to get us to our AirBnB, they had loads of food and drink for all the other passengers, yeah just a great experience all round”.
Apakama mentioned that his next destination would be to the United States, as he has family over there, as well as for his love of Basketball and the NFL:
“My next destination will 100% be somewhere in the United States. I haven’t been there for years, I have family there and I love American sports like basketball and NFL, so it’s a dream come true really”.
He also mentioned that he will be using these free tickets for life, especially as he was never really much of a traveler previously:
“Ironically I’ve never really been one for travelling much, but this has definitely given me the motivation to travel a little bit more!”.
“Honestly this is a proper once in a lifetime prize and I’m eternally grateful to Play Airlines for it”.
A Significant Milestone…
It remains clear that PLAY have made some extensive gains since launching only a year and a half ago.
There will be a fresh ebb for motivation within the Icelandic carrier as they aim to take advantage of the ever-expected busy demand for air travel in Summer 2023.
For Ikechi, this is a once-in-a-lifetime prize to win, and it remains clear from his enthusiasm that he will be travelling a lot more often.
For PLAY, all eyes are now on the airline to see how much further they can take their successes, and whether future growth is on the cards.
To hit a milestone like this, it remains clear that the only way is up now for the airline.
