ECS Group subsidiaries, Globe Air Cargo France and Nordic GSA in Denmark, have won the tender to become Icelandic low-cost carrier, PLAY’s GSSAs for France, Denmark and a growing number of European countries. They will develop PLAY’s cargo business on its narrowbody fleet of A320neo and A321neo aircraft, supported by CargoTech digital tools.
PLAY, which operates a fleet of 10 highly efficient A320neo and A321neo aircraft, has rapidly expanded its network since it first began flight operations in June 2024. The carrier now serves 37 destinations in 18 countries in North America, Europe, and Africa, with new operations to Southern European leisure markets, this summer.
“Word of mouth is the best business card, especially in a people-centric industry like ours,” says Jean Ceccaldi, CEO of ECS Group. “Globe Air Cargo France and Nordic GSA won the tender for PLAY because of ECS Group’s success with one of PLAY’s partners. Our teams proved that they have the local expertise and advanced digital tools needed to support this new and ambitious leisure airline in building a stable and expanding belly cargo business almost from scratch. Paris Charles de Gaulle is currently PLAY’s leading destination by frequency, followed by Copenhagen, so our teams were a logical geographical choice for European GSSA headquarter operations. ECS Group welcomes PLAY to its customer portfolio and will be following its expansion with great interest.”
“The potentials for cargo growth with such a young airline – PLAY began operating just four years ago – are very appealing and Globe Air Cargo is thrilled to be its first French GSSA and to develop a successful network together,” Franck Tordjman, Managing Director of Globe Air Cargo France, comments. “We have devised a clear strategy that includes digital process enhancements and a vision to securely place PLAY and Iceland on the map, and fly cargo to and from as many of PLAY’s destinations as possible.”
“We already have regular flows of cargo on PLAY flights from Denmark to Tenerife (TFS) and Gran Canaria (LPA) in the Canary Islands,” Thomas Frederiksen, Managing Director of Nordic GSA in Denmark, reports. “While these are primarily highly popular holiday destinations for passengers, Nordic GSA’s mission is to equally promote opportunities for cargo business on board of PLAY, and to generate excellent baseload revenue for the airline. Not just for these destinations, but also others within its network that may have never seen cargo before. We’re fortunate, as part of ECS Group, to have state-of-the-art digital support at our fingertips when it comes to reading and acting on market trends and establishing new cargo revenue streams.”
Up to 4.5 tonnes or 10 cubic metres of bulk-load cargo uplift are available on any PLAY flight. Regular cargo commodities include general cargo, aircraft parts, ship spares and vegetables. The key unique selling point that PLAY brings to ECS Group’s forwarding customers is fast cargo uplift to its homebase Keflavík in Iceland, and alternative connections from there to other destinations in Europe or Africa and North America.
