WAB Air, one of two self-proclaimed startup successors to bankrupt WOW air whose provisional name stood for We Are Back, unveiled its formal brand and name on November 5 - PLAY (Iceland) (OG, Reykjavik Keflavik).

The new Icelandic LCC said its management consisted of people with experience in airlines such as WOW air and Air Atlanta Icelandic (CC, Reykjavik Keflavik). The chief executive was revealed as Arnar Már Magnusson, who was formerly WOW's vice president for flight operations.

Specifics on destinations, which will be "in Europe to start with" and in North America from spring 2020, will be announced soon, as will flight schedules, according to a statement issued by the startup.

PLAY will initially operate two A321s in a cherry-red livery, building to six by summer 2020 and expanding to ten within three years. Sales will start in November and 1,000 tickets will be given away to mark the occasion, the company said.

"We have long-term funding," the chief executive told the Icelandic newspaper Fréttablaðið, explaining that this had been secured mainly from an investment fund in the UK. Eighty percent of the capital has come from abroad, the remainder from Iceland, he said.

Six destinations will be available in spring 2020, Magnusson added, and as with WOW air, morning flights will tend to be to Europe, afternoon flights to the United States.

It was reported in July that the Irish investment fund Avianta Capital had committed ISK5 billion krónur (USD39.7 million) to the project in return for a 75% stake in the startup, but it is not clear to what extent the fund is still involved.

"We are an Icelandic company, headquartered in Iceland, and we will hire staff on Icelandic agreements," Magnússon clarified at a press conference on November 5, according to the business magazine Viðskiptablaðið. He added that the colour of the livery "represents both the passion that lies behind the company and also refers to the volcanic island of Iceland."

He assured that the company was in the final stages of obtaining an Air Operating Licence (AOL), application for which was submitted to the Icelandic Transport Authority in late June.

Besides Magnússon, the other three founders of PLAY are Sveinn Ingi Steinþórsson, the company's CFO, who was WOW air's director for financial planning and analysis, businessman Þóroddur Ari Þóroddsson, and lawyer Bogi Guðmundsson. The startup is a separate project to the attempt by USAerospace Associates and its chairman Michele Ballarin to resurrect the WOW air brand.