Summary
- Icelandair boasts 140+ weekly flights to 13 US airports, with Seattle and Boston its two highest-capacity destinations.
- The airline holds codeshare partnerships with Alaska Airlines and JetBlue for seamless connections.
- Icelandair named Europe’s most punctual airline in June with an on-time performance of over 84%.
Icelandair operates an extensive US network that currently consists of 13 stateside destinations. The carrier’s strategic position between Europe and North America has made it a popular one-stop choice for transatlantic travelers. Let’s explore Icelandair’s US network below.
Over 140 departures per week
According to data from aviation analytics firm Cirium, Icelandair will operate 143 weekly roundtrips between its Reykjavík–Keflavík Airport (KEF) hub and the US this July to the following 13 airports:
Destination |
Aircraft Type |
Weekly Flights |
---|---|---|
Boston Logan International (BOS) |
B737 MAX 8, B767-300 |
21 |
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall (BWI) |
B737 MAX 9 |
7 |
Denver International (DEN) |
B757-200 |
11 |
Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County (DTW) |
B737 MAX 8 |
5 |
Newark Liberty International (EWR) |
B767-300 |
7 |
Washington Dulles International (IAD) |
B737 MAX 8, B737 MAX 9 |
14 |
John F. Kennedy International (JFK) |
B737 MAX 8, B737 MAX 9 |
19 |
Minneapolis-Saint Paul International (MSP) |
B757-200, B757-300 |
7 |
Chicago O’Hare International (ORD) |
B737 MAX 8, B757-300, B767-300 |
14 |
Portland International (PDX) |
B757-200 |
6 |
Pittsburgh International (PIT) |
B737 MAX 8 |
4 |
Raleigh-Durham International (RDU) |
B737 MAX 9 |
7 |
Seattle-Tacoma International (SEA) |
B757-200 |
21 |
When including Canada, Icelandair’s North American network will offer up to 24 daily departures at its August peak, a new record for the airline. Icelandair was named Europe’s most punctual carrier in June with an on-time performance (OTP) of 84.08% – the airline served 514,000 passengers last month with an average load factor of 83% over almost 4,000 flights.
Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock
Bogi Nils Bogason, Icelandair president and CEO, said,
“We know punctuality is one of the most important factors to our customers, so we are very pleased to see Icelandair coming out as the most punctual airline in Europe at present.”
Boston and Seattle on top
The carrier’s highest-capacity US route is its three-times-daily service to Boston operated by its MAX 8 and 767-300 fleet, amounting to 8,148 weekly seats going both ways. Narrowly in second is its triple-daily to Seattle – operated by its 757-200s – with a total of 7,960 seats per week. In terms of available seat miles (ASMs), Seattle comes out on top with 13,926,590 given the extra 1,200-mile distance compared to Boston, which comes second at 9,830,562.
Photo: Soos Jozsef | Shutterstock
With almost half of its passengers transiting through Reykjavík onwards to the US (or heading the other way to Europe), Icelandair is part of a handy stopover program that lets travelers stay in Iceland for up to seven days at no extra charge. With tourism on the rise in Iceland, there are plenty of passengers flying with Icelandair to visit the country itself – according to the airline’s latest passenger figures for June, 31% of its passengers are traveling into Iceland, 15% are flying out, 49% are transit passengers, and 4% are flying within Iceland.
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Codeshare benefits
Icelandair has codeshare partnerships with two US carriers – Alaska Airlines and JetBlue – enabling passengers to seamlessly connect to onward services stateside. For example, when flying into Seattle-Tacoma – a primary hub for Alaska Airlines – passengers can access over 100 direct destinations, both domestic and international.
Photo: Alaska Airlines
Its JetBlue partnership primarily benefits travelers to the US East Coast, particularly Boston and New York. JetBlue flies to almost 90 destinations directly from New York JFK, while it connects Boston to around 75 destinations.