Icelandair has passed 5 million passengers; plans 5 new routes from Keflavik this year
Icelandair plays a critical role in travel to, from, in and through Iceland. International flights are from Keflavik, while all domestic flights are from Reykjavík Airport, which is very close to the centre of the capital. While it varies by month, almost half of passengers flying the country’s flag carrier connect to another flight in Keflavik.
In 2025, Icelandair carried 5.1 million passengers, up by nearly 9% year-over-year. This was its best year to date and was influenced by the cessation of ULCC PLAY earlier in the year.
The airline’s record-high result was achieved despite retiring four 757s, which was mainly offset by the arrival of three A321LRs. According to Planespotters.net, Icelandair has 47 aircraft: 17 737 MAX 8s, nine 757-200s, five 767-300ERs (including freighters), four A321LRs, four 737 MAX 9s, three Dash-8-Q400s, three Dash-8-200s and two 757-300s (leased out).
Icelandair has added five routes in 2026
Compared to 2025, the airline plans to begin the following routes this year. This reflects what is known in mid-February and may change. Notably, no US routes have been added, which perhaps reflects the weakening demand to/from Europe. However, it began flights to Nashville and Miami in 2025.
According to Cirium schedule data, the airline has not served any of the routes before. However, PLAY operated to Faro in 2025, while Venice VCE was part of its network in 2023/2024.
- 26 March: Faro (up to 2-weekly)
- 22 May: Venice VCE (3-weekly)
- 2 June: Qaqortoq (up to 4-weekly)
- 18 September: Gdansk (4-weekly)
- 23 October: Tromso (2-weekly)
The additions include Qaqortoq, in the far south of Greenland, whose airport opens soon. It’ll replace Narsarsuaq for the area, with Icelandair serving that airport until 2025. Unlike last year, Icelandair has also ceased flying to Detroit, Hamburg and Istanbul IST. The latter route only started in September 2025.
Copenhagen is the most-served destination
Cirium data for 2026 shows that Icelandair plans 61 routes to Keflavik, serving 21 countries. Its operations from Reykjavík Airport are not considered here. Poland is new to its network this year.
With a third of its available seats, the US remains the top market. It serves 15 US airports. Of course, the scale of its operation partly dictates the scale of its overall European network.
With 216,000 one-way seats, up by 9% year-over-year, Copenhagen is Icelandair’s leading route. It plans 27-weekly departing flights in July. Compared to 2025, Boston has fallen from second place to fourth. All US routes in the top 10 list have less capacity than last year.
