Icelandair Group announces continued growth in international flights for 2015
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Passenger increase estimated to be 300,000+
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Direct flights to 39 destinations
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Capacity increase of 12% between years
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Daily flights year-round to 9 cities: Amsterdam, Boston, Copenhagen, London, New York, Oslo, Paris, Seattle and Stockholm
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Two new destinations: Birmingham, UK and Portland, Oregon, USA
Icelandair Group’s international flight schedule for 2015 will be the largest in the company´s history. The schedule will see a 12% increase from 2014 and include two new gateways plus added capacity in several gateways in both North America and Europe. The number of passengers is estimated to be 2.9 million in 2015, an increase of approximately 300,000. A total of 23 Boeing 757 aircraft will be used in the Route Network next summer, two more than this summer.
The operation of the international Route Network has more than doubled since 2009. The number of flights next year will exceed 10,000, while only six years ago that number was 4,500. At that time passengers numbered approximately 1.3 million or 45% of the number estimated in 2015. This continued growth will strengthen the tourist industry of Iceland further.
The company will increase flights to most of its destinations next summer. Specifically, 12 flights will be added weekly to both North America and Europe for a total of 24 flights, from 254 departures from Keflavik airport weekly, to 278 departures over the high season next summer. Birmingham, UK and Portland, Oregon, USA will be added as new destinations but flights to St.Petersburg, Russia will not continue.
As an example of how the company’s Route Network is consolidating and strengthening with these changes, it is worth mentioning that from today there will be flights to seven cities in North America year-round, while two years ago there were four. Today there are daily flights year-round to six cities in Europe where Amsterdam and Paris have been added in the last two years.
The Route Network has been built around the hub at Keflavik International Airport, with morning flights to cities in Europe and afternoon flights to North America. In recent years the company has been building up a secondary bank of flights with departures just before noon. Today the secondary bank includes two daily departures to North America and four departures to cities in Europe. The third daily departure to North America will now be added and the fifth departure to Europe. Growth of the secondary bank presents opportunity of two different departure times within the same day, eases the congestion at Keflavik Airport and supports the primary bank.
The company will start scheduled flights to and from Portland, Oregon on the west coast in the US, on May 19th, 2015. The population of Portland metropolitan area is around 2.3 million. Portland will be the company‘s 14th destination in North America. There will be flights two times per week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays until October 20th.
Flights to Birmingham, UK have previously been announced, and will start in February 2015. Birmingham will be the company‘s fifth destination in the UK. There will be flights two times in a week, on Thursdays and Mondays, starting from February 5th, 2015.
For further information, please contact:
Björgólfur Jóhannsson President and CEO, Icelandair Group, tel. +354-896-1455
Bogi Nils Bogason, CFO, Icelandair Group, tel. +354-665-8801
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