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BRUSSELS—Pleased with its new Airbus A321LRs, Icelandair is eyeing more opportunities ahead for the XLR, while also considering the future replacement of its Boeing 767 widebodies.
Icelandair took delivery of its first Airbus in the airline’s 87-year history on Dec. 23, 2024. “The feedback from employees and customers regarding our first A321LR has been very positive, and the introduction into the fleet has been very smooth,” Icelandair Group President and CEO Bogi Bogason told Aviation Week on the sidelines of the Airlines for Europe (A4E) March summit in Brussels. “Two more A321LRs will arrive before summer. So, we have four in summer 2025 and three more for summer 2026.”
The Airbus narrowbodies will replace the airline’s Boeing 757s, which have been the backbone of the airline’s fleet for decades. “The 757s has been serving our network extremely well,” Bogason said. “But 2027 will be probably the last year we will be operating the 757 in the passenger network.”
Icelandair’s Airbus fleet is powered by Pratt & Whitney geared turbofan (GTF) engines. As the aircraft have been recently delivered, Bogason said there will be no impact for the summer season regarding possible GTF challenges. The carrier has commitments for 20 A321LR/XLRs, seven of which will be leased. Deliveries of 13 A321XLRs will begin in 2029.
“The A321XLRs definitely brings new opportunities,” Bogason said. The range of the A321XLR could open routes to California or Texas, “but we have not made a decision on new destinations,” he added. The airline has already announced an upcoming launch of Miami service in October onboard the A321LR, as well as new routes to Istanbul with its current fleet of 737 MAX aircraft.
During summer 2025, the carrier will operate a total of 62 destinations, nearly 20 of which are in North America, Bogason notes. “Our transatlantic business so far is good; the demand is still strong,” Bogason said. “No changes despite geopolitical turmoil, but we monitor it quite well.”
Icelandair, which utilizes narrowbody aircraft between the continents via Iceland, also operates three widebody aircraft—767-300ERs—for passenger services. Bogason said the 767s have been working well also in terms of cargo capability. “But we have some slot restrictions at several big airports,” he noted. “We have not decided on the widebody aircraft for the future. That is something we are currently analyzing. The 767 will remain for a few more years, as we see it.”
Closer to home, Bogason sees the importance of flights to Greenland increasing. “Greenland is an important market for us,” he said. “It makes perfect sense to use Iceland as a connecting hub.”
Greenland is expanding three airports with new runways. Icelandair plans to operate larger aircraft to the capital city of Nuuk with 737 MAXs, following the opening of the new airport on Nov. 28, 2024.
“The runways in Greenland are getting bigger. So, we are able to fly larger aircraft there,” Bogason said, adding that the smaller de Havilland Canada Dash 8-200s would not be competitive in the future on routes to Greenland.
“We have to utilize the same [turboprops] Q200s on domestic routes within Iceland to airports such as Ísafjörður. But after summer 2026, we may phase out the [three] Q200s,” he said. Icelandair wants to connect its Keflavik hub directly from domestic airports Akureyri and Egilsstaðir, located in the northern and eastern regions of the country, respectively. “We have done some tests. Operationally it has been working quite well to connect them with Keflavik,” Bogason said.
In 2024 Icelandair transported 4.7 million passengers and plans for an 8% capacity growth, year-over-year. When asked about the main challenges for Icelandair in 2025, Bogason said, “Out of Iceland there are always some challenges which we have to attack. We are very used to it. So nothing special. Just operating an airline.”
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