easyJet lands in Akureyri for the first time
History was made today in Akureyri, North Iceland when easyJet completed its inaugural flight from London Gatwick. In the arrival hall, airport staff greeted passengers with the Icelandic speciality doughnut called „kleina“ and bottles of pure Icelandic water. As the plane arrived in North Iceland, representatives from Visit Iceland, Visit North Iceland, Isavia, local government and tourism companies celebrated this historic event.
Flying twice a week, Tuesdays and Saturdays, easyJet is the first foreign airline to operate scheduled international flights to Akureyri. Greatly embraced by local tourism companies, North Icelanders also celebrate as they now have an excellent opportunity to travel internationally from Akureyri instead of travelling to Keflavík in the south of Iceland before flying abroad.
Since 2014, Visit North Iceland and Isavia have extensively discussed this route with easyJet. In 2015 and 2017, representatives from easyJet visited the airports in both Egilsstaðir and Akureyri and explored the regions and tourism opportunities. Like elsewhere, the global pandemic of 2020 slowed things down, but in the spring of 2023, the airline officially announced that Akureyri would be a destination for this winter.
Arnheiður Jóhannsdóttir, CEO of Visit North Iceland, says that the easyJet flights will help to balance the contrast between summer and winter in tourism as most tourists visit in summer.
“These flights and arrivals from the UK will encourage investment in winter tourism, which will, in turn, help to create more year-round jobs. The passengers of easyJet will travel with agents from the UK and North Iceland, buying ready-made packages, but they will also be on self-drive journeys. This creates excellent opportunities for tourism in North Iceland. We have worked on the arrival of easyJet for an extended period, in good cooperation with the local tourism companies, municipalities and government. Today, we celebrate this milestone, showcasing how vital collaboration can be when everyone aims for the same objective.“
“We are delighted to be launching a brand new route to Akureyri in Iceland and becoming the only UK airline to operate flights to the destination providing even more choice and variety for our customers this winter to this unique route from the UK.
Our new route provides customers the opportunity to explore something different; with experiences ranging from relaxing geothermal spa visits to thrilling super jeep tours, whale watching, or northern lights hunting so we are sure the route will be a success and we can’t wait to welcome more customers on board,” says Ali Gayward, easyJet‘s UK Country manager.
Sigrún Björk Jakobsdóttir, CEO of Isavia domestic airports, regards this inaugural flight as a big moment. „This is an excellent addition to the ever-growing traffic in Akureyri International Airport and shows how important the decision was to build the new terminal, in addition to other construction and renovation of the airport. The construction of the new terminal will be completed this year, making the airport experience much better for easyJet passengers.