The two largest Icelandic airlines, Icelandair and Air Iceland Connect (AIC) have announced that they will combine their operations under the Icelandair brand.
‘New’ Icelandair will take off from March 16, integrating the whole network of group subsidiary Air Iceland Connect within Iceland and to Greenland into its own. Subsequently, Icelandair strengthens its position as the market leader in Iceland with four new domestic destinations as well as flights to four destinations in Greenland.
In a press release, Icelandair calls the merger “a part of strengthening our domestic route network [that] will benefit passengers in many ways, from better prices to more destinations and added frequent flyer benefits.” Customers that have booked a ticket with AIC for travel after March 15 will receive a new confirmation email from Icelandair, afterwards it will only be possible to book former AIC flights on the Icelandair website. However, flights to three destinations currently served by AIC via a codeshare agreement with Norlandair and flights to Vagar, operated by Atlantic Airways, will not be offered by Icelandair.
AIC, which was founded in 1937, has its headquarters at Reykjavik City Airport and currently operates five De Havilland Dash 8 aircraft, three Dash 8-200 and two Dash 8-400. These aircraft will be taken over by Icelandair and will continue operating out of the smaller Reykjavik City Airport. As a result, passengers arriving on an international Icelandair flight will need to change airports if they would like to continue on a domestic flight.
Jan-Hendrik is an aviation enthusiast from Germany, loves to travel the world and fly on as many aircraft as possible. His first flight was with a Condor 757 to Spain and has been interested in aviation ever since. His fields of expertise are aircraft accidents and passenger experience (PaxEx).
