Fewer Flights to Iceland this Year

It looks like there will be a 25 percent reduction in seating capacity to Keflavík International Airport for the first three months of the year, compared with the same period last year, Morgunblaðið reports. In 2019, the first quarter’s seating capacity amounted to two million seats, but will likely be about 1.5 million seats the first quarter of this year.

From April through October, it appears that 5.2 million seats will be on offer, compared with 5.4 million seats for the same period last year.

For the first ten months of the year, a reduction of 600,000 in seating capacity to Keflavík International Airport is expected, compared with the same period last year, bringing the total number of seats on offer the first ten months of the year to 6.8 million.

Assuming that the number of foreign tourists in Iceland is down 4 percent this year, then a total of 1.9 million tourists will visit the country in 2020.

There are indications that due to the COVID-19 epidemic, Icelanders will be traveling less abroad than before.

One tour organizer interviewed by Morgunblaðið reports a 50 percent reduction in bookings for certain trips abroad in January and February, compared with the previous year. A Zenter poll, conducted for Fréttablaðið, suggests that COVID-19 will affect the travels of Icelanders for the coming months.

Simultaneously, threre are reports of tourists having canceled trips to Iceland for the same reason. It is not clear how extensive those cancellations are.

Italy is among the countries Icelanders are advised not to visit, due to the spread of the virus. Incidentally, a new airline, that was to replace WOW, had announced its plans to focus on service to Italy. Another airline, Play, intending to take off soon, is likely to be affected by the spread of the virus as well.