Icelandair to help repatriate stranded Armenians and Americans
Iceland is equidistant from Los Angeles and Yerevan and the flights will make a short stop in Keflavik.
Armenian authorities and Icelandair will collaborate to repatriate almost two thousand individuals with a series of flights between the Los Angeles in California and the Armenian capital Yerevan.
“Our passengers are people who got stranded by the Covid-19 pandemic but have now received permission, and an opportunity, to return to their home countries,” says a press release from Icelandair.
Loftleidir Icelandic, Icelandair’s wet lease and charter arm, will provide Boeing 767 passenger jets for the project with the first flight from Los Angeles taking place on July 11th and the first US-bound flight leaving Yerevan on July 13th. The total number of flights has not yet been decided but each jet can carry 260 passengers. Each flight will make a stopover in Iceland, which happens to be almost equidistant from LA and Yerevan.
The repatriation flights are organized with the help of the transportation company Cross Line and the honorary consul of Iceland to Armenia. Around a million people of Armenian origin live in or near Los Angeles.
