Large meeting about Reykjavik airport
Preparations were underway over the weekend, when the removal of around 500 trees in the approach direction to Reykjavík Airport was completed. Morgunblaðið/Ólafur Árdal
After about 500 trees were removed in Öskjuhlíð over the weekend, which have obstructed flights to and from the east/west runway at Reykjavík Airport, a remote meeting was held yesterday between the City of Reykjavík, the Icelandic Transport Authority, Isavia, and ten municipalities.
According to sources in Morgunblaðið, the situation was reviewed, and the Icelandic Transport Authority will decide, following Isavia's assessment, whether it is safe to open the runway after this phase of the tree felling.
Ten local governments have jointly protested the closure of the runway, as it is viewed very seriously that it has been closed.
A total of 1,400 trees are to be felled in Öskjuhlíð to increase the safety of Reykjavík airport. Already 500 trees have been removed, in the first phase of that project. Morgunblaðið/Ólafur Árdal
The background to the matter can be traced to the fact that the demands and suggestions of Isavia and the Icelandic Transport Authority to the City of Reykjavík to remove trees in the flight path had not been met, and at midnight on February 8, the east/west runway was closed according to the Icelandic Transport Authority's directive.
Bogi Nils Bogason, CEO of Icelandair, said on that occasion that it was unacceptable that this situation had arisen, as the airport was a very important part of the nation's infrastructure in terms of domestic flights and medical flights.
