Delta Air Lines is contributing to the record numbers of U.S. nationals predicted to visit Iceland in 2016, by launching a daily flight between Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport and Reykjavik’s Keflavik International Airport. The flight will be Delta’s second daily service between Iceland and the United States. The established Keflavik-New York-JFK flight, which has operated throughout the summer for the past five years will become a year-round service for the first time this year. In total this summer, Delta will offer 15 weekly flights, including a second frequency between Keflavik and New York-JFK on Sundays. Flights are operated in conjunction with joint venture partners Air France and KLM.
“Adding a new daily flight to a second Delta hub responds to the rise in demand for travel between Iceland and the United States, said Nat Pieper, Delta’s senior vice president for the EMEA region.
“This flight also means that customers have more choice with convenient connections to 84 onward destinations via our Minneapolis and New York-JFK gateways, offering more travel opportunities than ever before, including the cities of Denver and San Francisco.”
Over the past five years, Delta has steadily increased its passenger numbers from 21,000 in 2011 to almost 51,000 last year between Iceland and the United States.
Data from the Centre for Retail Studies in Iceland, meanwhile, shows that U.S. visitors spent some 14 billion ISK on their credit cards last year, averaging about 120 thousand ISK per person. Total spending was 2 billion ISK greater than visitors from the United Kingdom, which is Iceland’s biggest inbound source market.
“With sites including Gullfoss and the Golden Circle, there is much to attract visitors to this beautiful country. Plus with year-round flights from New York, travelers can now enjoy the best of Iceland and the U.S. in any season,” said Nat Pieper.
Over the peak summer months Delta will offer almost 5,900 weekly seats between the United States and Reykjavik, more than doubling its capacity compared to 2015.