Icelandair Exec Shares Strategy Behind Connecting Smaller U.S. Cities to Europe — and What Travelers Should Know

11.06.2024 - 16:41 / travelandleisure.com

Connecting in a major international airport is a careful balance between leaving enough time to make the next flight and not wasting hours waiting. In most places, 45 minutes is not nearly enough. But Iceland isn’t most places.

That’s exactly what Tómas Ingason, the chief commercial officer for Icelandair, is counting on. And it’s why he told Travel + Leisure the carrier is working to position itself as the preferred connection hub for Americans heading to Europe.

“It is quite small and convenient,” Ingason told T+L about Iceland’s Keflavík International Airport (KEF). “We are not a huge carrier … It's still about 20 aircraft that are meeting there in a short amount of time, but it's a highly orchestrated thing and we usually get it right.”

In fact, Ingason said Iceland’s geographic location often makes it the simplest (and shortest) one-stop connection to Europe. And it plays into how the airline chooses where they fly in the U.S.

Icelandair operates a hub-and-spoke model, connecting all flights through Keflavík. From there, the carrier flies to 13 cities in the United States and dozens of others throughout Europe.

As part of its network, Icelandair flies to major hubs including New York and Boston where travelers are spoiled for choice when it comes to connecting to Europe. But where Ingason said the airline differentiates itself is the smaller cities like Portland that have limited direct options — and less transatlantic competition. 

“That's kind of our sweet spot,” Ingason said about smaller markets. “The fact that this is not a hub for any of the U.S. airlines but a spoke city, actually makes it even more attractive … as long as there is sufficient demand.”

Ãlavur Frederiksson/Courtesy of IcelandAir

When travelers get to Iceland, they’ll be greeted by a relatively small airport. Last year, only 7.8 million passengers traveled through Keflavík, according to Iceland's Isavia airport authority. In comparison, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), often the busiest in the world, saw a whopping 104.6 million travelers in 2023.

With its small size, travelers are pretty much guaranteed to make their connections in just 45 minutes, and Ingason said about 99 percent would still make it in just 30 minutes. 

“It has definitely grown quite a bit over the past 10 years so it’s not quite as quaint… as 10, 15 years ago, but it’s still a much smaller hub,” Ingason said. “So it makes for an easy connection.”

International travel has exploded in recent years, and airlines have expanded along with demand. Icelandair is no exception. 

In 2022, Icelandair launched flights from Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU), followed by Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) last year. Last