newstodate.aero
Jun 06, 2019 (newstodate): Traffic volumes through Iceland's Keflavik Airport will be down in 2019 - for several reasons.
After a hectic hike in traffic to Iceland during the recent years, the demise of several airlines including Primera Air and Germania, earlier growing their stake in the market, has left a mark, as well the suspension of all WOW Air flights after the airline's bankruptcy.
Another factor cooling down the traffic to Iceland is the current grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft.
As one example, Air Canada operating flights from Montreal and Toronto to Keflavik during summer 2019 has been forced to replace the MAX 8 aircraft with Airbus A319 operated by its subsidiary Rouge, which brings down the passenger volume per flight by one-fifth, from 169 to 136 passengers.
During this summer schedule, the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft would also perform 29 percent of all Icelandair flights, so the current situation poses a severe challenge, partly remedied by the lease of external capacity but still reducing the total seat offerings.
Isavia, managing the country's airports, is strongly hit by the change in patterns.
-We are currently working on our passenger forecast for 2019 which has been delayed because of uncertainties, an Isavia spokesman tells newstodate.
So far into 2019, the airport has seen its passenger volumes down by 14 percent, y-o-y, and Isavia has announced the redundancy of 19 staff as well as reduced remuneration schemes for another 15 staff.
After a hectic hike in traffic to Iceland during the recent years, the demise of several airlines including Primera Air and Germania, earlier growing their stake in the market, has left a mark, as well the suspension of all WOW Air flights after the airline's bankruptcy.
Another factor cooling down the traffic to Iceland is the current grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft.
As one example, Air Canada operating flights from Montreal and Toronto to Keflavik during summer 2019 has been forced to replace the MAX 8 aircraft with Airbus A319 operated by its subsidiary Rouge, which brings down the passenger volume per flight by one-fifth, from 169 to 136 passengers.
During this summer schedule, the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft would also perform 29 percent of all Icelandair flights, so the current situation poses a severe challenge, partly remedied by the lease of external capacity but still reducing the total seat offerings.
Isavia, managing the country's airports, is strongly hit by the change in patterns.
-We are currently working on our passenger forecast for 2019 which has been delayed because of uncertainties, an Isavia spokesman tells newstodate.
So far into 2019, the airport has seen its passenger volumes down by 14 percent, y-o-y, and Isavia has announced the redundancy of 19 staff as well as reduced remuneration schemes for another 15 staff.