Known affectionately as the “Land Of Fire And Ice” due to the glaciers and active volcanoes that are both part of its striking landscape, Iceland first skyrocketed in popularity as a tourist destination in the early 2010s and has continued to to ride the wave created by social media and airline stopover programs ever since.
For the last few years, the Nordic nation has been bringing in an average of 2.2 million international tourists per year.
National airline Icelandair already flies to 17 cities across the United States and Canada at different points of the year but, in May 2027, will add a new route to Keflavík International Airport (KEF) in Reykjavik from St. Louis Lambert International Airport (STL) in Missouri to its network.
“St. Louis is an exciting addition”: Icelandair on new U.S. flight
The new seasonal route will run four times a week from May 14 through October 24, 2027 on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. According to the airline, it will test demand for direct service for the smaller Midwestern city while also furthering the airline’s efforts to expand in the west of the U.S.
“St. Louis is an exciting addition, further strengthened by our growing partnership with Southwest Airlines, which will create convenient connections between destinations across North America, Iceland, and Europe,” Icelandair’s Chief Commercial Officer Tómas Ingason said in a statement.
The route is also being unveiled to coincide with Icelandair’s 90th birthday; initially known as Flugfélag Akureyra, the airline was established in June 1937 from a single seaplane that serviced the country’s more remote north coast.
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The codeshare partnership between Icelandair and American budget airline Southwest was cemented in the fall of 2024 as a way of joining their networks and connecting more travelers from smaller U.S. cities to Reykjavik on a single ticket.
While St. Louis was previously among the cities in the Southwest network to which Icelandair was granted access through the partnership, choosing it as a new Icelandair route shows that it is seeing greater potential in its ability to generate traffic.
How to book the new Icelandair flights to St. Louis and Madrid
Along with the new St. Louis route, Icelandair is also planning to bring back its Reykjavik-Madrid flight for the 2027 summer season. The flight between Reykjavik and
Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport (MAD) was launched as a seasonal route in 2024 and not brought back in either 2025 and 2026; in 2027, it will run from April 9 until October 25, 2027, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays
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Both routes will run on a Boeing 737 Max 8 plane with room for 160 passengers.
While their launch is more than half a year away, both flights are already available to buy on the Icelandair website at a starting fare of $500 USD for a roundtrip ticket.
Along with St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer and airport officials, Ingason also called the recent additions ones that “support the continued development of our route network and strengthen the range of options available to our customers.”
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