Icelandair landing back in Halifax
Airline set to resume seasonal service starting in May. Icelandair says it will resume passenger flights to Halifax in the spring, more than five years after scrapping the route.
The airline said in a release it plans to offer three flights a week from Keflavik, about a 35-minute drive west of the capital Reykjavik. The service will be offered from May to September.
Icelandair stopped passenger flights between Reykjavik and Halifax in October 2001, citing Ottawa’s refusal to allow daily service, a downturn in the economy and high fuel prices.
"Icelandair has been interested in flying between Canada and Iceland for a long time," sales and marketing executive Gunnar Mar Sigurfinnsson said in the release.
"However, due to restrictions on the number of flights to Canada, we’ve not been able to build up our services to Canada. It now appears the Canadian authorities have a more positive attitude towards our needs and we have therefore, decided to add Halifax again to our destination network following a hiatus of a few years."
Jadrino Huot, a spokesman for the Canadian Transportation Agency, which helps negotiate and implement international air agreements, said the agreement between Canada and Iceland hasn’t changed. It allows Icelandair to operate two flights per week between Iceland and Halifax, Montreal, and either St. John’s, N.L., or Winnipeg. The airline is allowed up to three additional flights per week to and from Halifax under certain conditions.
Mr. Sigurfinnsson said Halifax was popular with Icelanders, but Icelandair is emphasizing the new possibilities for travellers between Canada and Europe.
The Halifax International Airport Authority and tourism officials welcomed the news.
Authority president and CEO Eleanor Humphries said the connection will act as a gateway to Europe for business and leisure travellers.
"And while this is a step in the right direction, we will continue to work toward our goal of year-round service," Ms. Humphries said in a release.
Tourism Minister Len Goucher wasn’t available for comment, but department spokeswoman Adele Poirier said officials are looking forward to working with Icelandair again and the possibilities Keflavik presents.
"That city is a major hub for flights from many European cities," Ms. Poirier said.
"This means the new flights have the potential to bring not just Icelanders to Nova Scotia, but also Europeans."
Darlene Grant Fiander, acting president of the Tourism Industry Association of Nova Scotia, said the previous Reykjavik service had a significant economic impact in Nova Scotia.
"The visitor from Iceland is a high-yield visitor; they tend to spend more money," she said.
The airport authority said it expects the new flights to boost the trend to rising passenger volumes, which were up 5.6 per cent last year.