Icelandair to Kansas

Kansas City Airport produced this cake to welcome the arrival of Icelandair’s inaugural service from Reykjavik/Keflavik, the airport’s first-ever transatlantic service. Seen cutting the Northern Lights and Icelandic geography-inspired cake are Pat Klein, Director of Aviation, Kansas City, and Björgólfur Jóhannsson, President & CEO, Icelandair.

Icelandair advanced its US market presence this week by adding a further two airports to its network from Reykjavik/Keflavik (KEF), with one being a brand-new destination for the carrier, and the other welcoming back the airline after a 10-year absence. The first route to launch was the brand-new service to Kansas City (MCI), a 5,298-kilometre sector launched on 25 May, with the return flight back to Iceland taking place the following day. The seasonal service will operate three times weekly, with flights operated by the airline’s fleet of 757-200s. The second route commencement of the week occurred on 28 May, with Icelandair linking its home airport to Baltimore/Washington (BWI). This marks a return for the carrier to the US capital airport, having last served Baltimore/Washington back in January 2008. The airline plans to serve the latter 4,434-kilometre route four times weekly, again using its 757-200s, but this sector, unlike Kansas City, will face direct competition. WOW air already serves the US airport from Reykjavik/Keflavik 11 times weekly. With these launches, it means that Icelandair now serves 16 destinations in the US, with a 17th – San Francisco – launching 1 June.