Posted by Max Naylor on Wednesday, November 09, 2011
This is a landmark in Icelandic aviation history and the first time a serious low-budget contender has entered the market. Iceland Express, Iceland’s domestic “budget” airline, often has its fares at a similar if not higher price than Icelandair, the nation’s flag carrier. Iceland Express has come under much criticism in the Icelandic press lately due to its reputation for delays and cancellations.
EasyJet plans to change the game on a grand scale: its lowest single-way airfare will be £32.99 (€39, $52) and returns will start from £58.81 (€69, $93). This is by far the cheapest airfare available between these two destinations with any airline. When WOW Air commences operations in May, there will be four airlines in total operating commercial services between Iceland and the rest of Europe.
The effective doubling of available options should be good news for competition in the Icelandic airline industry, which has been fairly stagnant for a number of years whilst passenger numbers have been soaring. This year Icelandair reported record numbers of passengers, seeing 60,000 more in the first ten months of 2011 compare to last year.
The favourable exchange rate of the Icelandic króna and improving tourist infrastructure are amongst the reasons for the explosion in tourism in Iceland, as well as heavy marketing campaigns from Icelandair and Inspired by Iceland.
The launch marks the first time EasyJet has offered flights to Iceland. Potential passengers will be able to book flights through the company’s website starting tomorrow, the first flight being on 27th February 2012. EasyJet has yet to launch a local version of its website for Icelandic customers.
Source: EasyJet
Image: EasyJet PR
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