Keflavík International Airport

This article is about the international airport. For Reykjavík's domestic airport, see Reykjavík Airport.

Keflavík Airport (Icelandic: Keflavíkurflugvöllur [ˈcʰɛplaˌviːkʏrˌflʏɣˌvœtlʏr̥]) (IATA: KEF, ICAO: BIKF), also known as Reykjavík–Keflavík Airport, is the largest airport in Iceland and the country's main hub for international transportation. The airport is 1.7 nautical miles (3.1 kilometres) west of Keflavík^[2] and 50 km (30 mi) southwest of Reykjavík. The airport has three runways, two of which are in use, and the airport area is about 25 km² (10 sq mi).^{[citation needed]} Most international journeys to or from Iceland pass through this airport.

Keflavík Airport Keflavíkurflugvöllur
IATA: KEF ICAO: BIKF
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner/Operator	Isavia Limited
Serves	Greater Reykjavík Area, Iceland
Location	Suðurnesjabær
Opened	1942 (1942)
Hub for	Icelandair Play
Elevation AMSL	52 m / 171 ft
Coordinates	63°59′06″N 22°36′20″W / 63.98500°N 22.60556°W / 63.98500; -22.60556Coordinates: 63°59′06″N 22°36′20″W / 63.98500°N 22.60556°W / 63.98500; -22.60556
Website	kefairport.is
Map
KEF/BIKF Location in Iceland Show map of Iceland KEF/BIKF KEF/BIKF (Arctic) Show map of Arctic KEF/BIKF KEF/BIKF (Europe) Show map of Europe
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 02/20 3,054 10,020 Asphalt 11/29 3,065 10,056 Asphalt
Statistics (2022)
Total Passengers 6,126,421 Aircraft Movements 73,623
Sources:^[1] AIP Iceland at ICAA^[2] Statistics: Isavia Limited^[3]^[4]

The main carrier at Keflavík is Icelandair, which has the airport as its main hub. The airport is only used for international flights; all domestic flights use the much smaller Reykjavík Airport, which lies three kilometres (two miles) from Reykjavík's city centre. Keflavík Airport is operated by Isavia, a government enterprise.

History

Early years

Originally, the airport was built by the United States military during World War II, as a replacement for a small British landing strip at Garður to the north. It consisted of two separate two-runway airfields, built simultaneously just 4 km apart. Patterson Field in the south-east opened in 1942 despite being partly incomplete. It was named after a young pilot who died in Iceland. Meeks Field to the north-west opened on 23 March 1943. It was named after another young pilot, George Meeks, who died on the Reykjavík airfield. Patterson Field was closed after the war, but Meeks Field and the adjoining structures were returned to Iceland's control and were renamed Naval Air Station Keflavik, for the nearby town of Keflavík. In 1951, the U.S. military returned to the airport under a defence agreement between Iceland and the U.S. signed on 5 May 1951.^[5]

Development since the 1950s

With the reestablishment of the military air base at Keflavík during the 1950s, the air terminal found itself in the middle of a secure military zone. Travelers had to pass through military check points to reach their flights, until 1987, when the civilian terminal was relocated.^[6]

The presence of foreign military forces in Iceland under the NATO-sponsored Iceland–U.S. Defense Agreement of 1951 was controversial in Iceland, which had no indigenous military forces other than the Icelandic Coast Guard.^[7] During the 1960s and 1970s, rallies were held to protest the U.S. military presence in Iceland (and in particular at Keflavík), and every year protesters walked the 50-kilometre (30 mi) road from Reykjavík to Keflavík and chanted "Ísland úr NATO, herinn burt" (literally: Iceland out of NATO, the military away). The protests were not effective.

The two 3,000-metre-long (10,000 ft) and 60-metre-wide (200 ft) runways were large enough to support NASA's Space Shuttle as well as the Antonov An-225. On 29 June 1999, Concorde G-BOAA flew from Heathrow Airport to Reykjavík (Keflavik airport). The Concorde had been there earlier.^[8] The airport is also an important emergency landing runway for large aircraft in transatlantic operation in the ETOPS system, which requires aircraft to always have less than a certain flight time from a suitable landing site.^[9] The United States military base closed down in 2006.

The airport was used as a hub by WOW air until it ceased operations on 28 March 2019.^[10]

Facilities

The terminal is named after Leif Erikson who was the first European to arrive in North America^[11] (Flugstöð Leifs Eiríkssonar [is], "Leif Erikson Air Terminal"). It was opened in April 1987^[12] and separated the airport's civil traffic from the military base. It was later extended with the opening of the South Building in 2001 (not a separate terminal) to comply with the requirements of the Schengen Agreement. The North Building was later enlarged and finished in 2007. The terminal has duty-free stores in the departure and arrival lounges. In 2016, the current terminal was expanded.^[13] The expansion added 7 gates.^[14] There are also plans to add a third runway.^[15]

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Although the population of Iceland is only about 370,000, there are scheduled flights to and from numerous locations across North America and Europe. The largest carrier operating out of Keflavik is Icelandair. WOW air was the second largest Icelandic carrier and the second largest at Keflavík, following its acquisition of Iceland Express on 23 October 2012,^[16] until it ceased operations on 28 March 2019.^[10] The airport only handles international flights; domestic flights are operated from Reykjavík's domestic airport.

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter services to and from Keflavík:^[17]

Airlines	Destinations
Air Canada	Seasonal: Montréal–Trudeau, Toronto–Pearson
Air Greenland	Nuuk Seasonal: Ilulissat
airBaltic	Riga
Atlantic Airways	Vágar
Austrian Airlines	Seasonal: Vienna
British Airways	London–Heathrow
Delta Air Lines	Seasonal: Detroit (begins 15 May 2023),^[18] Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York–JFK
easyJet	Edinburgh, London–Gatwick, London–Luton, Manchester Seasonal: Bristol, Milan–Malpensa
Edelweiss Air	Seasonal: Zürich
Eurowings	Düsseldorf Seasonal: Hamburg (resumes 7 May 2023)^[19]
Finnair	Helsinki
Iberia Express	Madrid
Icelandair^[20]	Alicante, Amsterdam, Baltimore, Barcelona, Berlin, Boston, Brussels, Chicago–O'Hare, Copenhagen, Dublin, Frankfurt, Glasgow, Helsinki, Kulusuk, London–Gatwick, London–Heathrow, Manchester, Munich, Newark, New York–JFK, Nuuk, Oslo, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Prague (begins 1 June 2023),^[21] Raleigh/Durham, Rome–Fiumicino, Seattle/Tacoma, Stockholm–Arlanda, Tenerife–South, Toronto–Pearson, Vancouver, Washington–Dulles, Zürich Seasonal: Bergen, Billund, Chania (begins 26 May 2023),^[22] Denver, Detroit (begins 18 May 2023),^[23] Geneva, Gran Canaria, Hamburg, Ilulissat, Madrid, Milan–Malpensa, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Narsarsuaq, Nice, Orlando, Portland (OR), Salzburg, Tel Aviv (begins 10 May 2023)^[24]
Jet2.com	Manchester Seasonal: Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London–Stansted
Lübeck Air	Seasonal: Lübeck
Lufthansa	Frankfurt Seasonal: Munich
Neos	Seasonal: Alicante, Málaga, Tenerife–South, Verona
Norwegian Air Shuttle^[25]	Oslo
Play	Alicante, Baltimore, Barcelona,^[26] Berlin, Boston, Copenhagen, Dublin, Glasgow (begins 26 May 2023),^[27] Hamilton (ON) (begins 22 June 2023),^[28] Lisbon,^[26] London–Stansted, Madrid,^[26] Newburgh, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Tenerife–South, Washington–Dulles Seasonal: Aalborg (begins 10 June 2023),^[29] Amsterdam (resumes 5 June 2023),^[30] Athens (begins 2 June 2023),^[31] Billund (begins 15 June 2023),^[32] Bologna, Brussels, Düsseldorf (begins 8 June 2023),^[33] Geneva, Gothenburg, Gran Canaria, Hamburg (begins 16 May 2023),^[34] Liverpool, Málaga, Palma de Mallorca, Porto, Prague, Salzburg, Stockholm–Arlanda, Venice (begins 29 June 2023),^[35] Warsaw–Chopin
Scandinavian Airlines	Copenhagen, Oslo Seasonal: Stockholm–Arlanda
Transavia	Amsterdam Seasonal: Nantes, Paris–Orly
TUI Airways	Seasonal: Bristol, London–Gatwick, Manchester
United Airlines	Seasonal: Chicago–O'Hare
Vueling	Seasonal: Barcelona
Wizz Air	Budapest, Gdańsk, Katowice, Kraków, Milan–Malpensa, Rome–Fiumicino, Vienna, Vilnius, Warsaw–Chopin, Wrocław Seasonal: London–Luton

Cargo

Airlines	Destinations
Bluebird Nordic^[36]	Billund,^[37] Dublin^[36]
Icelandair Cargo^[38]	Boston,^[39] Chicago–O'Hare,^[40] New York–JFK,^[41] Liège, Los Angeles^[42]^[43]

Statistics

 

Aerial view of the main buildings

 

Main waiting area

 

Terminal seen from platform

Annual passenger traffic at KEF airport. See Wikidata query.

Passenger numbers

Year	Passengers^[44]^[45]	Change
2004	1,883,725
2005	2,101,679	+11.6%
2006	2,272,917	+8.1%
2007	2,429,144	+6.9%
2008	2,193,434	-9.7%
2009	1,832,944	-16.4%
2010	2,065,188	+12.7%
2011	2,474,806	+19.8%
2012	2,764,026	+11.7%
2013	3,209,848	+16.1%
2014	3,867,425	+20.5%
2015	4,855,505	+25.5%
2016	6,821,358	+40.4%
2017	8,755,352	+28.3%
2018	9,804,388	+12.0%
2019	7,247,820	-26.08%
2020	1,373,971	-81.04%
2021	2,171,996	+58.1%
2022	6,126,421	+182.01%

Busiest destinations

Busiest routes to/from Keflavik (2018)^[46]

Rank	Airport	Passengers	Operator(s)
1	Copenhagen	582,199	Icelandair, Play, SAS
2	London–Gatwick	467,032	easyJet, Icelandair, Norwegian, TUI Airways
3	Amsterdam	449,590	Icelandair, Transavia
4	Paris–Charles de Gaulle	443,312	Icelandair, Play
5	London–Heathrow	378,029	British Airways, Icelandair
6	Frankfurt	355,520	Icelandair, Lufthansa
7	Boston	330,792	Icelandair
8	Newark	327,046	Icelandair, United
9	New York–JFK	323,781	Delta, Icelandair
10	Oslo	313,713	Icelandair, Norwegian, SAS

Access

Transport between the airport and downtown Reykjavik is a 50-kilometre (30 mi) journey on Route 41. Buses are operated by Airport Express, Flybus, and Strætó bs to Reykjavík.^[47] Taxis are available outside the terminal. Rental cars are available from various companies.^[48]

A 49 km long railway, the first in Iceland, is planned to link the airport to Reykjavik in order to relieve one of the country's busiest roads. The railway will accommodate high-speed trains of up to 250 km/h, which will enable the distance to be travelled within just 18 minutes. As of October 2016, construction was to begin in 2020.^[49] By 2019, plans were still active but had not come much further than in 2016.^[50] As of 2022^[update], there was little movement even though the most recent estimates had construction starting that same year.^[51]

Accidents and incidents

• On 21 July 2013, a Russian Sukhoi Superjet 100 airliner, prototype aircraft 97005, made a belly landing during a test flight. The cause was a crew mistake due to fatigue. They operated the plane manually in order to simulate failures.^[52][53]
• On 28 April 2017, a Primera Air Boeing 737-800 skidded off an icy runway.^[54]
• On 7 February 2020, an Icelandair Boeing 757-200 suffered a collapsed right main landing gear during touchdown on runway 10. ^[55]

References

1. "Vísir – Enn eitt metið slegið í fjölda farþega sem fara um Keflavíkurflugvöll". Visir.is. 14 November 2013. from the original on 16 November 2013. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
2. "BIKF – Keflavík" (PDF). Icelandic Civil Aviation Administration. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 August 2009. Retrieved 25 August 2009.
3. . Kefairport.is. Isavia Limited. Archived from the original on 23 October 2013. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
4. . Kefairport.is. Isavia Limited. Archived from the original on 23 October 2013. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
5. "U.S. Government Debated Secret Nuclear Deployments in Iceland". National Security Archive. George Washington University. 15 August 2016. from the original on 5 December 2016. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
6. Sullivan, Paul (1 August 2011). Waking Up in Iceland. Bobcat Books. p. 164. ISBN 978-0-85712-446-3.
7. Kochis, Daniel; Slattery, Brian (21 June 2016). "Iceland: Outsized Importance for Transatlantic Security". The Heritage Foundation. from the original on 10 January 2018. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
8. "Concorde to Iceland – The Ultimate Day Trip Trailer – Plato Video". YouTube. 21 April 2012. from the original on 6 April 2017. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
9. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 March 2017. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
10. "End of Operation of WOW AIR". Icelandic Transport Authority. from the original on 28 March 2019. Retrieved 28 March 2019. WOW AIR has ceased operation. All WOW AIR flights have been cancelled.
11. Read description and sources to his life and discovery in Leif Erikson
12. Saga og menning 22 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Keflavik Airport website.
13. "Hugmyndir um að reisa nýja flugstöð" (in Icelandic). ruv. 19 July 2012. from the original on 3 October 2013. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
14. "Metfjöldi farþega á Keflavíkurflugvelli í fyrra – Mikil aukning fjórða árið í röð". Isavia.is. from the original on 3 January 2014. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
15. (in Icelandic). visir. Archived from the original on 8 May 2014. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
16. "WOW air acquires Iceland Express". Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
17. kefairport.is – Timetables retrieved 18 September 2022
18. "Two major direct trans-Pacific flights are coming to SFO". 3 December 2022.
19. "EUROWINGS NS23 NETWORK ADDITIONS – 11DEC22".
20. "Our Flight Schedule 2022 | Icelandair".
21. "Icelandair flýgur til Prag og Barcelona - Vísir". 11 September 2022.
22. "Icelandair kynnir nýjan áfangastað".
23. "15th North American Route Next Summer: Icelandair Adds Boeing 737 MAX Detroit Flights". 24 November 2022.
24. "Icelandair is coming to Israel".
25. "Route map". norwegian.com.
26. "Robust revenue growth, healthy cash position, and strong forward bookings" (PDF). Play (Press release). 27 April 2023. pp. 1, 6. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
27. "PLAY flies to Scotland's most vibrant city".
28. "Toronto added to Play transatlantic network".
29. "Nyhed: PLAY åbner direkte rute fra Aalborg til Island" [News: PLAY opens a direct route from Aalborg to Iceland]. Aalborg Airport (in Danish). 5 January 2023. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
30. "PLAY to Amsterdam".
31. "PLAY to fly from Athens to Iceland and USA from June 2023". 19 October 2022.
32. "From West Denmark to East America: Icelandic PLAY launches routes from Billund, Aarhus and Aalborg to the USA". Via Ritzau. 5 January 2023. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
33. Liu, Jim (5 January 2023). "PLAY NS Denmark/Germany network expansion". AeroRoutes. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
34. "Keflavik: Play nimmt Hamburg und Stockholm auf". 7 November 2022.
35. "PLAY Adds Seasonal Venice Service in NS23". AeroRoutes. 10 February 2023. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
36. bluebird.is - Air Freight retrieved 18 September 2022
37. "Iceland Air Cargo | Scheduled Flights Keflavik - Dublin | BlueBird Nordic".
38. icelandaircargo.com - Flight schedule retrieved 18 September 2022
39. "Flight Schedule".
40. "Flight Schedule".
41. "Flight Schedule".
42. "Icelandair's Second 767 Freighter to Allow U.S. West Coast Services | Aviation Week Network".
43. "Icelandair expands at Liege with new 767-300BCF".
44. "Passenger statisticsm". kefairport.is. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
45. "2022".
46. "Database – Eurostat". ec.europa.eu. from the original on 25 September 2017. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
47. "Airport Shuttle from Keflavík Airport, Iceland - Keflavík International Airport - Kefairport.com". kefairport.is. from the original on 20 July 2016. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
48. "Car Rental/Car Hire at Keflavík International Airport, Iceland - Kefairport.com". kefairport.is. from the original on 20 July 2016. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
49. "Work on Iceland's new 250 km/h airport train to begin in 2020". Iceland Monitor. 6 October 2016. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
50. "Airport Train Still a Possibility". Iceland Monitor. 3 April 2019. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
51. Moerland, Mariska (29 June 2022). "Is there any news on Borgarlína or the airport train?". Iceland Review. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
52. "Accident: Sukhoi SU95 at Keflavik on Jul 21st 2013, belly landing". Avherald.com. from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
53. "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. March 2016. from the original on 9 August 2016. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
54. "ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 195078". Aviation Safety Network. 28 April 2017. from the original on 30 April 2017. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
55. Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 757-256 (WL) TF-FIA Keflavík International Airport (KEF)". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 11 August 2021.

External links

 

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Keflavík International Airport.

  Media related to Keflavík International Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website