Icelandair: Passengers to Iceland increased by 11% in August

Icelandair transported around 577,000 passengers in August 2026, 5% fewer than in August last year, in line with a corresponding reduction in capacity. Passenger distribution was as follows: 47% traveled to Iceland, 17% from Iceland, 32% were connecting passengers, and 4% traveled within Iceland.

The number of passengers traveling to Iceland increased by 11% year-on-year, passengers traveling from Iceland increased by 12%, and domestic passengers increased by 4%. At the same time, connecting passengers decreased by 27%. This shift in passenger mix, away from connecting traffic and towards passengers traveling to and from Iceland, reflects both the Company’s continued focus on these markets and the concentration of capacity around the Solar Eclipse in mid-August.

Capacity, measured in available seat kilometers (ASK), decreased by 5% year-on-year. Load factor was 85.8%, compared with 87.1% in August 2025, and on-time performance was 81.9%, improving by 1.0 percentage point between years. Yield increased by 24% to 11.96 US cents, with the increase primarily driven by the shift in passenger mix, together with a very favorable pricing environment to Iceland.  

Sold block hours in leasing operations decreased by 9%, while freight, measured in freight tonne kilometers (FTK), increased by 30%.

Bogi Nils Bogason, Icelandair President and CEO:
"August was an exceptional month, with the Solar Eclipse generating extraordinary demand for travel to Iceland. Handling an event of this scale is demanding for a network airline, and our teams did an outstanding job accommodating this demand while keeping the network flowing. We also remained focused on providing our customers with a reliable travel experience, reflected by our improved on-time performance. This month, we are further strengthening our route network with the launch of flights to Gdansk, creating additional travel options for our customers and supporting connectivity to, from and via Iceland."