Passenger numbers up in January for Icelandair

Icelandair saw passenger numbers rise 7% in January this year, marking a surprising increase during a time of seismic and volcanic activities in part of the country during the month. The carrier advised that 225,168 passengers travelled with them in the first month of 2024, 31% of passengers were travelling to Iceland, 20% from Iceland, 41% were via passengers and 8% were travelling within Iceland. The airline says its load factor was 69.4% whilst on-time performance was down to just 79.8%.   

Sold block hours in charter flights increased by 16%. Freight measured in Freight Ton Kilometers decreased by 9% compared to January last year. 

Although the seismic activity and volcanic eruption in the Southwest of Iceland in November had no effect on Icelandair’s flight schedule, global media coverage of the events did have a significant negative impact on bookings in the fourth quarter of 2023 which is a very important sales period for flights in January. This affected load factor in January. This negative development has eased during the first weeks of the year. The via market is strengthening significantly with a higher proportion of bookings than at the same time last year. The demand is also strong on the market from Iceland.