Passenger numbers rise for Icelandair in September

Icelandair: Traffic Data September 2022

Passenger numbers rise for Icelandair..... Photo Icelandair

In September 2022, Icelandair carried nearly 387,000 passengers, up from 212,132 in the same month last year.  The total load factor on international and domestic flights was a rather downbeat 83.3%. The number of passengers was 86% of the September 2019 passenger numbers, while capacity reached 84% of 2019 levels. The number of passengers in Q3 2022 was more than double the number for the same period in 2021.

The number of passengers on international flights was 362 thousand compared to 191 thousand in September 2021. The number of passengers to Iceland was 141 thousand and from Iceland 48 thousand. Via passengers were 173 thousand, or 48% of the international passengers. On-time performance on international flights was 71%. On-time performance was affected by several factors, mainly weather at Keflavik Airport and aircraft maintenance. The load factor on international flights was 83.4%, compared to 62% in September 2021. This is a record load factor for September.

You can check out the latest fares and availability on Icelandair flights here.

The number of passengers on domestic flights was around 25 thousand compared to around 21 thousand in September 2021. On time performance was 71% and was affected by a lack of aircraft due to aircraft maintenance. The load factor on domestic flights was 78.5% compared to around 71% in September 2021.

Sold block hours in charter flights increased by 22%. Freight measured in Freight Ton Kilometers decreased by 19% compared to September last year.

Route Network	Sep 22	Sep 21	CHG (%)	YTD 22	YTD 21	CHG (%)
Number of Passengers	386.953	212.132	82%	2.841.899	916.818	210%
Load Factor	83,3%	62,1%	21,2 ppt	80,9%	62,6%	18,3 ppt
Available Seat KM (ASK´000,000)	1.376,5	963,0	43%	10.126,7	3.851,6	163%
Revenue Passenger KM (RPK´000,000)	1.147,1	598,4	92%	8.194,4	2.409,9	240%
INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS	Sep 22	Sep 21	CHG (%)	YTD 22	YTD 21	CHG (%)
To market (passengers)	140.841	102.453	37%	1.179.206	442.046	167%
From market (passengers)	48.439	22.983	111%	401.265	107.051	275%
Via market (passengers)	172.675	65.205	165%	1.062.259	205.618	417%
Number of Passengers	361.955	190.641	90%	2.642.730	754.715	250%
Load Factor	83,4%	62,0%	21,3 ppt	80,9%	62,5%	18,5 ppt
Available Seat KM (ASK´000,000)	1.367,3	953,0	43%	10.053,2	3.781,5	166%
Revenue Passenger KM (RPK´000,000)	1.139,9	591,3	93%	8.137,6	2.361,7	245%
Stage length (KM)	3.125	3.169	-1%	3.082	3.122	-1%
On-Time-Performance (Arrivals)	71,2%	88,0%	-16,8 ppt	71,8%	87,0%	-15,2 ppt
DOMESTIC FLIGHTS	Sep 22	Sep 21	CHG (%)	YTD 22	YTD 21	CHG (%)
Number of Passengers	24.998	21.491	16%	199.169	162.103	23%
Load Factor	78,5%	71,2%	7,3 ppt	77,4%	68,8%	8,6 ppt
Available Seat KM (ASK´000,000)	9,2	10,0	-8%	73,5	70,1	5%
On-Time-Performance (Arrivals)	71%	91%	-20,1 ppt	73%	89%	-16,2 ppt
Cargo & Leasing	Sep 22	Sep 21	CHG (%)	YTD 22	YTD 21	CHG (%)
Sold Block Hours - Leasing	1.513	1.243	22%	10.748	10.146	6%
Freight Tonne KM (FTK´000)	10.544	12.986	-19%	98.842	102.940	-4%
CO2 EMISSIONS	Sep 22	Sep 21	CHG (%)	YTD 22	YTD 21	CHG (%)
Total CO2 emissions tonnes	97.846	70.074	40%	728.262	317.371	129%
CO2 emissions per OTK	0,76	0,99	-23%	0,77	0,98	-22%

You can check out the latest fares and availability on Icelandair flights here.

-

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Icelandair's extensive winter schedule....

Winter schedule is on sale from Icelandair.     Photo Icelandair. 

Icelandair’s winter schedule for 2022-2023 is extensive, or around 95-104% of the 2019-2020 winter capacity. The destinations with the most frequency are popular cities in Europe and North America, Copenhagen, London, New York, and Boston. Among Icelanders, demand has also been strong to sun holidays and skiing destinations like Tenerife, Alicante, Munich, and Salzburg.

Increased frequency and flexibility

This winter, Icelandair will on average offer seventeen flights a week to New York, more than twenty to London, eleven to Boston and two to three flights a day to Copenhagen. By offering more than one trip a day, customers have more diverse departure times to choose from, increasing flexibility.

Within Iceland, Icelandair offers three destinations, Akureyri, Ísafjörður and Egilsstaðir, with around twelve weekly flights to Ísafjörður, 28-39 flights to Akureyri and around twenty to Egilsstaðir.

Icelanders long for sunshine and skiing

Among Icelanders, demand for flights to sunny destinations and skiing trips has been strong, with Icelandair offering frequent flights to Tenerife and Alicante. Munich and Salzburg are popular for skiing and the airline offers diverse travel dates to these destinations.

Bogi Nils Bogason, Icelandair president and CEO: Icelandair employees have done a great job in ramping up the operations since the lifting of travel restrictions. We have introduced an ambitious winter schedule, similar in size to our pre-pandemic schedule. This extensive winter schedule shows the strength of our network and business model and the strong demand we see in all our markets. For an island nation like Iceland, flight connections are extremely important, and we are proud to be able to offer around 220 departures a week to 38 destinations around the world, as well as good connectivity within Iceland.

Icelandair carried just over 529,000 passengers in July

July 2022 was a reasonably busy month for Icelandair,  the national carrier of Iceland, with the firm transporting 529,189 passengers over the period. Up 141% from the same period last year and a marked improvement from predictions earlier in the year.

The number of passengers on international flights was 504,326 compared to 195 thousand in July 2021 and 407 thousand in June this year. The number of passengers to Iceland was 230 thousand and from Iceland 57 thousand. Via passengers were 217 thousand or 43% of the international passengers. On time performance was 64% and was affected by disruptions in the route network that mainly resulted from challenging conditions at international airports. The load factor on international flights was 89.6%, compared to 70.4% in July 2021. Sales and load factor of Saga Premium seats continues to improve from previous years. This record load factor for July is driven by realisation of pent-up demand. It is also a strong indicator of a well-balanced route network, effective revenue management and sales and marketing activities. 

In August Icelandair operated a special pride flight - see below for more details

The domestic network has recovered well and already reached pre-Covid levels. The number of passengers on domestic flights was close to 25 thousand compared to around 24 thousand in July 2021. The load factor on domestic flights was 74.5% compared to 76.5% in July 2021.

Sold block hours in charter flights increased by 7%. Freight measured in Freight Ton Kilometers decreased by 14% compared to July last year.

July last year.

Route Network	Jul 22	Jul 21	CHG (%)	YTD 22	YTD 21	CHG (%)
Number of Passengers	529,189	219,419	141%	1,940,988	440,535	341%
Load Factor	89.5%	70.4%	19.1 ppt	78.5%	57.5%	21.0 ppt
Available Seat KM (ASK´000,000)	1,731.6	906.0	91%	7,038.5	1,819.5	287%
Revenue Passenger KM (RPK´000,000)	1,550.6	638.1	143%	5,524.6	1,045.3	428%
INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS	Jul 22	Jul 21	CHG (%)	YTD 22	YTD 21	CHG (%)
To market (passengers)	230,253	116,679	97%	819,141	194,610	321%
From market (passengers)	57,335	27,674	107%	304,582	59,755	410%
Via market (passengers)	216,737	50,872	326%	668,344	68,219	880%
Number of Passengers	504,326	195,225	158%	1,792,067	322,584	456%
Load Factor	89.6%	70.4%	19.3 ppt	78.5%	57.1%	21.4 ppt
Available Seat KM (ASK´000,000)	1,721.9	896.5	92%	6,984.0	1,769.4	295%
Revenue Passenger KM (RPK´000,000)	1,543.4	630.8	145%	5,482.2	1,011.0	442%
Stage length (KM)	3,073	3,244	-5%	3,069	3,077	0%
On-Time-Performance (Arrivals)	63.5%	81.0%	-17.5 ppt	71.7%	87.0%	-15.3 ppt
DOMESTIC FLIGHTS	Jul 22	Jul 21	CHG (%)	YTD 22	YTD 21	CHG (%)
Number of Passengers	24,863	24,194	3%	148,921	117,951	26%
Load Factor	74.5%	76.5%	-2.0 ppt	77.9%	68.5%	9.3 ppt
Available Seat KM (ASK´000,000)	9.7	9.5	2%	54.4	50.1	9%
Cargo & Leasing	Jul 22	Jul 21	CHG (%)	YTD 22	YTD 21	CHG (%)
Sold Block Hours - Leasing	1,348	1,261	7%	8,069	7,980	1%
Freight Tonne KM (FTK´000)	9,249	10,736	-14%	78,430	78,588	0%
CO2 EMISSIONS	Jul 22	Jul 21	CHG (%)	YTD 22	YTD 21	CHG (%)
Total CO2 emissions tonnes	121,195	66,960	81%	510,200	169,640	201%
CO2 emissions per OTK	0.72	0.89	-19%	0.79	1.06	-26%

.

Icelandair recorded a second quarter profit of $4 Million

Icelandair managed to record a second quarter profit of around $4 million the beleaguered carrier reported this week, which marked a major milestone in the airlines recovery. Icelandair has been increasing capacity and updating its schedules which in line with high demand has seen yields and loads rising with the airline. "Our ramp-up has continued into July with more destinations, frequent flights to our most popular destinations and diverse departure times throughout each day. Like the rest of the industry, we have been faced with various challenges, such as employee shortage at airport operators in Europe and North America that has caused flight disruptions, as well as supply chain issues that have delayed the return of aircraft out of maintenance. We are, however, in a good position to respond to such disruptions with our extensive flight schedule and frequency of flights that enables us to get our passengers quickly and efficiently to their destinations. In addition, our employees have also taken various innovative actions to minimize the impact on our customers." Explained the airline's CEO and President Bogi Nils Bogason.

Icelandair  expects the flight schedule to reach around 83% of 2019 levels in Q3 and around 90% of 2019 in Q4 2022. The outlook for its cargo and leasing businesses as also looking good according to Bogason "As we have seen in the past and what the pandemic and the subsequent ramp-up phase have clearly demonstrated is that we have a robust business model and an excellent team of employees. We will continue to work hard on unleashing the opportunities we see for Icelandair going forward."

EBIT USD 1.2 million improving by USD 63.4 million year-on-year despite fuel price more than doubling

Operating income USD 328.9 million up by USD 251.4 million

Passenger revenue driving the increase in operating income

Continued recovery in capacity; 76% of 2019 production levels vs 58% in Q1 2022

Load factor significantly improving year-on-year; 78.5% vs 47.3%

Almost one thousand employees recruited during the quarter

Strong cashflow from operations (USD 121.7 million)

Record liquid funds available at end of June USD 463 million

Committed to taking delivery of six more efficient B737 MAX aircraft, supporting further growth and sustainability targets

The second half of the year expected to be profitable with Q3 performance significantly stronger than last year

Icelandair Report

Air Models have a range of aircraft models, including some special 737 MAX models, including this one in the colours of flydubai.  

Other airlines featured include Air China,  Xiamen Air and China Southern