Icelandair’s first A321LR, TF-IAA, at a gate at Stockholm Arlanda Airport following its inaugural revenue flight from KEF
Icelandair has, other than their domestic/feeder airline, long had an all-Boeing mainline fleet consisting of 737 MAX-8 and MAX-9, 757-200, 757-300, and 767 jetliners. That all changed on Dec. 10, 2024, when the airline placed an A321LR into service as TF-IAA, named Esia, per their protocol of naming aircraft after Icelandic volcanoes.
There’s a lot to unpack here, so this article will focus on the experience of the flight. We’ll do a follow-up story on the implications of the fleet change later on.
The A321LR interior prior to boarding at KEF. The interior seat trim is color-coded to the exterior accent color of each aircraft
The first impression was, unsurprisingly, of newness. It felt almost like you shouldn’t be in there, as it was so pristine. The new-airplane smell is a real thing. And it’s quite lovely.
Saga-class seats have very large IFE screens with amazing resolution
As I did this trip in a somewhat insane manner, flying sequentially from Seattle to Keflavik, Keflavik to Stockholm, then turning straight around and doing the return with only about 90 minutes in each airport, Icelandair was kind enough to seat me in their premium class – Saga – for the whole 22+ hour trip. I’ve done some crazy routes and some really long flights in my day, but never anything quite like this marathon. It was simultaneously the most idiotic thing I’ve ever done, and also ranked among the most fun things.
There was a small celebration at the departure gate at KEF, with both local and AvGeek reporters on hand
By the numbers, the trip covered was 9,896 miles over four flights spanning 22 hours and 15 minutes in the air, all packed into 27 hours of total travel time. All of this was really for the sake of KEF-ARN and back, with the new Airbus. I was on a Boeing 737 MAX-8 on SEA-KEF, the A321LR KEF-ARN and ARN-KEF, and a Boeing 757-200 KEF-SEA, allowing me to compare experiences across all of Icelandair’s active long-haul fleet options.
From left: Captain Sölvi Þórðarson and Captain Kári Kárason were the pilots on the inaugural revenue flight to Stockholm
Their 757s are nearing the end of their service lives, and as such are definitely in need of an upgrade. The MAX series is a great update, but the derivative 737s just don’t have the range and carrying capacity of those wonderful 757s; Boeing missed a huge opportunity when it stopped production in 2004 and failed to develop a replacement. In prior Icelandair coverage, we’d noted that the airline’s managment long hoped Boeing would come up with a direct replacement for the 757; that obviously has not come to be, and the age of the fleet left them with little choice than to consider Airbus’ offerings.
Icelandair’s first A321LR at the gate at ARN
So, in walks Airbus with their newest A321 derivatives, which are now the closest thing on the market to the 757 in terms of capabilities.
Make no mistake, the 737 MAX 8 and 9 are very comfortable and competent aircraft, but Airbus is several steps ahead of Boeing with their newer A321LR and just-released A321XLR. The MAX cabins are definitely quieter than their predecessor NG versions, but the Airbus is even quieter. The A321LR is also 30% more fuel-efficient than the aircraft it’s replacing.
Seating also feels more comfortable, even in the rear of the plane, although that’s more up to the airlines than the aircraft manufacturer.
The Airbus jets lack the 737 line’s voluminous space bins for overhead luggage storage, but they’re still up to task. Spending seven hours on a MAX, then transitioning straight to the new Airbus, then back to a 757 for another seven hours provided plenty of perspective.
The Saga cabin screens are ginormousI also liked the headrests. A lotPlenty of legroom hereAnd knee roomPlenty of room for even large-footed travelers
The only fiddly thing about the Saga seating was trying to find the power outlets on the Airbus, which are cleverly hidden under the center console. There are great little fold-out coat hooks on the seatbacks as well, which are quite handy for cold-weather trips.
The A321LR cabin was nice and bright, too
Unlike many domestic US carriers, Icelandair’s 187-seat A321LR doesn’t have a mid-cabin lavatory. Instead, they’re placed similarly to the Boeing layout of one up front for Saga class and three in the rear of the aircraft for everyone else.
Due to a technical glitch on the inaugural flight, the plane’s new-to-Icelandair Viasat’s Ka-band satellite internet wasn’t working. I did play around with the moving map and take note of the wide array of movie options. The 4K OLED touchscreens are quite sharp with smooth functionality and beautiful colors; it’s one of the nicest IFE screens I’ve seen.
The cabin ceiling lighting near the front entry door is quite fun
It will be sad, for many reasons, to see the venerable B757 fleet retire. But the replacement aircraft chosen by Icelandair is definitely up to the task, and surpasses those old jets in passenger comfort and fuel efficiency for the airline with its far more modern engines and avionics systems.
In our next article, we’ll explore what these new aircraft mean for the fleet operations and potential route expansions.
Our flight from Keflavik to Seattle boarded via a proper jetbridge
The COVID-19 pandemic made for some mighty strange times. A January 2023 trip to Reykvavik with Icelandair marked my first time out of the United States since early 2020. I’ve been able to fly a lot domestically, but this would be the first time I’d get to use a passport in nearly three years, ending my longest international travel dry spell in decades. And, boy, was I looking forward to it, especially as Iceland is one of my very favorite destinations.
The trip was from Seattle to Keflavik on TF-FIN, a 25-year-old Boeing 757-200, a jet Icelandair has owned since it was built back in 1998.
Icelandair seems to work hard to keep its aircraft interiors in good shape; I’ve flown with them roughly 10 times in both Saga and economy, on their 737 MAX-8, 757-200, and Bombardier Dash-8s, and don’t recall having seen anything in the cabins that was in desperate need of repair.
An Icelandair De Havilland Canada DHC-8, better known as a Q400 or Dash 8, taxies to the ramp in Akureyri, Iceland
Flying domestically in Iceland is like stepping back in time.
Security? Not necessary here. Just check in for your flight at the ticket counter, wait for the boarding call, and get on the plane. No X-ray machines, no body or iris scans, no checks for bottled liquids, etc. Just check your big bags and walk on board with your carryons. A very civilized process in an equally civilized country.
Passengers disembark from an Icelandair 757 (TF-ISV) on the ramp at Akureyri, Iceland
Our flight was from Reykjavik City Airport, RKV, which is right in the center of the capital city, flying to Akureyri in the north of the country, 250km (155 statute miles) by air. The much larger international airport is 50km (30 statute miles) to the southeast, in Keflavik. We were a group of six; five of us from various media outlets, and our very capable and patient Icelandair media wrangler.
Icelandair’s domestic route map is shown via the blue line – Image: Icelandair
Icelandair has two 76-seat DHC-8-400s and three 37-seat DHC-8-200s in its fleet; they acquired them in March of 2021 when the airline purchased Air Iceland Connect to create an integrated domestic/international route system.
Icelandair’s livery refresh features larger titles with a revised font, and a variety of new colors on the tail – Image: Icelandair
In what Icelandair’s director of marketing Gàsli S. Brynjólfsson describes as “More of a refresh, not a total change,” the airline has begun rolling out an updated livery and associated marketing collateral.
Icelandair’s current branding was last updated in 2006. “We needed to strengthen our story and the emotional part of the brand,” Brynjólfsson said. “Icelandair culture has changed a lot, it’s much more relaxed than it was before.”
For perspective, he explained that the idea was to democratize the brand, as the current white, blue, and gold livery had been seen as a bit stuffy. “We took the gold out – it came up a few times in the talks with experts and focus groups that the gold-and-blue feels a bit royal – Icelandair is not a royal airline – Iceland is very democratic with small power differences,” he said.
Icelandair’s now-former livery seen on its very first 737 MAX-8, TF-ICE, which was also the first in the fleet to receive the update
“We are so much like a normal Icelandic company – the power distance between people is very little – we’re a company of equals, so that’s something that needs to be represented in the brand,” he explained.
For those who are fans of the airline’s iconic special liveries like Hekla Aurora and Vatnajökull (the glacier livery), he was reassuring. “We’re definitely going to continue to have special liveries.” But don’t expect to see the new livery on the airline’s substantial 757 fleet.
“I doubt that we will do the refresh on the 757s – we’re doing just the MAX to begin with. The fate of time for those planes (the older 757s), combined with the cost of changing those planes, would not be reasonable.” He did say the airline’s two 767s would likely receive the makeover at some point.
The nose of our 757 shadowing the engine nacelle as we climbed above the clouds. Heading west from Iceland at 5 p.m., we had sunset conditions for the whole flight
à¾etta reddast is an iconic Icelandic phrase that roughly translates to “it’s all going to work out.” It seems a suitable title for the review, because everything on my economy-class flight on Icelandair worked out very well.
My flight was from Keflavik International Airport (KEF) to Seattle-Tacoma International (SEA) in seat 14A aboard TF-FIK, a 20-year-old 757-200 that must have gone through a refurbishment relatively recently, as the interior looked very fresh. The aircraft had originally been built for Iberia back in 2000, and, if you look closely, you can find traces of that heritage the aft lavatory doors still have their “occupied” signs written in Spanish.
I was headed to Seattle on a Monday evening in February (before the coronavirus became an issue); not exactly prime tourist season, even by busy Icelandic standards. Correspondingly, the flight had quite a few empty seats. Once people finished shuffling themselves around to sit with their traveling companions, it left me in the fortuitous position of having an entire row to myself, a treat that I haven’t enjoyed in a very long time.
Backing up a bit, though, boarding was fast and easy. It was my third visit to Iceland, and my first time departing from a jet bridge at the terminal instead of being bused to a hardstand – KEF has been busily building out its terminals to add more jet bridges and basic capacity.
It was snowing outside, so even though I was disappointed at the missed photo opportunities you get when boarding from the ramp, it was nice not having to go out in the snow to get on board.
