Every two years, Icelandair hosts the Midatlantic travel trade show in Reykjavik, allowing travel vendors from the regions that the airline serves to gather together and present and promote their offerings to travel buyers, travel journalists, and to network with one another.
One of the aisles in the 2023 Midatlantic travel show in Reykjavik
It’s always a great event, and this avgeek travel reporter always finds plenty of resources and story ideas there.
Your intrepid writer flying Icelandair’s 767-300ER full-motion simulator
We were also provided opportunities to see some very cool behind-the-scenes stuff at Icelandair. The airline recently completed an addition to their existing training facility in Hafnarfjörður, which is located between the country’s primary airport in Keflavik and the main city, Reykvavik.
Icelandair President and CEO Bogi Nils Bogason addresses a gathering at the airline’s new headquarters building – you can see one of their training simulators through the window at the top of the stairs behind him
The new building is quite contemportary and very European in its architecture; it’s a lovely addition.
Banking hardThe control center for the simLining up on final
But we were there primarily to see the airplane stuff, and we weren’t disappointed. I was allowed to fly their 767-300 full-motion simulator, and the instructor programmed in a couple approaches to a tricky Icelandic airfield as well as to JFK airport in New York City. I didn’t do too badly, all things considered, especially taking into account that a 767 handles a fair bit differently than the Cessna 172s I’m used to flying back home.
An Icelandair Boeing 737 MAX parked at a hard stand at Keflavik airport
Updates on the Airbus transition
We also got to have lunch with the airline’s C-suite folks and ask whatever questions we had about the airline.
One of the most significant developments for Icelandair is the incorporation of Airbus aircraft into its fleet. Traditionally an all-Boeing airline for its international operations (they do have a half-dozen Bombardier De Havilland Canada DHC-8s for their domestic, Greenland, and Faroe Islands service), Icelandair’s decision to add Airbus planes signaled a profound shift in strategy. The airline’s management has been evaluating the Airbus’ fuel efficiency, operational range, and passenger comfort, and seem pleased with the new jets so far.
Icelandair’s first A321LR, TF-IAA, at a gate at Stockholm Arlanda Airport following its inaugural revenue flight from KEF
Icelandair is still heavily invested in Boeing, having 21 737 MAX, 11 757s, and three 767s in their current fleet. They currently have two A321LRs, with five more on order, as well as 13 A321XLRs on order, and it’s those jets that will eventually replace the 757s.
The airline is weighing its long-term commitment to Boeing against a potential full transition to Airbus. Factors influencing this decision include cost efficiency, aircraft performance, and overall fleet consistency. While Boeing aircraft have long been the backbone of Icelandair’s operations, the introduction of Airbus jets raises questions about a potential gradual phase-out of the 737 MAX in favor of a more uniform Airbus fleet. However, for now, Bogason said the airline is happy with the MAX fleet and remains committed to maximizing the benefits of its current Boeing aircraft, all the while keeping future fleet options open.
Greenland tourism
Asked about the potential for expanding its service to Greenland, which is poised to become a sought-after tourist destination now that the country has opened a new airport that’s better capable of handling large commercial aircraft and bigger passenger loads, Bogason offered a wait-and-see attitude.
Icelandair serves Greenland via the former Icelandair Connect routes, which it integrated into its own schedule in 2021 after the two consolidated. There are four destinations, currently served by those aforementioned three DHC-8-200 and three DHC-8-400 aircraft.
With Greenland having opened its expanded main airport at Nuuk in October 2024, which includes a new terminal building and a new 7,200-foot runway, along with both SAS and United announcing seasonal service, tourism is expected to dramatically increase for the arctic nation. Icelandair and Air Greenland are currently the only carriers providing year-round service.
“Greenland is unique. I mean, Iceland is unique, but Greenland is really, really unique. It’s a complex market at the moment, and what makes it complex is that it’s not enough to build the runway. You have to build the hotels and the necessary infrastructure,” said Bogason.
He drew comparisons between Greenland’s current infrastructure and Iceland’s of 20-plus years ago, when the country had plenty of visitors but not enough tourism infrastructure to support them.
“I mean, look, just look at the companies that are in here (in Iceland) today. I mean, think of all of the companies that need to be here to give a good experience to big volumes of passengers. So this will have to be a slow path. I think we may be getting a little bit ahead of ourselves with the big aircraft coming in from the U.S., etc, this summer into into Nuuk,” he said, explaining his caution in expanding too quickly into a market that’s not yet prepared for an onslaught of travelers.
“We’ll see how it pans out, but it’s a big shock to a very, very small market, so it’s a tricky market, I think,” he added.
Getting to be a tourist in Iceland
Our tour included a cool greenhouse for growing tomatoeswhich also has a cafe serving tomato lattes – delicious!We were treated to a spa visitGeysirs were given their name from IcelandicThe area was like a mini YellowstoneWe also stopped at Þingvellir park to see the rift valleyThe fresh lava flows down a rampIt’s really lava
We were treated several traditional tourist stops during our visit, including the Lava Show, the only place in the world that makes lava daily for an educational experience; the relatively new Sky Lagoon hot-spring spa, along with a bus tour of the Reykjanes Peninsula, which included the Friðheimar tomato farm, the geysir, which is the namesake geyser and is the only Icelandic word adopted into the English language. We also stopped briefly at Þingvellir national park, another geologic wonder and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s a rift valley where the North American and European plates are separating, slowly building new land.
Lastly, we had a most wonderful meal at Sümac Grill + Drinks in downtown Reykjavik. I’m not normally one to mention restaurants, but this place was something special, especially how gracefully they handled my oddball food allergies by actually custom-making what I’d ordered to suit – even the sauces, which are typically premade in resaurants as busy as this one. Stop in and show them some AvGeek love if you’re in town.
A French Bee Airbus A350 gets pushed back from the gate at Paris Orly Airport
With the United States government’s new policy for international travel starting November 8, we talked with French Bee President Marc Rochet about how that airline will be handling the changes, as well as how they’ve been managing their operations during the pandemic.
“In light of the recent travel ban lift announcement, we will be resuming our flight operations in San Francisco, which connect passengers to Paris-Orly and Tahiti, in November. During the pandemic, we shifted operations to fly through Vancouver and then Toronto to continue the route. We plan to relaunch this popular route three times per week beginning on November 10,” Rochet said.
French Bee had originally planned to launch its New York to Paris route in 2020, but put it on hold during the height of the pandemic. Instead, they launched the route to coincide with Bastille Day on July 14, 2021.
“We are very happy to see the U.S. traffic open to French passengers and are ready to put more demand on the Paris to New York route. We will fly at least three times per week from Paris-Orly to Newark. We are preparing to fly at least four times per week in December for Paris-Orly to Newark, and then planning three times per week from SFO to Tahiti,” he said, adding that if there is high demand, they can add more flights.
Paris is slowly opening back up to tourists
Asked about current consumer travel behavior for international travel bookings, especially to France, Rochet said that, “at this time, only American residents have been able to travel to Europe. Even with these restrictions, we have made a load factor of 60-62% by the end of September, which was really good. We achieved this by arranging cargo flights from Europe.”
Travel rules have been changing frequently over the course of the pandemic. “People are not entirely clear on the travel restrictions yet so there is some hesitancy in booking international trips right now. There’s a lot of clarity missing, but once we have a better understanding from the U.S. administration, we believe we will see a big demand to travel again,” he said.
Looking ahead, Rochet said he “thinks we need to add new Airbus airplanes to our fleet each year because we do anticipate a big demand at the end of the pandemic. We anticipate that business traffic will be low. We expect bookings to increase with families traveling back and forth, as well as students and travelers.”
I’m an #AvGeek. I love specialty coffee, classic airplanes, and my hometown of Kansas City. Let’s combine them all! Here at AirlineReporter we are a fan of all things aviation, including those on the fringe. Say for example, King Nut, the snack provider to the world’s airlines, or a brewery with beer lines which cater to AvGeeks. Today we’re taking a look at The Roasterie, a specialty coffee company that is obsessed with the iconic Douglas DC-3.
How much do you love airplanes? Enough to dedicate the branding of your company to one of the most recognizable planes in history? Ok, that’s easy enough. But do you love DC-3s enough to have one restored and mounted to the roof of your downtown Kansas City coffee roasting plant? This, my friends, is the apex of AvGeek achievements, a level unlocked in 2012 by The Roasterie founder and president, Danny O’Neill.
The Roasterie has long been an iconic KC brand, but when they mounted a DC-3 to their building, they changed the skyline and commanded attention from anyone even remotely interested in airplanes. It’s hard to drive on I-35 through KC and not notice this plane that looks as if it has just reached V-1 and is rotating out of downtown. I have long been a fan of The Roasterie and always intended to visit for one of their free tours, but as locals tend to do, I kept putting it off. What better way to remind folks of their intent to visit than to mount a piece of AvGeek eye candy to your roof? It was time to dig a bit deeper, and I have to be honest, I’m glad I did…
Flying to Tokyo, Japan to experience the first flight of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner was only part of the trip. This time I was delighted to be able to experience the fascinating city of Tokyo. A year ago, I flew to Tokyo to check out the Haneda Airport’s new International terminal, and the turn-around trip didn’t allow me time to tour the city. However, this time I was fortunate to stay at the Peninsula Hotel for several days and I want to share what I discovered in this city. Of course my critique is not everything one needs to know about traveling to Tokyo, but a good list for beginner travelers to Japan.
TOKYO IS BACK TO NORMAL AND LOOKING FOR TOURISTS
When talking about visiting Japan, the elephant in the room is the Tsunami that hit on March 11, 2011. The quick answer is that Tokyo is back to normal operations and are welcoming tourists with open arms.
Tourism was hit hard after the Tsunami. The numbers of visitors dropped over 72% in March compared to the March, 2010. Tourism has continued to slip and in September 2011 numbers were down almost 25% compared to 2010.
I thought that I might feel a little guilty when visiting and having fun, due to the tsunami, but quite the contrary; the city and the country make it very clear that it is safe to return to Japan and there are some pretty amazing deals going on right now.
The Takeshita area of Tokyo is for trendy younger folks with some very interesting stores. Not my cup of tea, but interesting to check out none-the-less.
ENGLISH IS NOT AS WIDE-SPREAD AS YOU MIGHT THINK
Although quite a few people in Tokyo do speak English, you can’t count on finding that many English speaking locals. However, I did discover that the younger population is more apt to speak English. In many of the restaurants you can get by with pointing, but for others that might not work, if you don’t have a basic food vocabulary.
There is enough English spoken throughout the city to make your way around, but having a smart phone with a GPS map would be very helpful.
CHOOSE YOUR AIRPORT WISELY
Tokyo has two airports to choose from: Narita (NRT) and Haneda (HND). Historically Narita handles international flights and Haneda operates the domestic travel, but recently that has changed. Typically you will find Haneda is more expensive, but it is located much closer to downtown. It takes about an hour to get from Narita to Tokyo and costs about $40 per person to either take the train or bus (and about $200+ for a cab). I thought flying into the Narita airport and driving into Tokyo would be a worthwhile opportunity to see the Japanese countryside, but, the views are not that great so that experience does not need to be on your “must do” list.
This was one of the many "dark" alleys in Tokyo. However, even walking around by myself at night, I never felt unsafe or unwelcome.
IF YOU LIKE TO SHOP, YOU WILL BE IN HEAVEN
I am not much of a shopper, but the people of Tokyo are. It is a big city, but many people do not have cars and live in small apartments or houses. They have disposable income and a lot of that goes to “stuff.” Unlike many Americans who shop online, seeing stuff in person is much more popular in Tokyo. This means that there are stores for everything. I got to visit a ten story electronics store and was amazed to discover a six story store that only sold paper goods. You will also find designer shops selling Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Gucci and the like.
WALK TO THE LEFT
People drive on the right in the US and many walk to the right as well when passing someone coming or going. When I first got to Japan, I kept running into people and couldn’t figure out why. It took me a bit to realize that not only do the Japanese drive on the left side of the road, but they also walk to the left of other people. Even after realizing my mistake, it took me a while to get the hang of walking on the left and by the time I did, I was heading back to the US and started running into people again. This is not a huge deal, but having a heads-up can help avoid confusion and possible head-on collisions.
Robataya Restaurant in downtown Tokyo (there is also one in New York) was one of the most amazing meal experiences I have ever had. Great interaction with the Chefs and others that are eating.
A CULTURE OF JOB PRIDE
This is something I partly saw during my last trip, but really saw it during this time. It seems that so many people have a pride in their jobs that you just do not see in the US. From people sweeping up trash to those driving buses, everyone I encountered was nice, professional and clean. For example, in the six story paper store I mentioned earlier there was a woman there whose job was to help people line up for the elevator. This wasn’t some high-end shop, just your run-of-the-mill sort of place. First off in the US, this job would never exist and if it did, the person would most likely be grumpy, hatehis job and make it very clear that he wasn’t happy. “OMG people get in one of the lines, get on the elevator, how hard is this?” In Japan, this woman was polite and she treated her job like it was one of the most important things in the world. It was very refreshing to see this level of service almost everywhere I went.
YOU DO NOT GIVE TIPS, BUT GET AMAZING SERVICE
One might think that people have a pride in their job to get something out of it, like a tip, but that is not the case. Tipping in Japan is seen as a negative thing — almost an insult. Some places will automatically include gratuity on your bill, but people aren’t looking to be rewarded with a bigger tip. Not that I do not mind tipping in the US for good service, but it just seems to be that many times you get sub-par service AND are still expected to tip in the US. Having people treat you with respect and doing their job just makes the experience that much better. Plus you don’t have to worry about how much to tip people or keep bills/coins handy.
Could you imagine vending machines like this in the middle of a busy downtown train station in the US without being damaged or having big bars on them? It is a very different world in Tokyo.
PEOPLE RESPECT PROPERTY
The city is very clean and vandalism is almost non-existent. One of the first things I noticed was riding in the subway and the seats were cloth — CLOTH! Could you imagine cloth seats in the US? How long would it take for them to get ripped, stained, written on and/or worse? There also wasn’t any graffiti on the public transportation that I saw and none of it smelled of urine — nice. Another thing I noticed were vending machines located almost everywhere around the city. They weren’t locked down with big bars like you see in the US and they all worked.
GETTING AROUND IS EASY – USE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
Taxis are quite pricey and the cost can add up quickly. Just going down the street can easily cost about $10. In Tokyo and the surrounding area, there is a great train/subway system to get around and it is best to use them. Public transportation is very clean and safe. It could be a bit challenging figuring out exactly what train to take while at a station, so probably good to plan ahead either on your own or ask your hotel before heading out.
One of the entrances to the Imperial Palace Plaza, which is a large park in the middle of downtown Tokyo and right across from the Peninsula Hotel where I was staying.
CHECK OUT HIBIYA PARK + TOKYO IMPERIAL PALACE I know Tokyo is a well developed city, but I was expecting to see more traditional Japanese architecture. There were some places that gave a little bit, but it wasn’t until I checked out Hibiya Park that I got what I was really looking for. It is a large park area that is located right in the middle of downtown (almost like Tokyo’s Central Park).
Not only are there a lot of open park grounds, but this is also where the Imperial Palace is located. Unlike the White House in the US, they hide the Palace pretty well. Even from my hotel room, overlooking the park, I was only able to see the roof. Down on the ground, there are a few things to view, but not the actual palace and security is pretty tight.
DO NOT BE SCARED OF THE FACE MASKS
When making your way through Tokyo, you might notice there are quite a few people wearing white face masks. Do not worry — there is not a pandemic. People who are getting sick wear the face masks so that they do not infect others. It can be a little off-setting at first, but with a dense population in Japan, this is done to cut down on the spread of disease. It makes sense and it is too bad that more people around the globe do not do this.
The Peninsula Hotel, where I stayed, which is a five star hotel located right in downtown Tokyo.
STAY AT THE PENINSULA, IF YOU CAN
While in Tokyo, I was staying at The Peninsula Tokyo. Since getting into travel writing, I have been fortunate to experience quite a few first class hotels and this hotel has been one of the best to date. This might be a shocker to most of you, but I am by no means rich and/or famous, so when I travel on my own dime (this trip to Tokyo was sponsored by The Peninsula Hotel and ANA), I am not booking really high-end rooms. However, recently my opinions and thoughts about hotel rooms have changed.
When I was in college, it was about finding the cheapest room possible; I didn’t care what it looked like or where it was located. As I began to explore paying a bit more for nicer hotels and then even a bit more for a better room, I have begun to really appreciate how much a hotel can be a part of your travel experience. Not only are we talking about the quality of sleep you can get (I had my best jet-lagged sleep at the Peninsula to date), but the time you spend in your room. It is pretty nice to wake up and reach over to push a button to have all my curtains open up and (after my eyes got used to the light) seeing Tokyo. It makes one feel like the king of the world and certainly adds an enhanced dimension to your travels.
One of the huge benefits of the hotel is its location — right in the middle of all the action. Luckily I had much free time during my visit and it was easy to leave the hotel and be a short walk from the shopping and important tourist destinations without needing to use transportation. But when I did leave for other parts of the city, it was an easy two block walk to the subway to hitch a ride.
BE PREPARED TO DRESS NICE, EVEN IN LAID BACK SETTINGS
Before leaving, I checked the weather and saw it was forecast to be in the mid-to-upper 60’s. For a Seattlite, that means shorts. I did not want to make the same mistake (of not taking shorts) when I went to Singapore, so I made sure I packed them this time. It never reached the 60’s, and although I would have normally worn shorts anyway, the only people I saw wearing them around Tokyo were the tourists. Most local citizens, even on the weekends, had suits on and were dressed nicely and for some reason to me, it just did not seem right to wear shorts. However, I did wear jeans — I mean I have to have some limits here.
Tokyo is a HUGE city. From every angle, the city just kept going and going. This is the view towards the Tokyo Tower.
CONCLUSION
This was my second trip to Japan and I know it will not be my last. There is something about the people, the culture and the country that is very alluring and welcoming. I am hoping to visit this summer to explore more of Japan outside of Tokyo. The town and country are ready for tourists and if you have been meaning to make your way over to Japan, the timing could not be better.
Be one of the 10,000 to share Japan with the world.
I just had the opportunity to meet with Mizohata san, the Commissioner of the Japan Tourism Agency and san, the Director of Intentional Tourism Promotion about Japan’s tourism outlook. I will be sharing much more information later, but one thing that seemed to interest quite a few people on Twitter was the fact that Japan is hoping to offer 10,000 free flights to Japan in the summer of 2012 to people who can help share the word about the benefits of Japan.
If approved by the government, anyone will be able to sign up online in April 2012 and state how they can, “communicate their experiences through blogs and social networking during and after their trips.” Those who can show the most benefit for Japanese tourism will be most competitive in the selection process.
Winners will be offered free airfare, but any other expenses have to be covered by the person. However, there is a good chance that hotels in the region will also offer great deals for promotions to visitors.
The aim of this project, called “Fly to Japan!” is to:
* Eliminate worries about travel to Japan through positive words by actual travelers
* Increase of domestic comsumption by spending during travel
* Development of new tourist routes and resources.
Since this has not been approved yet, there are not too many details, but figured I would give a heads up to those of you who might be interested.
Much more information about the state of Japan and their tourism outlook will be given in a future story.
