Icelandair: record occupancy rate in May | News

In May 2026, Icelandair transported 464 thousand passengers, an increase of 4% year on year. The passenger distribution was as follows: 30% traveled to Iceland, 19% from Iceland, 45% were connecting passengers and 5% traveled within Iceland.

The number of passengers traveling to and from Iceland increased by 8% and 24% respectively, while the number of connecting passengers fell by 5%. This reflects the company’s focus on the currently higher yielding markets to and from Iceland.

Occupancy was a record 83%, increasing by 3.4 percentage points between years, and on-time performance was 82.3%. Block hours sold for charter flights fell by 2% between years and freight, measured in freight tonne-kilometres, increased by 4%.

CO2 emissions per operational tonne-kilometre (OTK) decreased by 8% year-on-year as a result of the company’s extensive fleet renewal programme, continued focus on operational efficiency and high capacity utilization.

Bogi Nils Bogason, President and CEO of Icelandair:
“We saw strong demand in May, reflected in record load factors and continued growth in our markets to and from Iceland. Achieving record load factors in May, which is historically a complex gateway month to peak summer, reflects strong demand capture and effective schedule coordination across markets. Fuel prices remain at high levels and we have responded with capacity adjustments and efficiency measures, including previously announced steps to accelerate fleet modernization.

The addition of Venice to our route network has been very well received, further strengthening our offering to customers. At the same time, we continue to inspire travel to Iceland through creative marketing, including our recent recruitment campaign for ‘really bad photographers’. The response exceeded expectations, with nearly 130,000 applicants from 178 countries. The winner will help us test our hypothesis that it is really difficult to take a bad photo in Icelandic nature.”