Icelandair Announces New Routes to Cleveland and Dallas; Competition with WOW Air Intensifies

This has been quite an exciting summer for Icelandic Aviation…

On Thursday September 14th, Icelandair announced a new route between its hub in Reykjavik (KEF) and Dallas, Texas (DFW).

This comes on the heels of the airline’s late August announcement stating that it intends to launch a new route to Cleveland, Ohio (CLE).

Reykjavik to Dallas: 

Icelandair will serve DFW 4x per week year-round starting May 30th, 2018 onboard its Boeing 757-200 aircraft.

Reykjavik to Cleveland:

Icelandair will serve CLE 4x per week year-round starting May 16th, 2018 on board its Boeing 757-200 aircraft.

The Plane:

Icelandair outfits its Boeing 757-200’s in a 3 class configuration consisting of 22 recliner Saga class (business class) seats, 41 economy comfort seats, and 120 standard economy seats. Saga class is arranged in a 2-2 layout, while economy comfort and economy are in a 3-3 layout. It is important to note that while economy comfort is in a 3-3 layout similar to standard economy, the airline blocks off that cabin’s middle seats. As a result, the maximum number of travelers sitting in one row in economy comfort is two; one passenger beside the window and one beside the aisle, with an empty middle seat between them.

Here are some photos of the cabin:

Scrambling

Is exactly what Icelandair and its primary competitor, WOW air, have been doing lately. In late August I wrote about WOW air adding four new flights to the U.S. (to read more about that click here). Apparently that was just the beginning of a crazy timeline of events, as both airlines have matched each others expansionary efforts.

• August 22nd, 2017: Icelandair announces new flight to Cleveland, OH.
• August 23rd, 2017: WOW air announces new flight to Cleveland, OH.
• September 6th, 2017: WOW air announces new flight to Dallas, TX.
• September 14th, 2017: Icelandair announces new flight to Dallas, TX.

We are watching an extremely competitive chess match unfold right in front of us. Both of these airlines have roughly the same business model; transporting passengers between the United States and continental Europe. Although they operate this business model in different ways (Icelandair-full service, WOW air-LCC), neither can afford to give up their stake in (or be late getting into) valuable U.S. markets. This is evidenced in the airline’s respective route maps, as there is a ton of overlap (meaning if you can fly to KEF on WOW air from the U.S. chances are you could also fly there on Icelandair).

Here is Icelandair’s Route Map:

Here is WOW Air’s route map:

To the Point!

The battle over Iceland will be incredibly entertaining to watch unfold. Both Icelandair and WOW air don’t want to be late breaking into any untapped U.S. markets. As a result, I think we will see more aggressive expansion by both airlines. Oh, and did I mention that Icelandair will begin flying some of their brand new 737 MAX 8’s soon? That should allow them to open up additional routes to the United States.

Which city do you think Icelandair or WOW air will fly to next?

 

*Featured image courtesy of Icelandair