Icelandair has decided to start operations to Toronto in Canada next spring. This will be in addtion to the Halifax flights and Icelandair is also considering services to Montreal, Winnipeg, Ottawa and St. John in Canada. This decision was taken following the completion of the new Open skies agreement signed by the Icelandic and Canadian authorities in Ottawa last week.

"Icelandair has worked ceaslessly over the years and decades to establish an open skies agreement between Iceland and Canada and we are extremely pleased to see that such an agreement has now been concluded. We are ready and willing to enter the Canadian market both with passenger and cargo services. Our flights to Canada, despite the very strict rules enforced by the Canadian authorities, were a clear reflection of our interest in the Canadian market. We believe that this showed the Canadian authorities how serious we are. Now that the agreement is a fact, we see a tremendous opportunity to further develop our route network to serve new and exciting destinations”, says Jon Karl Olafsson, CEO of Icelandair and Icelandair Group.

Toronto is both the largest city in Canada and its main transportation hub. “We are keen to enter this new market, which we believe will become a key gateway for us, like Boston or New York”, says Gunnar Mar Sigurfinnsson, Icelandair SVP of Sales and Marketing. “We are confident that this will become a popular destination for Icelanders as it’s a lively multicultural city with a wide variety of attractions as well as offering great connections for further flights in Canada and the U.S.. We also believe that this gives us a great opportunity to market Iceland, as a destination, as Toronto is a transportation hub which serves a large densely populated area. The open skies agreement also opens up a wealth of opportunities in serving customers travelling between Scandinavia and Canada”, said Gunnar Már.

Icelandair will offer 5-7 flights per week throughout the year to Toronto. Flying time to Toronto is approximately 5 hours and 30 minutes from Iceland, which is similar to Baltimore-Washington in the United States. Today Icelandair operates 160 flights per week to 25 destinations in Europe and N-America.