The airline will now only run from Cleveland to Iceland’s capital of Reykjavik through Nov. 2 and then start back again March 20, meaning prime Northern Lights watching (seen best in winter) is no longer on the table directly from Cleveland.
“We saw it probably wasn’t a good idea to fly those darkest couple of months,” Egill Almar Agustsson, Icelandair’s director of network planning, told Cleveland.com.
Since May, competing airlines Icelandair and Wow Air have made European travel more affordable than ever for Northeast Ohioans, with cheap direct flights to Reykjavik that could then serve as a springboard in traveling to nearby countries.
The area was one of the popular destinations for Clevelanders this summer, according to local travel agents. However, the company reported recently that its passenger revenue would probably be 5 to 8 percent lower than expected in 2018, leading to the resignation of its CEO.
There’s still no official word on what Wow Airlines’ flight schedule will be out of Cleveland next year, but travel with them runs through October.
This article appears in Aug 29 – Sep 4, 2018.
I have to wonder if the horrible reports of passengers landing in Cleveland had anything to do with the decision. Having to go through TSA even though this is a final destination, and passengers having liquids bought at duty free confiscated as a result. Massive understaffing at both customs and TSA, causing 2-3 hour waits to get through customs and TSA, even when landing at midnight with no other planes. I know people who flew WOW or IA and said they’d never do that again and would rather have their international flight land at another airport and take a second flight than go through that again. Hopkins needs to solve that problem now, or they will lose international business.