Icelandair 757s!
Icelandair has operated the Boeing 757-200 & Boeing 757-300 since the 1990s, replacing the previous backbones of the fleet, namely the Boeing 727 and Douglas DC-8. The Boeing 757 fleet was a great addition to the fleet of Icelandair as it was able to economically provide a network across North America and Europe from Iceland, which is geographically the mid-point between Mainland Europe and the USA/Canada.
Sadly after more than three decades of linking Iceland to the World and beyond, the Boeing 757 is now being phased out of Icelandair in favour of the next generation of airliners. A true Boeing 757 replacement doesn't exist, so the airline has opted to go "down the middle" and operate a mixed fleet of Boeing 737-MAX and Airbus A321neo.
Back in early 2017 I was going to be celebrating my 20th Birthday, and one of my biggest issues with Icelandair is its not a cheap airline to fly with when booking flights from Europe to Iceland, despite having some great airfare prices on connecting flights onward to the US and Canada. I found a package holiday on a travel website in the UK which offered me a chance to fly the Icelandair Boeing 757, Boeing 767 and have a hotel for two nights… It was so good that I booked it and that would allow me to enjoy the Icelandair Boeing's!
I don't have a lot of images from this Boeing 757 flight, but I got a bit of information to work with and alongside the incoming retirement of the Boeing 757 fleet from Icelandair, I thought I'd share this here for all the Boeing 757 fans on the website!
Flying the Icelandair 757 (LGW-KEF)
Usually Icelandair has offered three daily services between Keflavik Airport, its main hub, and London using 2x daily London Heathrow flights and 1x daily London Gatwick flight. The Gatwick flight meant I could fly the Boeing 757 in daylight, where as the second LHR flight at the time would have been a late arrival and night flight.
Flying from the North Terminal, where Icelandair flights operate from at Gatwick Airport, I made my way to the Boeing 757-200(WL) which was being operated by <b style="font-style: italic;">TF-FIT named as "Helgafell". This Boeing 757-200 was built in August 1994 for Iberia who flew the aircraft until 1999. Icelandair took ownership of the aircraft in May 2014, it was flown from 1999 to 2014 by National Airlines, Sudan Airways, Phuket Air, Flyglobespan and Yakutia Airlines either owned outright or through leasing.
After flying for Icelandair for 7 years, the aircraft left the fleet in April 2021 and went over to Amerijet International and converted into a Freighter where it would fly for just over a year and find itself stored at Marna Pinal Airpark in November 2023… why convert an aircraft for only one year of flying is beyond me unless the aircraft was due to fly for longer until a major maintenance problem came up, where this aircraft will return to flight is anyone's guess at the time of writing.
I managed to get Seat 12A on this flight which provided an amazing view of the forward wing and left engine. The seats were nice enough for this 3 hour flight and an IFE Screen was provided on the Boeing 757. A bonus for 2017 standards, there was a USB port provided- which you can see to the side of the screen in this image below.
Icelandair has a buy-on-board for its economy class passengers, so I opted to enjoy a can of Cola alongside some burger sliders with a dip made locally in Iceland by a local food company. They were nice and filling for this afternoon flight. I also snapped a cabin shot of the aircraft showcasing how long the Boeing 757 looks from a passenger POV.
It was a lovely flight from what I remember, I think we had a short spell of turbulence which isn't uncommon flying across the North Atlantic. Before our descent into Keflavik Airport we had a great clear day of flying.
After a nearly 3 hour flight, we arrived into Keflavik Airport- the airport that serves Iceland and its capital city of Reykjavik. It was mid afternoon, so it was reasonably daylight and the night hadn't set in yet. We taxied over to our gate passing various Icelandair Boeing 757/767 and WOW Air Airbus A321/A330 aircraft awaiting their afternoon flights towards Europe.
As this was my first time ever flying a Boeing 757, I enquired in a flight deck visit which was duly granted! I thanked the pilots for a great flight and spoke to them about the Boeing 757 and Boeing 767- which are two of my favourite civilian aircraft. I then left the aircraft to make my way into the Airport.
I quite liked the look of Keflavik Airport, it was spacious, had that Nordic style to the design and was easy enough to navigate. A lot of windows overlooking the aircraft and airport were noticed allowing for plenty of natural light during daylight hours. I was in the non-Schengen Zone of the Airport, so I had to clear a passport control check, something I wouldn't have to do if I was travelling onward to the USA or Canada. Despite not being in the European Union- Iceland is still part of the European Economic Area and Schengen Zone which is a stance shared by Norway and Switzerland on the European Mainland.
Even though Keflavik Airport has been Icelandair territory for over 70 years, during the bulk of the 2010s WOW Air had a big presence as it wanted to disrupt the Travel and Aviation Industry… to think only 2 years after this trip the airline went bankrupt and ceased… PLAY Airlines tried to have another go learning from WOW Air's errors- but they folded after 5 years. I never got to fly WOW Air or PLAY Airlines unfortunately, despite them being high on my list. If I ever get back to Iceland- I find it unlikely it'll be with Icelandair either.
Let's enjoy some 2017 nostalgia with some of the airside photos I got of various Icelandair Boeing 757/767 and WOW Air Airbus A321/A330 that I saw parked up for taxiing around Keflavik Airport!
Overall Keflavik Airport is a nice place, if you can forgive the very cold weather for half the year. A lot of coaches awaited outside the Airport for package holiday makers looking to see the Northern Lights. An expensive Bus runs a shuttle to Reykjavik regularly, but a local bus route also runs to Reykjavik city via the main town of Keflavik- where I had opted to book my hotel as I had an early flight home at the end of my trip- so I took that and it saved me quite a bit of money, it was also nice to see some of the "off-beaten path" parts of Iceland the usual tourists might miss!
At the time of this flight, Icelandair had a code-share with Finnair, so I was able to add my Finnair Plus account number to my Icelandair booking and I received some 1000 Finnair Award Miles (now Avios) for my booking, albeit with no Tier Points. This service isn't offered now in 2025, but it was a cool feature in 2017!
