Review of Icelandair flight from Reykjavík to London in Economy

Icelandair's Boeing 767!

Icelandair has operated the Boeing 767 twice in its tenure with the aircraft. Whilst the Boeing 757 has been the definitive backbone of the Icelandair fleet since the 1990s, the Boeing 767 has been used as a member of the fleet for additional capacity on various routes from 2004-2010 before becoming a staple of the fleet from 2015 until their impending retirement in 2026.

The Boeing 767s have been regular feature on the Icelandair network at various airports where slot constraints mean the airline can't meet more demand with more Boeing 757 flights. Some of the routes the Boeing 767 has turned up as a regular site include London Heathrow, Amsterdam Schiphol, New York JFK and Toronto Pearson. As the Boeing 767 can be dual type-rated with the Boeing 757 for pilots and cabin crew, it made this a solid choice for Icelandair as they could easily use Boeing 767s to replace Boeing 757s at the last minute allowing for great flexibility.

At one point Icelandair was going to replace the Boeing 767 & some Boeing 757 with Boeing 787 Dreamliner's in the early 2010s, however in the years since the airline has opted to stay with narrow-body medium haul aircraft in the form of the Boeing 737-MAX & Airbus A321neo.

The Boeing 767 is one of my favourite aircraft, but like its stable mate, its becoming harder to fly the Boeing 767 as a passenger airliner- though cargo examples will continue to fly for years to come. I have flown the Boeing 767 many times on British Airways as well as with Delta Airlines & American Airlines in the USA, but the chance to fly an Icelandair example on my 20th Birthday back in 2017 was a great opportunity I wasn't going to pass up, especially as I got to fly the Boeing 757 for the first time a few days earlier with the same airline.

Icelandair FI450 (KEF-LHR)

I stayed at a Hotel in Keflavik town called the "Icelandic Health Hotel", also known as "Eldey Airport Hotel" and as it was not far from Keflavik Airport, it was ideal for an early morning flight back to the UK on the Boeing 767! The hotel did offer a free shuttle service, so I took the hotel up on that to save money and ensure I could get to the Airport. I got to the airport and cleared security and had a browse of the shops, I didn't have much leftover in Icelandic Kroner, so I couldn't buy anything- however I knew I was going to eat on the aircraft.

I found the gate quite easily and found my Boeing 767-300 for the day was going to be TF-ISN, this Boeing 767 has an interesting history as it was built in August 2000 for Air New Zealand as ZK-NCO, after flying for the airline until July 2007 it found itself flying for FlyGlobespan as G-CEOD until December 2009 when the airline ceased operations. A new custodian was found in the form of Kenya Airways flying the aircraft as 5Y-KYW until 2015 when it went to Icelandair who have flown it across Europe and North America as TF-ISN naming the Boeing 767 as <b style="font-style: italic;">Svörtuborgir. The aircraft is still flying for Icelandair as of the time of writing, but will likely retire in 2026, however in May 2024 it received the updated Icelandair livery which is being flown on the Boeing 737-MAX & Airbus A321neo fleets.

I boarded the Boeing 767 and made my way to the back of the aircraft as I was seated in Seat 40G, a window seat on the right hand side of the aircraft. As is standard, the economy class seats are in a 2-3-2 abreast layout. IFE Screens were provided on the Boeing 767 as they were on the Boeing 757.

It was still dark when we departed Keflavik, but as we progressed the North Atlantic heading towards the UK, it started to become daylight. I enjoyed the IFE offerings on the flight including tracking our progress from Iceland to London. My window offered a great clear view for when we got closer to land as well as a nice view of the right wing… notice in the cabin shot there are no overhead air vents on this Boeing 767!

As we flew along, I spotted another aircraft flying parallel to us also heading South towards Europe, I was only just able to get a photo of it on my phone. I think its another Icelandair aircraft but I'm not entirely sure.

The cabin crew got to the final row quite a while into the flight, which isn't surprising on a 40-Row Boeing 767. I opted to enjoy the same locally made Icelandic burger sliders, sauce dip and a Cola… it was nice, though from my research you can't get these on Icelandair in 2025/2026.

The flight passed uneventfully, however we would soon be flying over the United Kingdom, flying over Scotland and North West England before starting our descent over the Midlands as we prepared to arrive into London Heathrow. It was a nice enough day in the UK as I could see the countryside quite a bit from the aircraft and the clouds were light and scattered.

Our arrival bought us in over Central London, as you can see in this image from my GoPro I got a pretty nice shot of the River Thames with some notable landmarks including the London Eye, HMS Belfast, Canary Wharf, Tower of London, London Bridge Station as well as both London Bridge and the Millennium Bridge, you might even be able to see The Globe as well. 

Our arrival bought us in on Runway 27R, which resulted on a taxi across the Southside of London Heathrow, which provided a nice view of Terminal 4 from the right side of the aircraft as we taxied over to Terminal 2, where Icelandair has operated from at London Heathrow since March 2015 when they vacated Terminal 1 before it closed. 

I was one of the last passengers off the Boeing 767, I used this to get some last shots of the cabin as I left the aircraft as I didn't know when I'd fly Icelandair again… a good shout as I will not likely fly the Boeing 767 with the airline unfortunately.

Overall it was another good flight on Icelandair, even though I've not flown them since 2017, I am still holding out hope that I'll fly them again in the future should circumstances align. I grabbed one last photo of my Boeing 767 at the Gate before heading my way through passport control, which we were dropped off fittingly right by it!