“We have seen very positive numbers at the beginning of operations. We had a full flight on the way to Lisbon, which was the inaugural flight and it went very well”, said the official.

According to the official, “bookings are going better” than Icelandair expected, especially because it is a route that starts in the winter season and with only two flights per week, on Mondays and Fridays, even though the carrier's plans go through for maintaining flights throughout the year and for an increase in frequencies in the high season.

Icelandair flights between Lisbon and Reykjavík are operated on B737-800 MAX aircraft, with capacity for 166 passengers, including 16 SAGA Premium seats, the Icelandic airline's superior cabin.

Tomas Ingason also revealed that, at the beginning of operations, the traffic is mainly from the leisure segment and essentially point-to-point, although it is expected that, due to the code-share with TAP, which covers several routes of the Portuguese airline in America in South, Africa and Europe, as well as Icelandair in North America, corporate traffic will also be significant.

“At the beginning of operations, we have seen that the Icelandic public is showing a lot of interest in Lisbon. It is a market that is starting strong, mostly with a leisure focus, but with the code-share with TAP we also hope to have business traffic to South America, Africa because it is the most convenient way to connect both destinations. Therefore, we believe that traffic will be a mix of both”, he explained, revealing that 5% of bookings on Lisbon flights have a connection to North America.

Icelandair flights depart Lisbon at 10:30 pm and arrive in the Icelandic capital at 2 am, while in the opposite direction departures from Reykjavík take place at 4:10 pm, with flights arriving in Lisbon at 9:30 pm. The flight lasts around 4.5 hours.