Icelandair is coming to Pittsburgh.
The airline will begin flying from Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) on May 16, when it launches seasonal service to its hub at Keflavik International Airport (KEF) near the Icelandic capital Reykjavik. Icelandair will fly the route four days a week with Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft until the end of October.
KEF offers connections to numerous destinations in Europe, including London, Paris, Berlin and Madrid.
Want more aviation-specific news? Sign up for TPG’s free biweekly aviation newsletter.
The route was announced as Icelandair rolled out its summer flight schedule. Also lands on Icelandair’s route map: Halifax, Nova Scotia. The airline previously flew to the Canadian airport last decade, but ended service ahead of the 2019 summer schedule.
The addition of Pittsburgh and Halifax gives Icelandair 13 seasonal or year-round destinations in the US and three in Canada.
Daily newsletter
Reward your inbox with the TPG Daily newsletter
Join over 700,000 readers for the latest news, in-depth guides and exclusive offers from the experts at TPG
For PIT, Icelandair brings a coveted second route to Europe.
PIT was home to several high-profile transatlantic routes during its days as a major hub for US Airways (now part of American). They disappeared when US Airways dropped Pittsburgh as a hub in 2004, leading to a major reduction in flights at what was once one of the nation’s busiest airports.
However, since the mid-2010s, PIT has undergone a renaissance: it has reinvented itself as an airport that focuses on local traffic rather than connecting passengers. Restoring non-stop transatlantic service became a priority for the airport, and routes slowly began to return in the mid-2010s. This was interrupted by British Airways’ return to PIT in 2019 with flights to London.
The flights to London were the only European service to remain with PIT after the peak of the pandemic, but the new Reykjavik service gives Pittsburgh a second connection. It also restores a route that was lost when now-defunct Icelandic discounter WOW Air left the market in 2019 amid wider financial problems at the airline.
“We are thrilled that a major airline that has been very successful in Europe for many, many years has now joined us in Pittsburgh,” Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said in a statement. The airport is managed by the province.
Next step for PIT: A shiny new $1 billion terminal is expected to open in 2025.
Related reading: