Icelandair has announced they expect to increase their current fleet size from 33 to 50 aircrafts by 2025. This will replace the airline’s currently aging fleet of Boeing 757 aircrafts with the newer Boeing 737 MAX 8 and 737 MAX 9’s; currently Icelandair has 26 of these on order.
In Icelandair’s first quarterly briefing, the airline stated they are considering the best way to speed up their replacement strategy of the airline’s aircrafts – most likely due to the airline being impacted by the grounding of Boeing 737 MAX worldwide. The Icelandic airline currently has three 737 MAX aircrafts in their fleet, thus the grounding impacted their first quarter results. The grounding cost them around $3 million.
In the briefing, the Icelandic airline announced it’s considering purchasing Airbus A321neos – which they would have along with the 737s. The carrier also stated they may consider fully transitioning to an all-Airbus fleet later on. Icelandair mainly serves North America and Europe, so the A321neo could easily reach the airline’s current destinations from Iceland.
Over the last few years Icelandair has struggled financially due to an increase in competition on the North Atlantic market, but it was also impacted by a decrease in revenue and lease income. The Icelandic carrier also announced earlier this year that it would be split in 4 separate divisions after reporting a $55 million loss.