German leisure airline Condor will launch flights to Iceland for the first time. However, unlike virtually all other airlines, Condor won’t be flying to Keflavik (KEF), the country’s major international hub.
In this post:
Condor launching Akureyri & Egilsstaðir flights
Condor has announced that it will serve two destinations in Iceland as of May 2023 — Akureyri in the north of the country, and Egilsstaðir in the east of the country. Both flights will be operated by Airbus A320s.
Condor will operate once weekly flights between Frankfurt (FRA) and Akureyri (AEY). The flight will operate on Saturdays, with the following schedule:
DE1110 Frankfurt to Akureyri departing 8:45PM arriving 10:30PM
DE1111 Akureyri to Frankfurt departing 11:40PM arriving 5:10AM (+1 day)
The flight will cover a distance of 1,439 miles, and is blocked at 3hr45min westbound and 3hr30min eastbound.
Condor will operate once weekly flights between Frankfurt (FRA) and Egilsstaðir (EGS). The flight will operate on Tuesdays, with the following schedule:
DE1026 Frankfurt to Egilsstaðir departing 8:45PM arriving 10:20PM
DE1027 Egilsstaðir to Frankfurt departing 11:55PM arriving 5:10AM (+1 day)
The flight will cover a distance of 1,340 miles, and is blocked at 3hr35min westbound and 3hr15min eastbound.
What makes these Condor flights to Iceland awesome
There are a couple of things that I love about this route announcement.
First of all, can we stop for a moment and give Condor kudos for the amazing aircraft utilization here? Most of Condor’s A320 fleet can’t fly overnight, given curfews at many airports in Europe. So the airline managed to launch these routes probably with no opportunity cost when it comes to aircraft utilization. That’s pretty cool in and of itself.
Beyond that, though, it’s exciting to see Condor expanding to two airports that don’t otherwise get much service:
- Akureyri has limited international service, though an airline startup named Nice Air is based here, and is starting to offer international flights
- Egilsstaðir doesn’t have any international air service, but rather only has a turboprop flight from Reykjavik (RKV)
It’s cool to see this kind of creativity with new point-to-point routes. In fairness, this is something that Condor has long excelled at — this is the same airline that flies between Frankfurt and Whitehorse, for example.
In this case Condor is also getting incentives from both airports, which I imagine makes the decision to operate these routes even easier.
While you can book tickets directly on these flights, it’s noted that these routes are being added in response to requests from tour operators, so it sounds like that’s a main motivator for these routes. Both of these cities are located on the popular ring road, but travelers can experience that a bit differently by not starting or ending in Keflavik.
Bottom line
Condor is launching flights to Iceland for the first time. Rather than flying to Keflavik, the airline will instead fly to Akureyri and Egilsstaðir, which are two destinations that otherwise have very limited air service. It’s awesome to see Condor’s continued creativity with its destinations. Rather than just following the competition, the airline largely charts its own course.
What do you make of Condor’s new routes to Iceland?
Northern Iceland is arguably more breathtaking than the Golden Circle.
Exciting news for us in the Midwest USA! Lufthansa has just announced flights between St Louis Missouri and Frankfurt which means we can connect to Iceland.
Some cruise ships stop at the Icelandic ports where Condor wants to go. Viking cruise lines has its schedule having those stops IIRC.
Ufff … both return flights from Iceland to Germany are red eyes … with an Economy only configuration, which according to Ben’s trip report is very tight …
That livery though...
I really enjoyed Akureyri. I don't know if I would enjoy the timing of these flights though. I guess if you are joining a tour, they would hopefully arrange picking you up, getting you to a place to stay, etc. I would think trying to do this without a tour group would be very difficult. There would be limited car rental options in these towns. Places to stay there are limited too, and trying to...
I really enjoyed Akureyri. I don't know if I would enjoy the timing of these flights though. I guess if you are joining a tour, they would hopefully arrange picking you up, getting you to a place to stay, etc. I would think trying to do this without a tour group would be very difficult. There would be limited car rental options in these towns. Places to stay there are limited too, and trying to get to those places at that hour?
Also, a less than 4 hour redeye back to Germany sounds painful.
DEAR Ben,
i like it, that you still refer to CONDOR as a "German leisure airline Condor", the airline that offers by now THE most reliable flight schedule in Germany (without 5* or ANY paid star at all!) and also as of right now, has THE BEST BUSINESS CLASS of A L L German Airlines on any Widebody plane at all! (now, due to the 4 A330-200 from originally ETIHAD Airways fleet and Full Flat...
DEAR Ben,
i like it, that you still refer to CONDOR as a "German leisure airline Condor", the airline that offers by now THE most reliable flight schedule in Germany (without 5* or ANY paid star at all!) and also as of right now, has THE BEST BUSINESS CLASS of A L L German Airlines on any Widebody plane at all! (now, due to the 4 A330-200 from originally ETIHAD Airways fleet and Full Flat Beds and every seat direct isle access) . . . . try to find THAT on A N Y other German Airline now???? :-) :-)
Good Luck searching!
Yeah, of course it's NOT a member of any alliance, especially not the so called STAR Alliance (that wording as Lufthansa is part of that 5-Star Alliance a member of it, gives it a totally NEW meaning, doesn't it??? ha ha ha)
Well, CONDOR has more scheduled flights then real Charter flights and especially to the US, it's not a leisure airline anymore with a network with more flights and destainations then any other US Airline to Germany does offer.
In terms of Alliance, to earn AS Miles for CONDOR DE flights (except Cuba flights) that's pretty amazing and FAR from a leisure airline!
You should re-think if not your childhood airline should be re-named in your ranking??
Hi Ben, the government of Iceland offers incentive fees for both airports. That’s why Condor flies there soon.
As per Isavia’s website:
“ Isavia offers incentive schemes for Akureyri International Airport in the North and Egilsstadir International Airport in the East.”
Akureyri has been on my list for a very long time, whales in the summer are a must see.
Both destinations are great.
Akureyri has nice hot springs.
Best part: zero Americans!
:-) :-) :-) . . . wishful thinking!!!
It's like Indiands, those Americans (US Americans) are all over by now!
The 1990's have passed!
I was there 4 years ago and loads of US Tourists (mostly older ones) were there!
. . . . so don't get too crazy about it.