Icelandair carries 439,000 passengers in October 2026 with record 86.1% load factor after capacity cut

Icelandair carried 439,000 passengers in October 2026, 5% fewer than a year earlier, but filled 86.1% of its seats, the highest load factor it has ever recorded for the month, Icelandair Group said on 6 November 2026.

Capacity, measured in available seat kilometres, was cut by 7% year on year. The airline attributes this to a reduced schedule and an accelerated phase-out of older aircraft in response to significantly higher fuel prices. Passengers travelling to Iceland fell 8%, those travelling from Iceland fell 2% and connecting passengers fell 6%, while domestic passengers rose 3%. Connecting travellers made up 38% of the total. On-time performance improved by 3.2 percentage points to 84.5%. Flights to Tromsø in northern Norway began in October as a new winter destination.

"Icelandair's passenger numbers decreased slightly year-on-year, but as we have previously announced, we adjusted our capacity in response to significantly higher fuel prices," said president and chief executive Bogi Nils Bogason, adding that the airline had at the same time set a record load factor.

The release does not give a winter outlook or say whether the reduced schedule will continue in the coming months. Passengers with bookings to Iceland or across the North Atlantic via Reykjavík should check their itineraries directly with the airline.