Did you know Keflavík Airport only passed into Icelandic ownership in 1986?

Iceland's main international gateway has its roots in military aviation. According to Keflavík Airport's own history page, ownership of the former Allied military airports at Reykjavík and Keflavík passed to Iceland in 1986, and the Leif Eiriksson Air Terminal opened the following year with about 23,000 square metres of floor space.

Growth soon put pressure on that building. By the mid-1990s the terminal had reached its capacity, partly because Iceland's full Schengen membership required passengers inside and outside the area to be kept apart. A 17,000-square-metre South Building opened on 25 March 2001, and a further 14,000-square-metre extension, formally opened in April 2007 on the terminal's 20th anniversary, brought the terminal to 56,000 square metres.

The page also records the spring of 2010, when the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull lasted more than a month and its ash cloud closed airspace over the North Atlantic and many European countries for five days; tourism grew rapidly afterwards. More recent works include taxiway Mike, 1,200 metres long and 35 metres wide, opened in summer 2023, and a new baggage hall with three claim belts.

The airport's development plan looks 25 years ahead, to 2045, and is reviewed every five years, so the terminal keeps changing. Passengers should check the airport's current information on gates and facilities before travelling.