Those looking to take a trip out of Edmonton have another option when it comes to destinations.
The Edmonton International Airport announced Tuesday Icelandair will begin regularly scheduled flights between Edmonton and Reykjavik.
Officials say it will make trips to Europe more convenient for Albertans.
“I think one of the things we’ve lacked and people have complained about is not having international service and having to go to other cities in order to deliver the service we should have in our city,” said Mayor Stephen Mandel. “We’re well over a million people, we service all of northern Canada and so I think it’s important to have that service to make our airport more complete and this is one piece of the puzzle.”
The service will be offered on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Flights are expected to take about six and a half hours with room for 183 passengers.
“We believe we will offer very competitive flight service in terms of price and value for money,” promised Senior VP of Marketing for Icelandair Helgi Már Björgvinsson.
From Reykjavik, travellers can get to more than 20 destinations across Europe. Airport officials say it will save one to nearly six hours in travel time by going through Iceland instead of cities in North America.
“We’ve been going after continental Europe for quite some time and looking at how we get better connections to Scandinavia in to continental Europe,” said President and CEO of Edmonton Airports Reg Milley.
Beyond convenience, some believe the flights will boost the provincial economy.
“There’s a whole new sort of marketplace of potential tourist customers that could come to Alberta and see what we have to offer,” asserted Alberta Minister of Tourism Dr. Richard Starke.
The service will begin in March 2014.
With files from Ashely Molnar
