Air Iceland Connect plans to cut routes and lay off staff in the coming months, RÚV reports. The airline’s CEO says the company performed poorly last year due to external conditions.
The company will discontinue flights to Aberdeen and Belfast in May. Connecting flights between Keflavík and Akureyri will also be discontinued, as well as one route to Greenland. all four routes are relatively new and represent around 7 percent of the company’s income.
Air Iceland Connect CEO Árni Gunnarsson says the cuts are due to low demand and high numbers of unsold seats. Árni did not disclose details about the layoffs but stated “it is of course connected to flight operations, so it will be pilots and in other areas. But pilots will be the most affected.”
Though the airline recently renewed their fleet, Árni says they will now look to sell or rent one of their six aircraft. He stated that although domestic demand has increased, external conditions, especially in the UK, affected the company’s performance last year. “It isn’t guaranteed that everything you attempt will work and one needs to respond to those situations. The company’s performance last year was not good but we believe with these changes which we are making the performance will improve,” he stated.
