Keflavík International Airport

Keflavík International Airport Keflavíkurflugvöllur
IATA: KEF – ICAO: BIKF KEF Location of Airport in Iceland
Summary
Airport type		Public / Military
Owner/Operator		Isavia
Serves		Reykjavík, Iceland
Location		Keflavík
Hub for		Icelandair Iceland Express WOW air [begins 1 June]
Elevation AMSL		171 ft / 52 m
Coordinates		63°59′06″N 022°36′20″W
Website		www.keflavikairport.com
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	m	ft
02/20	3,054	10,020	Asphalt
11/29	3,065	10,056	Asphalt
Statistics (2010)
Passengers			1,791,143
Cargo			34,708 t
Sources: AIP Iceland at ICAA Statistics: Keflavik Airport

Keflavík International Airport (Icelandic: Keflavíkurflugvöllur) (IATA: KEF, ICAO: BIKF), also known as Reykjavík-Keflavík Airport, is the largest airport in Iceland and the country’s main hub for international transportation. It is situated 1.7 NM (3.1 km; 2.0 mi) west of Keflavík and 50 km (31 mi) south-west of Reykjavík. The airport has two runways and the airport area is about 25 km² (9.7 sq mi). Most international journeys to or from Iceland pass through this airport.

The main carriers at Keflavík are Icelandair and Iceland Express, who make the airport their main hub. The airport is only an international airport, all domestic flights are flown from Reykjavík Airport, which lies within 3 km (1.9 mi) from Reykjavík’s city centre. Keflavík Airport is operated by Isavia, a government enterprise.

History

Airport history

Exterior terminal building and sculpture, July 2010.

The airport was built by the United States military during World War II. The U.S. Army Air Forces desired an airfield at Keflavík capable of operating heavy bombers, in addition to a fighter strip. Funds were allocated in January 1942 and construction began on the fighter strip (known as Patterson Field) in May. Two runways of the fighter field were in use by July when Operation Bolero commenced. The bomber field, known as Meeks Field, was begun in July by military and civilian contractor crews, but the civilian contractor was soon relieved by the newly formed U.S. Navy construction battalions Seabees. Meek Field was dedicated on 23 March 1943 and by May stopover service for transatlantic military flights was in operation.

During the war the airport complex only served military purposes, but at war's end it became a refueling stop for the quickly developing international civil aviation crossing the Atlantic. At the withdrawal of U.S. forces in 1947, the airport was handed over to Iceland and renamed Keflavík Airport. The Airport was operated jointly by Iceland and the United States for transiting civil and military flights. U.S. forces returned to Keflavík in 1951 under the auspices of NATO and joint operation continued until 30 September 2006, when the military installation was handed over to the government of Iceland.

With the re-construction of the military base at Keflavík during the 1950s, the air terminal found itself positioned in the middle of the base. International travelers thus had to enter military check points to reach their flights for most of the time, which gave the feeling that the U.S. military controlled access to and from Iceland. This continued until 1987 when the civilian terminal was relocated. The former Agreed Military Area at Keflavík was re-designated "Airport, Security and Development Area" under the supervision of the Keflavík International Airport Ltd. (established 1 January 2009), the Icelandic Defence Agency and the Keflavík Airport Development Corporation (Kadeco), respectively. The former military encampment area (U.S. Naval Air Station Keflavik) being developed by Kadeco has been named Ásbrú to reflect its new role.

The 10,000-foot-long (3,000 m) and 200-foot-wide (61 m) runways are long enough to support NASA's Space Shuttle and also the Antonov An-225.

Terminal

The Airport has one terminal named Leifur Eiríksson Air Terminal (Flugstöð Leifs Eiríkssonar), named for Leif Ericson. It was opened in 1987 and separated the airport's civil traffic from the military base. It was later extended with the opening of the South Building in 2001 (not a separate terminal) to comply with the requirements of the Schengen Agreement. The North Building was later enlarged and finished in 2007. The terminal has duty-free stores in the departure and arrival lounges.

Airlines and destinations

Cities with direct international air links to Keflavík

Iceland Express aircraft at Keflavík

Although the population of Iceland is only about 300,000, there are scheduled flights to and from seven locations in the United States (Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis, New York, Orlando, Seattle, and Washington), three in Canada (Halifax, Toronto and Winnipeg) and 30 cities across Europe. The largest carriers at Keflavík are Icelandair and Iceland Express.

Keflavík Airport only handles international flights (except for flights to Akureyri in connection with certain Air Iceland’s flights to Greenland), domestic flights and flights to Greenland and the Faroe Islands are operated from Reykjavík’s domestic airport. When changing between domestic and international flights, a 50 km (31 mi) bus transfer is usually needed, and at least three hours time between flights is recommended.

Airlines	Destinations
Air Berlin	Seasonal: Berlin-Tegel, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart
Air Greenland	Seasonal: Nuuk
Austrian Airlines	Seasonal: Vienna
Delta Air Lines	Seasonal: New York-JFK
EasyJet	London-Luton [begins 27 March 2012]
Germanwings	Seasonal: Cologne/Bonn, Stuttgart
Iceland Express operated by Holidays Czech Airlines	Copenhagen, London-Gatwick Seasonal: Alicante [resumes 31 March 2012], Barcelona [resumes 04 June 2012], Basel/Mulhouse (resumes 09 June 2012 ), Berlin Brandenburg (begins 03 June 2012), Berlin-Schönefeld (resumes 26 March 2012 ), Billund (resumes 21 June 2012), Bologna (resumes 09 June 2012), Edinburgh (resumes 21 June 2012), Gothenburg-Landvetter (resumes 06 June 2012), Hahn (resumes 05 June 2012), Krakow (resumes 07 June 2012), London-Stansted [begins 5 June 2012], Paris-Charles de Gaulle (resumes 21 June 2012), Prague (begins 21 June 2012), Vilnius [begins 26 June 2012], Warsaw-Chopin (resumes 31 March 2012)
Icelandair	Amsterdam, Boston, Copenhagen, Denver [begins 11 May 2012], Frankfurt, Glasgow-International, Helsinki, London-Heathrow, Manchester, New York-JFK, Oslo-Gardermoen, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Seattle/Tacoma, Stockholm-Arlanda Seasonal: Barcelona, Bergen, Billund, Brussels, Gothenburg-Landvetter, Halifax, Hamburg, Madrid, Milan-Malpensa, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Munich, Orlando-Sanford, Stavanger, Toronto-Pearson, Trondheim, Washington-Dulles
Icelandair operated by Air Iceland	Seasonal: Akureyri [begins 7 June 2012]
Lufthansa	Seasonal: Berlin-Brandenburg [begins 7 June 2012], Düsseldorf, Hamburg
Niki	Seasonal: Vienna
Norwegian Air Shuttle	Oslo-Gardermoen [begins 1 June 2012]
Scandinavian Airlines	Oslo-Gardermoen, Seasonal: Stockholm-Arlanda [begins 22 June 2012]
Transavia France	Seasonal: Paris-Orly
WOW air	Alicante [begins 6 June 2012], Basel/Mulhouse [begins 16 June 2012], Berlin-Brandenburg [begins 5 June 2012], Cologne/Bonn [begins 5 June 2012], Copenhagen [begins 3 June 2012], Kaunas [begins 11 June 2012], Krakow [begins 4 June 2012], London-Stansted [begins 3 June 2012], Lyon [begins 9 June 2012], Paris-Charles de Gaulle [begins 8 June 2012], Stuttgart [begins 5 June 2012], Warsaw-Chopin [begins 4 June 2012], Zurich [begins 12 June 2012]

Cargo airlines

Airlines	Destinations
Air Atlanta Icelandic
Icelandair Cargo	East Midlands, Liège, Humberside, New York-JFK
TNT Airways	Liège, New York-JFK
UPS Airlines operated by Bluebird Cargo	Cologne/Bonn, Cork, Edinburgh

Ground transport

Transport between the airport and Reykjavik city is by road only. The distance is 50 km. A new fast freeway (dual carriageway road) was opened 2008. The buses have a timetable adapted to the flight schedule. They go to and from the Reykjavik bus terminal, taking around 45 minutes. To get to the domestic airport a bus change is needed at the bus terminal.

Controversy

The presence of foreign military forces in Iceland under the NATO sponsored Iceland–U.S. Defense Agreement of 1951 was a controversial issue in Iceland which had no indigenous military forces. During the 1960s and 1970s, rallies were held to protest the U.S. military presence in Iceland (and in particular at Keflavík) and every year protesters walked the 50 km (31 mi) road from Reykjavík to Keflavík and chanted "Ísland úr NATO, herinn burt" (literally: Iceland out of NATO, the military away). One of the participants was Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, who later became the first female President of Iceland.

External links

• Keflavík International Airport
• Keflavík International Airport (Icelandic)
• KADECO
• The Icelandic Defence Agency
• Current aviation weather for Keflavík