Flight delays can be expected tomorrow
mbl.is/Eggert Jóhannesson
All domestic flights as well as seven Icelandair flights to Europe and the US this afternoon were cancelled due to the weather. Tomorrow’s flights will depend on how the aircraft will be able to get to Iceland today and go again this evening, but in most cases today’s international flights have been moved until later this evening.
“The handling at Keflavík International Airport is set at a maximum wind of fifty knots, fifty knots is around 25 meters per second. If the weather goes over fifty knots, it’s difficult to handle at Keflavík International Airport. Now the forecast was well over fifty knots for all of the flights unti 6 PM, so we decided to postpone flights from Europe so that it will land after 6 o’clock. Then there are the planes that were supposed to be doing our flights in the afternoon. There will be a delay because these are the same planes that are used to go to America and other destinations. This affected the American flights mostly, but there were also afternoon flights to Europe,” Icelandair’s information officer Guðni Sigurðsson told mbl.is.
In most cases, the flights were only delayed until this evening. In the case of cancellations, it was about airport slots abroad.
“There are seven trips this evening that have to be canceled due to the availability of slots at airports abroad. That’s when flights have just been closed and there are no destinations where they can be handled,” Sigurðsson stated.
The airline is in communication with passengers who are due to fly tomorrow, and he encourages travelers to keep an eye out for e-mail and SMS messages from the airline.
Tomorrow determined by how things go tonight
Tomorrow’s international flights will depend on the success of receiving and turning the aircraft this evening. However, some delays, at least during the early morning hours, are expected.
In terms of the Frankfurt incident, where a ladder truck hit an Icelandair plane, he says, it has not had a domino effect on other flights. The weather has been the key factor on the flight schedule. The effect was greatest for the passengers on board the plane, but the fixing did not take long.
