Last year, Southwest Airlines
announced it would partner with Icelandair
to connect passengers from across its network to Iceland and beyond. The airline previously revealed it would launch the partnership with connections at Baltimore/Washington International and has now revealed that Denver and Nashville will also serve as network connection points.
Thrice as nice
The two airlines signed a Memorandum of Understanding on a strategic partnership last year. This partnership will allow customers to easily connect between the two airlines’ networks, with sales and travel through Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport
(BWI) launching next month. Speaking to Simple Flying last year, Icelandair officials confirmed that the partnership is vital to expanding the carrier’s reach across the United States.
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Simple Flying sat down with Chief Operating Officer Tómas Ingason to discuss the carrier’s links with Southwest, Emirates, Air Greenland, and more.
While Icelandair has existing partnerships with JetBlue and Alaska Airlines, the Southwest Airlines partnership represents an opportunity to bring passengers from across the US to Iceland, thanks to Southwest’s significant domestic presence, with Icelandair’s Director for North America, Grimur Gislason, telling Simple Flying:
“We have pretty much covered the West Coast with the Alaska Airlines partnership, and East Coast is JetBlue. We needed that Middle-South of America for which we didn’t have connections. Southwest was kind of that final piece of the puzzle that we needed to be able to do that.”
Photo: Icelandair
Southwest Airlines is the largest domestic carrier in the US in terms of passenger volume, edging out American Airlines for the top spot.
Thrice as nice
As of yesterday, January 15th, the two airlines confirmed they are expanding the partnership to two new airports: Nashville, Tennessee, and Denver, Colorado. Simple Flying first predicted those would be the next two cities last month at the sidelines of Icelandair’s Airbus A321LR delivery.
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Icelandair’s Director for North America speaks to Simple Flying in an interview on the sidelines of the carrier’s first A321LR delivery in Reykjavík.
The additions will open new and exciting possibilities for customers of both airlines this summer, who will then be able to travel via Baltimore, Nashville, and Denver onwards to Iceland and Europe. Meanwhile, Europeans will be able to travel from Iceland to Southwest’s extensive network via the three gateways. Tómas Ingason, Icelandair Chief Commercial Officer, noted how exciting the partnership is for the airline:
“We are very excited to have formalized our partnership with Southwest and honored to be chosen as Southwest’s first airline partner. The partnership will open new and exciting connections for our customers onwards with Southwest to numerous destinations in North America, and at the same time, their customers will benefit from our extensive connections to Iceland and Europe.
“We welcome Southwest to our strong partnership portfolio in the US and ever-growing group of partner airlines and look forward to working together in offering our customers smooth and enjoyable travel experiences.”
Photo: Icelandair
Icelandair’s seasonal flights from Nashville International Airport
(BNA) to Reykjavík’s Keflavik International Airport
(KEF) start on April 10th, 2025. The flights will be operated by a Boeing 737-800 MAX aircraft, which seats 16 passengers in Saga Premium and 144 in economy. The flight will last around 7 hours and operate four days a week: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday.
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Icelandair’s new service has been brought forward by about four weeks.
The route was so successful before it even launched that the airline brought forward the debut to meet passenger demand. From Nashville, passengers can connect to around 60 destinations.
Beginning in March, Southwest will start flying from Music City to Indianapolis International Airport (IND), Mexico’s Los Cabos International Airport (SJD), and Punta Cana Airport (PUJ) in the Dominican Republic.
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Nonstop flights to five foreign cities and fourteen domestic destinations are coming to Music City this year.
The agreement will also cover connections through Denver International Airport
(DEN), another focus city for Southwest Airlines. Icelandair began service at DEN in May 2012 and has consistently carried nearly 10% of Denver-Europe passengers in the years since.
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The low-cost carrier has become an important player in the Mile High City.
Passengers can connect onto any of the 85 routes Southwest currently operates from Denver. Ryan Green, Southwest Airlines Executive Vice President & Chief Transformation Officer, noted the partnership will improve experiences for customers:
“It’s fitting for us to launch this chapter of industry-standard airline partnerships with our longtime friends, Icelandair.
“Beyond an ability to offer each other’s Customers access to new destinations and like-minded travel experiences centered around hospitality and value, we’re grateful to have been guided by their expertise and best practices in building our program.”
Passengers will also be able to connect through Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, as previously announced. Starting June 5th, Southwest will add nonstop transcontinental flights between BWI Marshall and six west coast markets: Long Beach (LGB), Ontario (ONT), Portland (PDX), San Francisco (SFO), San Jose (SJC), and Seattle (SEA).