Iceland: Proposal to build new domestic airport in Hvassahraun

NordenBladet – This weekend, the city of Reykjavík and the Icelandic government signed a contract that will begin an investigation into potentially opening a new domestic airport in Hvassahraun. According to RÚV, each party will invest 100 million ISK to study if the location is appropriate for the project.

The report created in this agreement revealed moving domestic flights to the Keflavík airport is currently impossible so it would make more sense to build an entirely new domestic one. In reaction to this news, Icelandair’s CEO, Bogi Nils Bogason, said he believed domestic and international airports must be in the same place. In an interview with Vísir, he discussed the complexity of the situation. “It is very difficult to make the decision to invest in brand new projects while we are investing in other projects simultaneously,” he explained.

The Icelandair group also emphasised how costly it would be to run two airports and urged the creation of but one airport with both domestic and international destinations, which would distribute tourists more evenly throughout the country. They hope this would create, “an opportunity to make an airport in Iceland the centre of West Nordic flight connections.” That said, the reports from the city and the Icelandic government do not indicate any desire to add international destinations to this Hvassahraun airport.

The Minister of Transport, Sigurdur Ingi Jóhannsson, agreed that even though the Keflavík airport could currently handle the 19 million people it received this year, it is necessary to consider the possible growth of those numbers. “If we aim for the number of passengers to grow to 30-35 million in the next 30-40 years, then maybe within 10 years we need to decide what is going to be done. Then, Hvassahraun will come in handy,” he said.

While currently the domestic airport is located in central Reykjavík, the international airport operates in Keflavík, which is about 50 km away from the capital. Hvassahraun, in contrast, is just 20 km outside of Reykjavík.