Icelandair (FI, Reykjavik Keflavik) has announced it took delivery of its first B737-8, TF-ICE (msn 44353), on Thursday, March 1, 2018. The twinjet will shortly be ferried to Reykjavik Keflavik for cabin fitment with 16 business and 144 economy class seats. Once done, it will be deployed into revenue service on March 30 with Berlin Tegel flights.
The Icelandic carrier has a total of sixteen B737 MAX on order from Boeing (BOE, Washington National) with options for a further eight. Of the firm ordered jets, three MAX 8s are due in 2018 while in 2019, another three will arrive alongside the first three B737-9s. In 2020, two MAX 8s and three MAX 9s are due followed by the remaining one MAX 8 and one MAX 9 in 2021.
"The arrival of the new aircraft represents a milestone, the start of the renewal of our fleet which is an exciting undertaking for Icelandair," Björgólfur Jóhannsson, President and CEO Icelandair, said in a statement. "The MAX will be an excellent addition to our fleet of Boeing 757s and 767s and increase both flexibility and capacity for the growth of our network, through added frequencies and new destinations."
In the longterm, Icelandair intends to exploit the MAX's range to develop new destinations in North America and Europe. The aircraft will also offer new possibilities for increased flight frequencies and an increased number of destinations, particularly in the wintertime, which will even out the seasonal fluctuations in the carrier's operations.
