Port of Seattle Celebrates Icelandair Inaugural Flight To Reykjavik

The Port of Seattle welcomed Icelandair to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport with today's inaugural flight from Seattle to Reykjavik. The celebration included a champagne toast to Icelandair top management and members of the national delegation from Iceland and a traditional water salute from the Port of Seattle Fire Department.

"At a time when our economy is struggling to rebound, it's a pleasure to celebrate good economic news," said Port of Seattle Commissioner Lloyd Hara. "As the most trade dependent state in the country, welcoming Icelandair to Sea-Tac encourages and increases our potential for additional trade and tourism."

Icelandair flies an all-Boeing fleet and will serve Sea-Tac Airport with a 183-seat Boeing 757.

Icelandair will provide four flights a week, departing on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays at 4:30 p.m., and arriving in Reykjavik at 6:45 a.m. Nonstop connections through the Reykjavik hub include flights to Copenhagen, Oslo, Stavanger, Stockholm, Paris, London, Manchester, Amsterdam, Berlin, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich, Barcelona, Madrid, and more. For more information about Icelandair, fares, and packages go to www.icelandair.com. The airline has announced intentions to add a fifth flight weekly in 2010.

Port of Seattle Commissioner Lloyd Hara, John Creighton and CEO Tay Yoshitani welcomed Icelandair CEO Birkir Holm Gudnason and Iceland's Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Communication Ragnhildur Hjaltadottir.

Sea-Tac currently hosts 11 airlines to 10 international cities in Europe and Asia (London, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Reykjavik, Paris, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei, and Beijing).

Sea-Tac Airport International History
The first one-stop international flight out of Sea-Tac was in 1949 when Northwest Airlines flew to Tokyo, stopping in Anchorage. That same flight became the first non-stop international flight by going directly to Tokyo in 1963. In 1966, SAS inaugurated non-stop service to Europe. Sea-Tac was originally constructed in 1944 for use by the U.S. military. The first year of commercial flights came in 1947.