Flights Between Cleveland And Iceland Are All About Opportunity: Greater Cleveland Partnership

CLEVELAND, OH — It might have seemed odd when two airlines from Iceland separately announced earlier this week that they each would begin offering flights to and from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. What, in the world, lured Icelandair and Wow Air to start offering direct flights to Cleveland

To Joe Roman, CEO and president of the Greater Cleveland Partnership, it makes sense: It’s all about competition and opportunity. First, he said, the two airlines did not want the other to get ahead of the other, and be the only airline to offer flights to Europe.

Secondly, Roman said, it’s a great opportunity for consumers in Cleveland, especially if they like the idea of stretching their legs at an interesting halfway point to Europe.

If travelers want to fly to London or Paris or elsewhere, they won’t have to take a short flight to another U.S. airport before climbing on an 8- or 10-hour flight. Instead, they can grab a 4-hour flight to Reykjavik, Iceland, where they have connecting options to dozens of European destinations.

And, Roman added, it’s a two-way thing. “Maybe we have things to offer in Cleveland that the people in Europe, as well as Iceland, will benefit from,” he said. Among them, the Cleveland Clinic, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, and the city’s other notable arts and cultural attractions.

Both airlines are to begin offering their flights next May. Icelandair announced on Tuesday it would offer its flights to Reykjavik four times each week. From Rekjavik, the capital city of Iceland, travelers can get connecting flights to 25 cities elsewhere in Europe.

On Wednesday, low-fare carrier Wow Inc. announced it, too, would offer four flights a week between Reykjavik and Cleveland as part of its expansion into the midwestern United States. Like Icelandair, Wow offers connections to 32 cities across Europe.

Cleveland Hopkins has not had direct flights to Europe since 2009, when Continental Airlines ended its regular flights from Cleveland to London and Paris.

Hopkins—and thereby travelers—also suffered a dramatic loss of flights in and out of Cleveland when United Airlines pulled its hub operations out of the airport in 2014. United and Continental Airlines merged in 2010.

Roman noted that although the number of flights offered by United declined, Cleveland travelers’ needs for flight did not decline. Thus, an opportunity was created for other carriers, such as Icelandair and Wow, to come to town.

Image by Associated Press