CLEVELAND - A month after becoming Cleveland's first airline in 20 years to offer service to Europe, Icelandair has abruptly announced they're cancelling late fall and winter flights to the tiny island nation.
Service from Hopkins to Reykjavik will end on Halloween and isn't set to resume until the end of March.
Icelandair's director of network planning, Egill Almar Agustsson, says the change was made to keep service strong and sustainable, adding that, during the summer, the percentage of full seats "was exactly where they wanted it to be."
But that's not the case for some travelers. One couple, scheduled to fly the airline in November, learned Monday that their flight was re-booked through Boston and Minneapolis. That's doubling their travel time, leaving them wondering if they want to even bother going.
Agustsson said that several of their other North American destinations, like Baltimore and Portland, already halt their routes during the winter months.
He hopes northeast Ohio's travelers will stick it out with the airline saying their intent is to make Hopkins a year-round hub, once they've built a base and awareness.
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(images courtesy Ken Robinson/WTAM 1100)