The first scheduled passenger service between China and Iceland began operation on Monday, with the inaugural flight landing safely in the Icelandic capital.
Flight CA807, operated by Air China, arrived at Keflavik International Airport on Monday morning after a 15-hour journey. The airport welcomed the flight with a water salute, the highest traditional honor in civil aviation.
"To our knowledge, this route is not only the first scheduled passenger service between China and Iceland, but also the only such service currently in operation connecting East Asia and Southeast Asia to Iceland," said Li Dong, deputy director of Air China's Commercial Committee. The new route departs from Beijing, stops over in Copenhagen, Denmark, and finally arrives in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland. Passengers can enjoy through-ticketing and direct baggage transfer services, greatly enhancing travel convenience.
"Before this route was launched, we had to buy tickets for two separate flight segments. First, in terms of ticket prices, it greatly reduces our travel costs; second, it also shortens our travel time," said He Yanjun, a passenger on the flight. Reykjavik, as Iceland's political, economic, cultural, and transportation hub, is also an important aviation transit point between continental Europe and North America. In recent years, as people-to-people exchanges between China and Iceland have grown increasingly close, exchanges and cooperation between the two sides in areas such as tourism, trade and the economy, green energy, and polar research have continued to deepen. The launch of the new route is also expected to bring new opportunities for cooperation between the two countries.
"This is very important for Iceland because we are now seeing for the first time a direct link between Iceland and Asia. We see that the Chinese tourists come in the wintertime to see the Northern Lights. And that is exactly the most important time of the year for us to invite the guests from China to Iceland. It can bring a lot of exciting opportunities. One of the most important one that I see is the export of Icelandic seafood to China because now we can bring fresh Icelandic seafood into the Chinese market within 24 hours," said Petur Oskarsson, CEO of Business Iceland.
First scheduled China-Iceland passenger flight service starts operation
