Air China will become the sole Chinese airline to serve Iceland when it launches flights to Reykjavik later this year.
The carrier plans to introduce flights connecting Beijing Capital and Reykjavik Keflavik Airport from Oct. 26, operating three times per week via Copenhagen using Airbus A330-300 aircraft. The service will complement the Star Alliance member’s existing Beijing-Copenhagen operations, which currently run up to 11X-weekly using Airbus A350-900s.
OAG Schedules Analyser data shows Air China will continue offering daily nonstop Beijing-Copenhagen flights during the winter 2026-27 season with A350-900s, while adding the 3X-weekly Beijing-Copenhagen-Reykjavik service.
The Chinese Embassy in Iceland described the new route as a “game-changer in travel between China and Iceland, as well as between Asia and Europe.” It comes more than six years after Juneyao Air was forced to scrap plans to launch a Shanghai-Helsinki-Reykjavik service because of the pandemic.
Air China’s new route targets a market that today relies entirely on connecting itineraries. Sabre Market Intelligence data shows about 27,000 passengers traveled between mainland China and Iceland in 2025, up almost 8% from the previous year. Helsinki was the largest connecting point, handling about one-third of all passengers, followed by Frankfurt, London, Vienna and Copenhagen.
Although relatively small, the market has been supported by recovering leisure demand and growing interest among Chinese travelers in Nordic destinations. The new service will also provide passengers from Iceland with access to Air China's extensive domestic and regional network via Beijing.
The Reykjavik launch forms part of a broader expansion of Air China's European network. Analysis of OAG data shows the airline is scheduled to offer about 4.5 million seats between China and Europe during the summer 2026 season, an increase of almost 22.6% compared with summer 2025.
During summer 2026, the airline has launched new services from Beijing Capital and Chengdu to Brussels, added Beijing Daxing routes to Frankfurt and Milan Malpensa, introduced Beijing-Venice flights and in September will begin serving Bucharest and Zagreb on a one-stop service.
The growth comes as Chinese airlines continue to expand more aggressively on China-Europe routes than their European rivals, benefiting from continued access to Russian airspace while European carriers remain forced to avoid it following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
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