Is This the 'Coolest' Plane Ever? Step Into a Glacier Before you Arrive in Iceland, with Icelandair

• Icelandair guarantees the breath-taking sight of Iceland's glaciers to passengers from around the world with its new Vatnajökull plane
• The Vatnajökull plane is decorated with a beautiful, hand-painted image of the glacier from which it takes its name and also include a stunning glacier themed interior
• Vatnajökull is considered to be one of the seven natural wonders of Europe and is the largest glacier mass in Europe covering an area of over 8000 sq km
• The Vatnajökull plane demonstrates Icelandair's commitment to inspiring their guests and providing unique customer experiences, ensuring that passengers appreciate the journey as much as the destination
• The Vatnajökull plane joins Icelandair's fleet making appearances throughout the network and flying over the Atlantic Ocean every day. Book here: Icelandair.com

Transatlantic airline, Icelandair, is set to add some grandeur to the skies with the launch of its Vatnajökull glacier themed plane.

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The Vatnajökull plane is part of Icelandair's transatlantic fleet providing passengers with a guaranteed experience of the Vatnajökull glacier.

All Icelandair planes are named after Icelandic volcanoes and this special livery joins the Hekla Aurora, created in 2015 and inspired by the northern lights, as the second hand crafted piece of artwork to adorn one of their fleet. So now when you fly transatlantic or take a stopover you can explore another natural phenomenon before you even land.

Icelandair commissioned this plane as part of their celebrations for their 80^th anniversary this year. The plane is being spray painted by hand, by a team of artists; the same group who created the Hekla Aurora plane. The process of airbrushing used to create the image of the glacier is a highly unusual, skilled job that will take the team a total of 24 days to complete using 195 litres of paint. It takes 1062 litres to cover the entire plane, which is over 200 domestic size tins.

The new Vatnajökull plane also features wonderful touches of glacier magic within its interiors to replicate the experience of the Vatnajökull glacier itself. Ambient moving LED blue lighting will be installed in the main cabin; the headrests will be adorned with a beautiful ice white and brilliant turquoise design. Even the drinks trolley will be transformed into a mini ice-cave, while cups, napkins, and even sick bags will be decorated with glacier prints!

The Vatnajökull glacier is the most active in Iceland with around 60 eruptions over the last 800 years, not surprising seeing as it has three active volcanoes beneath its surface: Öræfajökull, Báròarbunga and Grímsvötn. It covers an area of 8100-8300 sq km, 8% of the country's land mass and is considered to be one of the seven natural wonders of Europe. Icelandair has been a supporter of the 'Friends of Vatnajokull' since the non-profit organisation was formed in 2009 to support research and educational activities.

Birkir Hólm Guðnason, CEO at Icelandair comments, "We can't wait to share the Vatnajökull with our passengers. Icelandair believe that travelling is one of life's great pleasures and a trip on this plane will ensure customers experience time well travelled, as they sit back and experience Iceland's most extreme elements from the comfort of their own seats."

A "Making Of" film is available to watch here: https://youtu.be/XdTbjzWdtss which captures the incredible process of painting the plane and showcases how Icelandair are committed to championing creativity to inspire and enrich their passengers.

To mark the launch of the Vatnajökull, a celebration flight took place on 13^th May 2017, where a special flight path took it over the very glacier it is named after. Have any questions about the Vatnajökull airplane? Here you can read more about this plane, see the schedule or request to fly on the Vatnajökull: http://www.icelandair.us/vatnajokull.

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Notes to Editors 

Icelandair  

Icelandair offers a unique opportunity for passengers to take a Stopover in Iceland for up to seven nights at no additional airfare.  Icelandair has encouraged passengers since the 1960s to enjoy an Icelandair Stopover and now offers the service from 28 European destinations to 18 North American cities. Icelandair also offer flights to and from Iceland to the following destinations:

Canada: Edmonton, Halifax, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver

Europe: Reykjavik, Akureyri, Aberdeen, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Belfast, Birmingham, Brussels, Frankfurt, Geneva, Glasgow, Hamburg, London, Madrid, Manchester, Milan, Munich, Paris and Zürich

Scandinavia: Bergen, Billund, Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Helsinki, Oslo, Stavanger, Stockholm and Trondheim

USA: Anchorage, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Minneapolis, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Portland, Seattle, Tampa and Washington D.C

Friends of Vatnajökull 

Icelandair is a supporter of the Friends of Vatnajökull Association. This is a non-profit organization that was founded on the 21^st of June 2009 as a funding body for Vatnajökull National Park.  The role of the association is to raise funds to support research, promotional and educational activities to ensure that as many people as possible can enjoy the natural phenomenon and the unique natural history that the National Park has to offer. You too can become a friend here or find out more: http://www.friendsofvatnajokull.is/

Icelandair Environmental Certification  

All of Icelandair Group's companies have completed a detailed environmental certification process in accordance with the ISO 14001 standard. The standard is the most widespread standard used for the integration of environmental responsibility with corporate operations. Among Icelandair Group's objectives with the certification is to reduce its carbon footprint, reduce waste through increased recycling and increase the use of environmentally sound products and services.

Icelandair has been granted second-stage certification from the international Air Transport Association (IATA); the certification is based on a detailed process that only three other airlines in the world have completed: Finnair, Latin American Airlines and South African Airways.