Icelandair retires a third of its B757-200 fleet

Icelandair (FI, Reykjavik Keflavik) has announced that it sold three B757-200s to an undisclosed buyer for cargo conversions and that it resolved to part-out a further four units of the type, thus cutting its fleet of the B757s by nearly a third. The Icelandic flag carrier said that it sold TF-FIS (msn 26245), TF-FIT (msn 26245), and TF-LLX (msn 29311) for a total of USD21 million. The first two aircraft were retired in March 2020 and are currently stored at Reykjavik Keflavik and Kelowna, respectively, while the last of the trio was active through the end of August 2020 and continues to be used for sporadic revenue services, last on October 7, 2020. “This transaction shows that the B757 aircraft still has considerable value after long-lasting service for the Company and continues to be operated for years to come. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Company has excess aircraft in storage despite the sale of these three aircraft which will be ready to operate when travel restrictions will be lifted and demand for air travel increases again,” President and Chief Executive Bogi Nils Bogason said. Meanwhile, Marketing Coordinator Sigrún Össurardóttir told Icelandic aviation blog Flugblogg that TF-ISL (msn 25295), TF-ISY (msn 24594), TF-FIJ (msn 25085), and TF-ISF (msn 24595) would be ferried to the United States for part-out. The first of the quartet was flown to Kansas City Int’l on October 8, Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows, while the other three remain at Keflavik airport. According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, Icelandair currently operates twenty-three B757-200s, a number set to dwindle to 16 following the phase-out of the seven units. The airline owns all of these aircraft. It also owns two B757-300s and dry-leases one B757-200(PF) from Castlelake and one B757-200(PCF) from FLY Leasing. Icelandair was planning to replace its B757s with a fleet of B737 MAX aircraft prior to the type’s grounding and the pandemic. While it has five B737-8s and one B737-9 on the ground and awaits deliveries of a further six Boeing narrowbodies, Icelandair has repetitively suggested that it might also place an order for Airbus long-range narrowbodies going forward.