Record traffic in the Iceland Air Traffic Control Area in August

The Reykjavik Oceanic and Area Control Center saw record breaking monthly traffic in August with a total of 13,039 aircraft transiting the area which is one of the largest and most remote in the world covering 5.4 million sq. km. The distance flown in the region by these aircraft amounts to a total of 18.6 million km. carrying up to an estimated 4 million passengers. The earlier monthly record was set in July 2011 when 12,400 aircraft transited during that month. This increase is the result of upper air wind conditions and air traffic hike on the North Atlantic and polar routes.

The Iceland Air Traffic Control Area ranges generally from the Greenwich meridian in the east to west of Greenland and from the North Pole to south of the Faroe Islands, close to Scotland, an area equivalent to most of the European land mass excluding Russia. The Icelandic Air Navigation Service Provider, Isavia, operates the Reykjavik OACC and related communications and air navigation systems where a team of about 55 air traffic controllers, 15 flight data specialists, 36 communications technicians and a number of management, technical and support staff conduct the international service. The cost of the operation is borne by the users of the service in accordance with an ICAO managed cost recovery system.

Isavia’s principal customers in the Iceland ATCA are United Airlines, Icelandair, Lufthansa, Delta Air Lines and British Airways.