At about 19:47 on Sunday 27 September 2026, the little radar on my desk showed a Boeing 757-200 at 11,825 feet. The label read TF-FIN, KEF→LHR, callsign ICE454: an Icelandair flight from Keflavik to Heathrow. About eight hours earlier, at about 11:43, the same screen had shown a Boeing 767-300, registration TF-ISN, callsign ICE450, at 10,375 feet. Each label stayed up for about eight seconds, which I checked frame by frame. Both types are on their way out of Icelandair's fleet.

What Icelandair has said

In its second-quarter results on 21 July 2026, Icelandair said it had decided to phase out its Boeing 757s sooner than it originally planned, with the last aircraft scheduled to retire in January 2027. The reason it gave was the operating environment, in which fuel prices had risen significantly during the quarter. Aviation Week reported that the new date rests on a high fuel price outlook, and that Icelandair's last 767-300ERs will also leave the international network at the end of the year.

At the Routes Europe 2026 conference, Icelandair's director of network planning and scheduling, Snorri Tomasson, said the plan at the start of the year had been to fly the 757s until the end of summer 2027.

The replacements are the Boeing 737 MAX and the Airbus A320neo family. Icelandair has leased four A320neos for delivery in the first half of 2027 and says almost its whole international network will use new-generation aircraft by next summer. Published counts of how many 757s it still flies differ between sources, so I haven't given a number.

The dates, as filed

The most detailed schedule I found is AeroRoutes' report of 14 July 2026, based on Icelandair's filings as of 12 July. It shows 757 flights between Keflavik and Heathrow running until 5 January 2027, and the 767 until 4 January. The last 757 flight overall is Keflavik–Copenhagen on 6 January 2027 (FI204/205), the same day the last 767 service arrives at Keflavik from Boston.

These are schedule filings, not promises, and airlines amend them. Read them as the schedule on that date, not as a final word.

Why Heathrow

Heathrow is Icelandair's third-busiest 757 destination, with 182 flights scheduled between June 2026 and March 2027, behind Denver (432) and Oslo (310). That is Cirium data, reported by Simple Flying on 1 June 2026.

The label on my morning clip carries no route, so for the 767 I have relied on a flight-status listing. It shows FI450 landing at Heathrow at 11:53 that Sunday, and FI454, the 757's flight, at 20:03.

What the 757 was for Icelandair

Icelandair has flown 757s since 1990, according to Boeing's own announcement of an order in December 1998. The attraction was range: a narrowbody that could cross the Atlantic on routes too thin for a widebody, which suits an airline that connects Europe and North America through Keflavik. Simple Flying's account of the retirement makes the same argument. The type itself first flew on 19 February 1982 and entered airline service with Eastern Air Lines on 1 January 1983.

TF-FIN, the one on my screen, was delivered to Icelandair on 20 January 1998, so it has been with the airline for more than 28 years.

Every photograph with this story shows TF-FIN or TF-ISN, but none was taken on 27 September. Each one is labelled with its own date and place.

Have you flown Icelandair's 757 or 767 across the Atlantic?

Sources