The airline making the flight part of the destination experience

The rewards of experiencing a new culture often don’t start until you have left the airport and are travelling deeper into a country. There may be a nod to a destination with crew uniforms or onboard menus, but the in-flight experience, depending on the cabin class booked, can be a pretty homogenous one.

In an effort to do things differently, Icelandair has designed its in-flight experience around Icelandic culture and natural wonders. Hjalti Jonsson, marketing manager at Icelandair, explains: “It’s important your journey with Icelandair adds to your trip. We’ve designed our in-flight features to mirror what will be further encountered upon landing. This way, the cultural journey starts as soon as you set foot on the plane.” 

TAILOR-MADE EXPERIENCE

This flight experience has been tailored in various ways. For example, individual aircraft are named after Icelandic attractions such as Vatnajokull, Europe’s largest glacier, and Pingvellir, the rift valley where the Icelandic parliament was founded in 930 AD. Different aircraft have their own original mood lighting, which varies from blue LED lighting mimicking ice caves to moving lights that create the illusion of the northern lights, seen in Iceland from September to April.