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Egilsstaðir Airport (BIEG/EGS) is the principal airfield of East Iceland, sited on the Egilsstaðanes peninsula on the banks of Lagarfljót lake between the towns of Egilsstaðir and Fellabær. It offers a single long, lit hard-surface runway with ILS, making it an important diversion field for Keflavík and a useful VFR and IFR destination for pilots exploring the eastern fjords and highlands.
Egilsstaðir Airport serves the town of Egilsstaðir and the wider Austurland region of eastern Iceland. It is operated by Isavia and is the main gateway to East Iceland, handling domestic scheduled services, medical and emergency flights, charters and general aviation. For a visiting sim pilot it is notable both for its long instrument runway, well beyond what its traffic levels might suggest, and for its role as a designated diversion airport for Keflavík International Airport, some 415 kilometres to the southwest.
The airport lies on the Egilsstaðanes peninsula on the banks of the Lagarfljót lake, roughly midway between the town of Egilsstaðir and the smaller settlement of Fellabær, and directly on Route 1, Iceland's ring road. It sits close to the eastern highlands and within easy reach of the Eastfjords towns of Seyðisfjörður, Reyðarfjörður, Eskifjörður, Neskaupstaður, Stöðvarfjörður and Fáskrúðsfjörður, all under an hour away by road. Air traffic in the area is worked by Reykjavík Area Control.
The field has a single physical runway, 03/21, 6,035 feet long with a hard (asphalt) surface. It is lit for night operations and equipped with an ILS on runway 03.
Reykjavík ACC provides area control on 119.7 MHz. Aerodrome flight information (AFIS) is provided on 119.4 MHz, callsign RDO. The runway 03 approach is served by an ILS.
The airport is a prominent landmark in its own right, occupying the Egilsstaðanes peninsula on the shore of Lagarfljót lake, with the town of Egilsstaðir just to one side and Fellabær to the other, and Route 1 running alongside the field.
A gravel runway was first laid at Egilsstaðir in 1951 and was fitted with runway lighting in 1954. On 23 September 1993 a new, lengthened asphalt runway was opened on the opposite side of the terminal, replacing the original gravel strip. The terminal building itself dates from 1968, was substantially rebuilt and expanded between 1987 and 1999, and gained a new arrivals hall in 2007. The airport has repeatedly served as an emergency diversion field for Keflavík; during the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull volcanic eruption it received many flights diverted because of ash-related air traffic control restrictions elsewhere in Icelandic airspace. It has also seen intermittent international services, including a Copenhagen route with Iceland Express in 2007 and Discover the World charters from London Gatwick in late 2016, and Condor briefly planned a Frankfurt service for 2023 before cancelling it two months ahead of launch, citing weak demand.
Egilsstaðir remains one of only four airports in Iceland meeting the requirements for international flights and is open around the clock. Icelandair operates the only current scheduled service, linking the field with Reykjavík, while the airport also supports medical, emergency, charter and general aviation traffic for the whole of East Iceland. Despite its international designation and port-of-entry status, it had no scheduled international flights as of 2024.
