Departure
93%
vs 95% ▼ 2
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Keflavík International Airport is Iceland's principal gateway, lying on the Reykjanes Peninsula close to the town of Keflavík and about 50 km southwest of Reykjavík. Operated by Isavia and serving as Icelandair's main hub, it offers two long, ILS-equipped runways that make it a straightforward and interesting stop for simulator pilots flying North Atlantic or transatlantic routes.
Keflavík International Airport (BIKF/KEF) is the largest airport in Iceland and the country's principal hub for international air transport, handling almost all scheduled international traffic in and out of the country. It is operated by the state enterprise Isavia and serves as the main hub for Icelandair, with numerous other carriers also using the field. For a simulator pilot, Keflavík is notable both for its exposed North Atlantic setting on the Reykjanes Peninsula and for its origins as a wartime military airfield, giving it long, substantial runways more typical of a strategic base than a conventional civil airport.
The airport sits on the Reykjanes Peninsula in southwest Iceland, about 3 km west of the town of Keflavík in Reykjanesbær and roughly 50 km southwest of the capital, Reykjavík. It is entirely separate from Reykjavík Airport, the smaller domestic field within the city itself, which handles Iceland's internal air services while Keflavík is reserved for international flights.
Keflavík has two physical runways, each over 9,900 feet in length. Runway 10/28 measures 10,018 ft and runway 01/19 measures 9,992 ft; both are hard-surfaced, lit, and equipped with ILS on every published direction, reflecting the field's origins as a major military airbase and its continuing role as an international hub capable of handling the largest airliners.
Air-to-ground communication is available on 131.9 MHz. Approach and Departure are combined on 119.3 MHz, Tower operates on 118.3 MHz, and Ground on 121.9 MHz. ATIS is broadcast on 128.3 MHz, with Base Operations (PMSV/METRO) on 125 MHz and an operations frequency on 129 MHz. All four runway directions are served by ILS, supporting precision approaches in the often marginal North Atlantic weather typical of the Reykjanes Peninsula.
The airfield was constructed by United States forces during the Allied occupation of Iceland in the Second World War, replacing a small British landing strip at nearby Garður. Two separate airfields were built almost simultaneously some 4 km apart: Patterson Field, which opened in 1942 despite being incomplete and was named for a young pilot who died in Iceland, and Meeks Field, which opened on 23 March 1943 on the site of today's airport and was named after another pilot, George Meeks, who died at the Reykjavík airfield. Patterson Field closed after the war, while Meeks Field and its surrounding structures passed to Icelandic control and were renamed Naval Air Station Keflavik. A passenger terminal was built in 1949 by the Lockheed Overseas Aircraft Service, initially used mainly for troop transport and transatlantic technical stops rather than civilian traffic, since Icelandair and Loftleiðir were then based at Reykjavík Airport. In 1951 the United States military returned under a defence agreement signed with Iceland on 5 May that year, a presence that proved politically controversial and prompted annual protest marches along the 50-kilometre road from Reykjavík to Keflavík. Civil aviation shifted decisively to Keflavík during the 1960s and 1970s as Loftleiðir and Icelandair introduced larger aircraft, the Canadair CL-44 from 1964 and Iceland's first jet, a Boeing 727, from 1967, both considered too large for the shorter runway at Reykjavík Airport. By the 1970s almost all international traffic had transferred to Keflavík. The original terminal lay within the military base, requiring travellers to pass through military checkpoints, until a new civilian terminal with separate access was completed in April 1987 on the airport's north side and named Leif Erikson after the Norse explorer.
Keflavík remains Iceland's principal international airport and the main hub for Icelandair, with international flights concentrated here while domestic services continue to operate from Reykjavík Airport in the city. The airport is operated by Isavia and continues to be served by a substantial number of airlines linking Iceland to destinations across North America and Europe.
