On 1 May 2009, we move our London base from Stansted to Gatwick.
It’s been a great six years at London Stansted. But on 1 May 2009 Iceland Express moves its London operations to Gatwick airport.
The reason is partly operational — our sister company Astraeus is based there — and partly passengerial (and yes, we know that’s not a real word).
Basically, what it means is that our passengers will be a little bit closer to central London. The Gatwick Express takes around 30 minutes to Victoria Station, about 15 minutes less than the Stansted Express takes to Liverpool Street. And if anyone is using London as a stepping stone on the way to or from Iceland there are lots and lots of good connections at Gatwick.
We think it’s a smart move. What about you? Comments are open — tell us what you think.
79 Comments
First, passengerial? Well, it is a real word now. And since Google throws out a total of 44 hits for it, it’s more or less certified.
Second: there’s one low-cost airline to London from my airport and it’s flying to.. Stansted. There goes my cheap fast way to Iceland. I’ll survive.
From Spain there are more connections to Stansted than Gatwick. It’s going to be a pain in the neck
Fine by me. Just depends where you live in the UK. For Icelanders not familiar with Gatwick I can say, in my experience, it’s normally a bit better than Stansted crowding and queueing wise.
Same flight departure times ?
There are some good connections from Gatwick for people coming from Iceland, Florida, Dubai for example.
Hope to see more people from Iceland in Brighton now !
This is absolutely awful, my family and I are devastated.
Stansted is a large, modern, clean, well-equipped and fantastically easy to use airport; it also happens to be on our side of London so, via the M11, it’s straightforward to get to.
Gatwick on the other hand is vastly over-crowded and a real pain to get to with two small children and lots of luggage (across Central London, changing trains along the way at least twice).
We live in hope the Iceland Express services will return to Stansted very soon!
Oh well, another company just interested in serving the South East of England. For the rest of us living north of London it just means a nightmare trip through central London or worse yet round the M25. It just managed to make you a whole lot harder to use than that other airline that goes out from Heathrow and Manchester to Iceland!
Well, you can’t please everyone. We’ve used Stansted three times now for Keflavik, and it just gets easier. Driving from the North of the UK, access/parking/getting home again is a doddle. Think I might be looking at Smyril Line next time :-(
Brilliant! Gatwick has much better UK ground connections than Stansted, more variety of routes into London, and an enormous network of flight connections.
Is Iceland Express planning an advertising campaign in Brighton (which is closer to Gatwick than is London)? The local tourist office might well be interested in marketing Brighton to Icelanders. Drop me an email if you are interested.
I think it is a big mistake. Gatwick is a pain in the ass for anything except London or the south. The airport is horrible and the passport queues bad.
Stansted just introduced passport Chip readers for quick entry and the Fasttrack always works well.
Oh well, I’m afraid I won’t be using you guys anymore :(.
If you are going to Gatwick then please open another route to the North of London for the rest of the population - Birmingham for instance.
Oh Nooooooooo !!!
I hate Gatwick with a vengeance !!!
Stansted is so much less crowded and more hospitable too !
It will be interesting to see if your passenger numbers fall off after May 1st ?
Awful idea - flying from Newcastle to Stansted and then on to Iceland was great and we did it a lot. We will not be able to do that now except, I presume, at great cost. Getting to Victoria is a pain from the NE.
Goodbye Iceland Express it’s been nice travelling with you.
The move to Gatwick. Absolutely great for me, couldn’t be better. I live in Surrey so not very far from Gatwick. Have always wanted to go back to Iceland and will do so now.
I’m afraid not good for me, nor for most other people travelling from the rest of Europe
This is very bad news for my family, as Stansted is our ‘local’ airport. Not only is it infinitely more pleasant than Gatwick, but so much more convenient. Looks like we may have to go back to Icelandair and Heathrow. Not looking forward to it, much prefer Iceland Express.
What a shame. Unless you live South of London this now makes getting to your airport a nightmare. Gatwick is complete sod to use compared with Stansted and this move will add at about two hours of traveling time by road for anyone not based south of the river. The idea of getting to Gatwick by public transport across London with luggage is just unthinkable. Train, escalators,tube,escalators,train,escalators arrrgghhhhhh!!!
I hope I’m wrong but I really think you are going to see passenger number drop significantly. Good luck
I’m afraid I come down on the ‘please don’t do it’ side of the fence (as I twittered a few months back). I live in Suffolk and when I discovered flights to Iceland from my local airport I was pleased.
I’m flying with Iceland Express for the first time next month but I fear it may also be my last. The extra costs of getting to Gatwick certainly mean it isn’t the no-brainer decision it was when I found you flying out of Stansted.
what a shame for us in the north.its bad enough that our own goverment never looks above London without the Icelanders doing the same.
its back to Icelandair for me.
the battle to access Gatwick will be to much for me and my customers
PLEASE Rethink your decision to change bases from Stansted to Gatwick!! I have used Iceland Express to get to Keflavik since you started flying to London and I am so dissapointed as Gatwick is simply to far and too expensive and tedious to get to from HERTS. I am going to have to travel from Heathrow with Icelandair from now on wich I find very dissapointing!!
Sad move, Iceland Express. One less passenger for you. How many of your UK passengers do you really think live in London or south of London??? Certainly not me, or most of the people writing here. Stansted was so convenient for the rest of us living in the UK. Please come back. I won’t be going to Gatwick!
I have used your service from Stansted to Iceland on a couple of occations, and was planning to do so again in June/July this year.
I would much prefer you to stay at Stansted. I live in Colchester and can catch the direct airport bus to Stansted. To get to Gatwick I have first to get the train to Liverpool Street station, then the tube, then the train to Gatwick, at least doubling my costs of getting to the airport.
The transport and cost of getting to Gatwick is the same as getting to Heathrow, so next time I might as well travel by Iceland Air!
Why! Why! Why! We’ll be half the way to France driving from north of London down to Gatwick. Heathrow looks all right now and so does Icelandair. We’ll miss you from Stansted.
What a bad move! Your decision makers are not fit for purpose, equal to Icelandic Politcians and Banks. Business travel to Iceland I make four times a year and by your move it is no longer attractive.
I hope Easy Jet are allowed an Iclandic slot departing Stansted. Everything does not evolve around London.
Sorry to echo many other comments-but like most of the other posters I live NORTH of London-in Cambridgeshire and Stanstead is fairly local to me. Gatwick is the worst airport you could choose. It means a horrid journey round the M25 and hugely expensive parking-Heathrow would be preferable as it is a least nearer and north of the river-have you ever tried to use the Dartford crossing at rush hour??
Absolutely brilliant !!
London Stansted is about as far from London as you can place an airport situated in ‘London’….
Finally finally Ice Express have come to their senses.
Believe it or not there are many people who live South of the city who regularly fly to Iceland!
Never again will we and family have to encounter that extortionate and never ending expedition by National Express coach to STN (via LHR) or the overpriced fares asked for by Iceair out of Heathrow..
Gatwick is closer to central London, has better connections internationally, better shopping, hotels etc etc the list goes on so bye bye Stansted you will not be missed on my part.
A very warm welcome to ‘London’Gatwick Iceland Express!!
Stop all this negativity!!
Very warm welcome to Gatwick Iceland Express.
I was not happy to see that IcelandExpress is moving to Gatwick. The onward connections to Rome(Ciampino, not Fiumicino) are more convenient through Stansted. It will make me think twice about using you.
I have just booked my last flight with Iceland Express this minute, I like many others live in the North of England and I’m devastated that the airline is moving to Gatwick, the choice of airport could not have been worse, and like always there is only thought for Londoners or the people that live in the south of England that already have got Heathrow and Icelandair, for us this means long difficult and expensive train journeys and is just not going to happen so good bye Iceland Express it has been nice travelling with you for the last 6 years but now the journey has come to an end for me and my family
Wow, what a lot of comments.
Sounds like Iceland Express had better add some flights from Birmingham ? / Manchester ? / Teesside ?. . . or anyway somewhere oop Northish.
I have flown with iceland express several times since they launched. I love Stansted, its small (By International standards) and compared with Gatwick a joy to use. great conection of the M11 for us people from the north.
Would I use Gatwick? never never never!!!!!!you have just lost another loyal customer.aghhhhhhh
Stanstead is a far better airport… and very convenient for us who live in North London. Hop off Stanstead Express in Tottenham Hale and you are already connected to the Victoria Line. I´m going to Iceland in May and for the first time in many years booked my ticket with Icelandair.
Love Iceland, love Iceland Express, hate the switch from Stanstead to Gatwick. Stansted has easier access, has cheaper long stay car parking, has direct rail link, has less congested motorway link, avoids travelling around London on M25, shorter lines for security checks etc etc Sorry but bad decision driven by operations I guess? Never a good idea to have accountants taking a hand in marketing strategy.
This is fantastic news! Bring on Gatwick airport! Much much better than Stanstead!
Very pleased and I shall be using Icelandexpress again now that you are going to be flying from LGW.
Finally a low cost link to Iceland for those of us down south.
Iceland Express for Gatwick
This is a terrible destination to move too this horrible airport!!!. It maybe ok for people who want to visit over priced and over hyped London but for the rest of us who have the pleasure of not living in dirty London its a nightmare!!. Does Iceland express think that the world stops north of London?. Icelandair from Manchester for me next time!!
Personally I think Gatwick is much better to get to from London than Stansted, but as the comments here show, and as Abraham Lincoln once said:
“you can please some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time”.
I hate Gatwick. I live very close to Stansted and it is perfect for getting to Iceland. I will have to find someone else to fly with - I will not use Gatwick or Heathrow.
I agree with the others who have mentioned that there is more to England than London. What about opening up another airport in the North?
Gatwick all the way for me.
Bye bye to Stansted hoo rah!!
Really bad news Iceland express!For those who are going north. From now on it´s Iceland air for me and my family.
Bad news if you live north of London. Was going to book a trip to Iceland later in year but will not be flying with Iceland Express if your only airport is going to be Gatwick. Bad move Iceland Express!!
Spain-Stansted-Reykiavik its OKKKK!!!! gatwick noooooooooooooo
Here’s the deal.
Bore a thumpingly huge road tunnel beneath London metro and keep cruising onwards to Gatwick.
As it stands, London is just an obstacle to all those travelling from the North and unless you are actually going to London itself it just gets in the way and elevated blood pressure needlessly. I sympathise with ‘em about losing Stansted but honestly the commute into London by coach took me longer than it did to fly here from Basle.
Godspeed, Iceland Express!
I will probably now never use Iceland Express. Gatwick is no more “London” than “Stansted”. It is miles away and for more than 50% of the population, the wrong side of the M11.
Go mad and try East Midlands even!
Shame. Stansted’s easy, Garwick’s a pain.
Gatwick, seriously? How will we get there from the Netherlands?
In summer there’s Eindhoven and Iceland Express, but in winter it will become Icelandair for us again…
Not so good… Except if you’re also going to fly all year from Eindhoven that is ;-)
This is really bad news!! We live in the north and it was like being let out of a black hole when IE started to fly to Stanstead, the nightmare of London underground or the hell of driving to London was over..until now, why not go totally mad and test fly this summer to Doncaster Sheffield Airport it is in the north I know,but you might just be surprised by the number of passengers from the north that prefer to travel with you but by the sound of it can not use Gatwick because of the travel time and expense it takes me 4-5 hrs to get to Gatwick think about it it takes longer for me to get to the airport than actually fly to Iceland so of course my family and I will go back to flying with Iceland Air for the first time in six years…shame for us and others that like to visit
This is very sad news!! I have lived in Cardiff, Birmingham and now Newcastle and Gatwick has always been a “no go”.
I have traveled with you from the beginning at least twice a year, but I have now booked a flight “home” with Iceland Air because of your move!!
Traveling from Spain via London Stansted is definately more convenient and a lot cheaper. Most lowfare airlines go to Stansted, especially flight coming from Spain (where I go to every month). So now flying from Spain to Stansted and then have to take trains and tubes to get to Gatwick to catch a flight further to Iceland, will be a nightmare. I was still lucky to buy one of the last tickets going to Stansted with a connection flight Ryanair to Valencia/Spain. But from the 1st May this will not be possible anymore. Guess I have to find a flight going from Spain to Berlin or Copenhagen then to be able to get to Iceland. But also this is very inconvinient since there are no direct flights from VLC-Berlin/CPH. Why don´t you just make every second flight to/from Stansted and the other to/from Gatwick? Then all of us could be happy and you would probably not loose customers.
What a bad idea. I think you are going to loose a lot of pax. who got an easy conn. to STN from all over Europe. Please rethink this.
What a shame. I don’t understand why you would move from Stanstead to a dump like Gatwick. Maybe I am biased because it adds an hour to my drive(both ways) making a quick weekend away more difficult.
I’ve always hated Stansted.
BAD MOVE!! Iceland Express is pretty much the same price as Icelandair now anyway, so the extra cost to get to Gatwick and the headache of getting there is a no brainer! B.A couldn’t make it work from Gatwick to Iceland & they were only charging £70 return! Long before Iceland Express, the airlne GO Air came out of Stansted. So I can see another carrier picking up the Stansted route soon
I cant understand the move, it makes no sence. I can only assume this is a move made by someone who has not had the missplesure of gatwhick. My next 2 e-mails will be to Ryan a
Air and Easy Jet to try and get them to use the Stansted route.
As with all bad Idas you will find out to late when your passengers stay at Stansted and you are flying empty.
We can’t say we’re particularly pleased with the decision with the move to Gatwick.
For us to get there, it is very inconvenient, especially as it’s round the ‘wrong’ side of the M25.
So much for the low-cost flights, now that the extra expense of travelling to the airport has made it almost prohibitive.
Gatwick 2nd busiest airport in Europe, no brainer really.
Stansted sucks….
Welcome to ‘Gatter’s’ Ice express ;)
Devastating news for my family. Living in N-London, won’t be using Gatwick. Thats good 24 flights a year now going to LHR. We are very sad as Iceland Express has prooved good.
Well so far 40 negative comments out of 54 -or 74% - to this decision and only 22% positive from the comments above. Makes you wonder if the marketing folks at Iceland Express have got thier numbers right …… ?
In my very humble opinion, I find Gatwick to be far more convinient than Stansted.
Oh dear. I was just deciding whether it was going to be Iceland or Venice for or summer holiday this year and your move to Gatwick has ruled out Iceland now as Gatwick is very difficult to get to for us. Stansted is our local airport and travel from there is so easy. My previous trip to Iceland via Iceland Express was a great experience. Shame.
“If it a’int broke don’t fix it”. As a professional full-time mountain leader and Iceland guide, everyone I take to Iceland thinks Stansted is the perfect location for them - the passengers - now -……Personally I think it’s a retrograde step. As a company we’ll have to think hard before we using the place - Gatwick as well as Iceland. Looks like Norway is beckoning again.
as a Icelander living in UK, i am gutted, i live in the north and this will add at least an extra hour to my trip
Seriously thinking of using Icelandair again for the first time since you guys started up.
Not good at all!!! Have always preferred to travel with you guys instead of your competition but am afraid with this move, heathrow will be a better option than awful Gatwick. Not only is it a nightmare to get to from north of london but also very crowded and dark airport and with three kids in tow… no way. Sorry but this might be goodbuy to Iceland Express… my favorite airline today :(((
I have been using Iceland Express for several years and flying from Stansted has been really convenient and hassle free. The move to Gatwick will be disastrous for the airline. Gatwick is a package holiday cattle market with huge numbers of people and inadequate services. Getting there and parking nearby is a pain. Added to this, there have been rumours about the long term future of Iceland Express which give me concern. The last flight I took in early January was a joke - two inexperienced male flight attendants who couldn’t organise themselves or their passengers - and a long delay before take off.
Icelanair have become more competitive lately and given the choice I would rather fly from Heathrow than Gatwick.
Time for a re-think Iceland Express!!
Well, already flown 4 times this year, twice with IA & twice with IE my last time I guess into Standsted! shame as now about to book flights for end of June for the glastonbury festival. Has anyone noticed that the low cost airline to Iceland is no longer the lowest priced airline!! I´m guessing its gonna gonna cost more to land at Gatwick too! Just and idea IE why not include taxes with your shown fares??
PLease could someone tell me which Gatwick terminal you fly from?
I’ve bought an IE ticket and I can’t find any info on the ticket or anywhere n the web that indicates which terminal at Gatwick we will be flying from!!! This is weird!
I live in Iceland and my children live in the UK. We have been travelling in excess of 4 times a year but this change now means I will no longer visit the UK. A move to Birmingham, east Midlands or Luton would have been great for us but taking the destination further south is definately a major reason to change airlines. I pity those who travel even further north than I do. It may take an hour to drive 100km in Iceland but It can take more than 3 hours in the UK and thats if you know exactly how to get to where you are going.The extra travelling costs by far outweigh the difference in price between yourselves and Icelandair, they must be delighted
This is not good at all. I travel to England alot and this is very bad news for me! Bad nes for iceland express, good news for iceland air. I will, for example, have to start flying with icelandair then.
Of course there is always going to be people that like this idea. People who live in south of London for examble. But what about the rest of England? Obviously the majority of people thinks this is a bad move. So if Iceland express is still continuing with their changes, then what´s the point of asking us? What is the purpose for this comment system if not to find out if this is positive or negitive…and then doing something about it??
This is really bad for my family. We travel a lot betweeen Iceland and the south of France. We had the perfect connection with Ryanair to Perpignan, with only two hours in Stansted, which is a wonderfully well thought and organized airport. I urge Iceland Express to change plans and stay in Stansted.
My first reaction to this is NO……Since Ryanair begin to launched there flights we have a great economic connection with Ryanair to STN from BHD, we had enjoy our last break in Iceland last March and planning to go again this year if not the next. Moving to Gatwick you virtually telling us to go else way. STN is a fantastic airport, and with the Raddission Hotel just 2mins walking distance away which we use quite often it now seen we are going to miss all of these.
So the travelling time with Stansted Express is 15mins longer compare to London Gatwick so what. In term of convenience and economic wise is great foe us. For me personally I hope you will reconsider switch back to STN the sooner the better. If you’re reading theses comments it speaks for it self. It will be interesting to see the difference of passenger’s volume compare to Gatwick in 12months I would one of the first like to know.
I have flown a lot with IE to Standstead, having to go through London to Worthing. It takes about 2,5 hours using Stanstead Express to Tottenham Hale, London Underground to Victoria and Southern railways to Worthing.
In 2007 I used to fly with BA from Gatwick. I find both airports agreeable, a lot less crowded than Heathrow. There are good connections to Scandinavia from Gatwick and the bus was 1 hour from Gatwick to Heathrow last week.
The reasoning is simple: If you live in the south of England you will love Gatwick, if you live in the north you won’t.
I am looking forward to IE’s experience of this experiment and I am one of those who will greet the move if it is permanent.
I live within 45 minutes of Gatwick and am a regular traveller to Iceland as I work for an Icelandic company, but I’m affraid that I tend to agree with most of the comments that Gatwick will be a pain. It is to crowded, costs more to park there, and nowhere near as relaxing as Stanstead.
I am sure that we will also see a price increase for using Stanstead. As for me I prefer to drive to stanstead 1 1/2 hours away so that I can travel in a relaxed atmosphere.
No! what a pain. Please come back to Stansted. It would be great if it were possible to do both.
Very sad about the news.
Glad to hear you are coming to Gatwick. It’s much easier for connections and I’ve never suffered with queues there. I only use Stansted when I have to as it is so far out of the way.
If you are heading for London from Gatwich I’d jump on a Southern train rather than their Gatwick Express - almost as quick and much cheaper.
I look forward to finally flying with you soon.
Hæ Iceland Express
After a 21 Hour Flight from Australia to LHR ,and then staying in Watford, Stanstead was handy via the M25 & M11 , for getting to Keflavik.
I’m not a huge fan of Gatwick but there is a Train straight from Gatwick to Watford Junction so that a Plus for me.
Btw I much prefered Iceland Express when they were using Boeing 737’s, I think the last one I flew in was a rear engine MD8,
from keflavik to Göteborg, it looked and sounded like an old second hand Banger.
And lets hope that the Car Rental companies put on more staff at Keflavik, as the very long wait and absolute People Rage caused by the waiting to return a car is unacceptable, Especially after getting there Super early.
Stressing out about missing a plane is not what I normally ever have to worry about.
After another Great visit to Iceland, this left bad memories of our last few hours.
Having to dodge Rental Cars parked in total Chaos and watch people fighting ( and I mean - a real fist fight) in the car park, is not what I would have expected . If you would pass my comments to the Keflavik Car Park People, maybe we would all be calmer flying out of Iceland. If I have to put up with again, I won’t bother going to Iceland.
Of course I did write to the car rental firm , and tell them of the long wait and rude staff who served us, but as I expected, no reply. Well maybe my comments via you might get some attention. Especially with price of rental cars in Iceland.
I love Iceland ,congrautalions at the Eurovison , Johanna was great and did
very well again for Iceland. Let’s hope you win soon, so you can show the world your, “well kept secret”, ie the beauty of your Land. The closet place on earth that
reminds me of Iceland is New Zealand, which
is also ” a well kept secret”
Bless
Patrick
Probably the last you’ll see of myself and my Icelandic wife with us living in the northern half of the UK.Did you not think about the amount of ex patriots living in the UK around the old fishing centres of Hull,Grimsby & Fleetwood when making this decision?
All in the North!
Manchester here we come.
Money before people, again!
WHAT A SHAME !flew to iceland last febuary from Ireland via stanstead and planned to do the same this summer will have to change plans as i find standstead has much more raynair options for me
I live in Iceland and my children live in the UK. We have been travelling in excess of 4 times a year but this change now means I will no longer visit the UK. A move to Birmingham, east Midlands or Luton would have been great for us but taking the destination further south is definately a major reason to change airlines. I pity those who travel even further north than I do. It may take an hour to drive 100km in Iceland but It can take more than 3 hours in the UK and thats if you know exactly how to get to where you are going.The extra travelling costs by far outweigh the difference in price between yourselves and Icelandair, they must be delighted
Well I used Icelandair from Heathrow in April/May instead of Iceland Express as you moved to Grotwick Airport. Stansted is much easier to reach and a better but not perfect airport. Eurostar moved to North London with good reason and you moved south. I am going to Iceland next year and guess what it will not be from Gatwick!
For me getting to Stansted is much easier, as I live north of London. Gatwick means a trip across central London with all my baggage. I also find that Gatwick is generally more crowded and unpleasant than Stansted.
I see lots of people moaning here about having to get through London from the north of England, having to get trains across the city, and so on…You can’t please everyone. Spare a thought for Irish folk who like to go Iceland - doesn’t make much much difference to us whether it’s Gatwick or Stansted, we still have to get a flight from Ireland to the UK and it basically takes a day to get to Iceland and a day to come back. Any chance you’d consider running flights to Keflavik from Dublin, Shannon or Cork? No need then for the Gatwick v Stansted argument surely…
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