In addition to this new London Gatwick service, Icelandair will continue to fly twice a day from London Heathrow.

Birkir Holm Gudnason, CEO of Icelandair, explained, “Heathrow is our main airport in London and will remain so. However, due to its popularity with international flights it is impossible at the moment for us to get additional flight allocations. In response to increasing demand, we decided to start a flight at Gatwick. Gatwick will also give us the option of further growth in London and provide a link to our many partners with connecting flights to destinations throughout Europe and more remote destinations in Asia.”

Guy Stephenson, Gatwick Airport’s Chief Commercial Officer, commented, “We are very excited to be welcoming Icelandair to Gatwick and to be given the opportunity to support them and their plans for growth in London.  For passengers living in London and the South East, this move will give them greater choices over how to reach this wonderful country and join connecting flights to key cities across North America.

The timing of the flight on Thursdays and Sundays is intentional in order to provide the optimal dates for weekend trips.  Hjorvar Saeberg Hognason, Icelandair’s General Manager – UK said “These additional flights will be a great option for our UK customers. Over the past few years we have seen a surge in demand for winter travel to Iceland due to the popularity of the Northern Lights and events like Iceland Airwaves.  The fact that we have scheduled them on the two most popular travel dates of the week make them ideal for winter weekend city breaks.”

Icelandair’s flight schedule for the year 2012 is the largest in its history and approximately 14% larger than last year. In addition to London Gatwick, this year Icelandair has added a new year-round destination, Denver, Colorado.  London Gatwick passengers will be able to connect onwards to Denver as well as other popular North American destinations like Boston, New York and Seattle.

Icelandair is one of Iceland’s longest established companies, connecting the world and Iceland for 75 years.  Icelandair flies from the UK to Iceland with connecting service to Boston, Denver, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York City, Orlando, Seattle, Washington, DC, Halifax and Toronto.

Visit www.icelandair.co.uk for more information on flights and packages.

The report authors write that the discussion about whether Iceland should take up the Canadian dollar or the euro underlines the need for informed discussion about the benefits and drawbacks of European Union membership.

Stefan Füle, the EU expansion commissioner, said he is happy with the way negotiations with Iceland are proceeding — although very difficult issues remain to be tackled. Those issues include fisheries, which will be discussed later this year, RÚV reports.

The report’s main author, MEP, Christian Dan Preda, said he totally agrees with Icelandic Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir’s assessment that Iceland’s two main options are to either join the EU and take the euro as its currency, or to give up sovereignty by unilaterally taking another currency and the monetary policy that comes with it.

British Conservative MEP Charles Tannock said in parliament that he thinks Iceland could be a “model EU state” and that Icelandic membership might hopefully persuade Norway to apply.

The report notes that the ongoing “mackerel war” is the biggest block to Icelandic membership and that there are no other political, economic or legislative barriers to membership.

The European Parliament ratified the progress report with 596 votes against 52.