History

Meeks Field was constructed by American forces during World War II and inaugurated on March 24, 1943 for military purposes. The airport, one of the largest in the world at the time, played a major role in Allied transatlantic aviation and convoy protection during the war. As the world recuperated, the airport gained an important function as a refuelling stop for the piston-engine aircraft of yesteryear that effectively developed the commercial North Atlantic route between Europe and North America. In those days it was quite common that an aircraft flying from continental Europe had to make several stops: in Shannon, Ireland; then Keflavik and perhaps Narsarsuaq or Sondrestrom, Greenland; then Frobisher Bay, Goose Bay or Gander, in Canada; and finally New York. The advent of commercial jetliners in the 1960s dramatically increased the range of commercial aircraft. Keflavik International Airport became less important as a refuelling stop for international carriers, but retained its importance as an alternate field on this busy route.

A post-war 1946 agreement between Iceland and the United States stipulated the withdrawal of all military forces and transfer of the airport facilities, renamed Keflavik International Airport, to Iceland. The United States retained transit access for military aircraft and maintained international airport operation through civilian contractors (American Overseas Airlines and Lockheed Aircraft Overseas Service) in conjunction with the Icelandic Civil Aviation Administration. On May 5, 1951, upon NATO recommendation, Iceland and the United States signed an agreement by which the U.S. assumed the defence of Iceland. This agreement re-established American forces at Keflavik – a move that replaced the American airport contractor and played an important role in the security of the North Atlantic during the Cold War.

Icelandic airline operators, Loftleidir Icelandic, which pioneered a transatlantic route between New York and Luxembourg via Iceland in the 1950s, and Flugfelag Islands (Icelandair), which operated on European routes only, initially operated from Reykjavik. At the dawn of the jet age, both companies moved their international operations to Keflavik. These companies later merged as “Icelandair”.

Thus began a new chapter in the operation at Keflavik, with a dramatic increase in traffic from a mere 43,775 passengers in 1958 to nearly 2.2 million in 2007. In 1958 the Airport´s freight totalled 1,218 metric tons, as opposed to 60,000 tons in 2007.

The “Leifur Eiriksson International Air Terminal” was inaugurated in April 1987 and was extended in 2001 in compliance with the Schengen Convention, which established a single external European frontier. Improvement and expansion of terminal facilities continued, with a 16,500 sq m extension completed in early 2008.

Keflavik International Airport remained a civilian airport and a military base operated jointly by the Keflavik International Airport Authority and the U.S. Navy until 2006, when the U.S. withdrew all forces from Iceland after the disappearance of a military threat in the North Atlantic. The Keflavik Airport Authority assumed sole operation of all aviation facilities at Keflavik in 2006 and was subsequently incorporated in the state owned limited company ISAVIA which operates all airport and naviagational aids facilities in Iceland.