- The pilots’ contract expired in autumn 2025, with negotiations before Iceland’s State Mediator since spring.
- The pilots’ ballot included 621 eligible voters.
- Mechanics’ talks ended without a deal on October 21.
Icelandair pilots plan an indefinite strike beginning at 00:01 on November 20, 2026, if they and the airline fail to reach an agreement. The action targets overseas charter flying, not the airline’s scheduled passenger network.
Passengers booked on a charter or package holiday operated by the airline or Loftleiðir should check with their tour operator. Scheduled-service passengers are outside the strike notice.
The airline announced the plan on November 12. The notice describes an action with no set end date, conditional on an agreement not being reached.
The pilots’ association has framed the proposed walkout as leverage for a new contract. Its chairman said the aim was an agreement, not disruption.
The notice covers third-party charters, not the scheduled network
The notice applies to passenger and cargo charter flights the airline and Loftleiðir operate for other companies. Scheduled services are excluded. The Akureyri–Tenerife route also falls outside the action.
That distinction leaves tour-operator customers as the group most likely to need updates. The airline has not specified how many flights or passengers could face disruption.
The airline has said the strike would not directly affect its passenger network. It has also said the financial impact cannot yet be determined.
The pilots’ ballot backed action if talks do not produce a deal
Jón Þór Þorvaldsson, chairman of the Icelandic Airline Pilots Association, said 89.1 percent of eligible voters took part, and 94 percent voted for strike action if there was no agreement. The ballot included 621 pilots.
He described the association’s goal this way:
“Our goal is not confrontation or disruption. Our goal is to reach a collective bargaining agreement”
The association was due to meet the airline on November 12. Icelandair has not said whether that meeting produced an agreement.
Pay proposals and mediated talks have left the contract unresolved
The pilots’ contract expired in autumn 2025, and negotiations have been before Iceland’s State Mediator since spring. The dispute involves pay as well as the union’s concern that work under Icelandic agreements could move abroad.
The association says it offered several paths to a settlement: terms aligned with the general labor market, a short-term floating agreement and a wage freeze shared by employee groups and management. It says the airline rejected those options.
The airline had previously sent a pay proposal directly to pilots. A letter from the unions says that bypassed the association’s bargaining committee and undermined its legal role.
The union says overseas expansion raises questions about where work will go
The airline completed a 49% purchase of Fly Play Europe on October 19. The company’s Malta subsidiary holds a Maltese air operator certificate.
The pilots’ union says the expansion has sharpened its concern that flying covered by Icelandic agreements could shift overseas. In a November 13 letter, the union said the airline sought the right to lease foreign crews and more flexibility in crew-rest rules.
The letter called on pension-fund owners to seek clarity about whether work will leave Iceland. The airline’s financial exposure from the proposed strike remains undetermined.
A mechanics’ walkout ended without a deal, and charter passengers should check with their operator
The pilots’ action follows a separate dispute with mechanics. Their walkout began at 00:01 on September 23, 2026, and the airline cancelled a number of flights that morning.
The mechanics called off their strike after the government said it intended to table a ban. The parties then held four weeks of structured talks, which ended without an agreement on October 21. The mechanics’ last meeting with the State Mediator took place on November 10.
The airline put the walkout’s cost at $4.0 million in lost operating profit in its third-quarter results. Mechanics’ chairman Óskar Einarsson said on November 13 that further strike action had not been ruled out.
Passengers on a charter or package holiday should contact their tour operator about their flight. The pilots’ talks remain the immediate route to averting the planned action.
