Icelandair offers special Seattle fares

Icelandair has announced special introductory round-trip fares as low as $646 with taxes for its Seattle/Reykjavik nonstop flights starting July 23.

Tickets must be purchased by April 10 for outbound travel by Aug. 30 and return by the end of September.

The airline is also offering special fares to other European destinations on its connecting flights out of Reykjavik. All the low fares are available on a limited number of seats on certain days. A check on the airline's Web site (www.icelandair.com) showed fares of $961, with taxes, to Copenhagen; $1,089 to Paris; and $1,006 to London, with stopovers of up to four days allowed in Reykjavik, the Icelandic capital.

Icelandair announced the new service as Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) prepares to pull out of the Seattle market July 31 after 42 years of flying nonstops to and from Copenhagen. Icelandair's Seattle flight will take about 7.5 hours to reach Reykjavik.

Flights will depart four days a week starting July 23 on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at 4:30 p.m., arriving in Reykjavik at 6:45 a.m. with connections to 18 destinations including Copenhagen (three hours away), Oslo, Stockholm, London, Amsterdam, Berlin and Paris.

Return flights will be on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Monday, arriving at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport at 5:45 p.m. A fifth flight might be added in 2010, said spokesman Michael Raucheisen.

Carol Pucci: cpucci@seattletimes.com