NYC to Reykjavik: the flight, the airlines and the arrival

Typing nyc to Reykjavik into a flight search brings up two real nonstop options, not one: JFK and Newark. Both work, both land at the same airport, and the honest answer to which is better is whichever one is the shorter drive from where you actually live.

What is worth knowing before you book is what makes this particular Atlantic crossing different from most others out of New York. It is short. At five and a half to six hours, it sits closer to a transcontinental US flight than to the eight or nine hours to continental Europe, which is why airlines fly it with a single-aisle plane rather than a wide-body.

That shortness changes the trip in ways beyond the time in the air. Searches for flights from new york to Reykjavik almost always turn into searches about entry rules next, because Iceland's status confuses a lot of American travelers: it sits inside the Schengen zone but outside the European Union, and one very common claim about what you now need to enter is currently wrong. This page covers the flight itself, what changed on the entry-rules front this year, and what happens in the hour after you land.

Flying nonstop from JFK: Icelandair and Delta, about six hours

Icelandair and Delta both fly this leg nonstop, together running 21 weekly departures from JFK as of August 2026, more than from any other New York airport. The jfk to Reykjavik flight time runs close to six hours westbound and a little over six hours on the way back, because the same winds that speed up other eastbound Atlantic routes work against this one instead.

All nonstop nyc to Reykjavik flights, from either New York airport, land at one building: Keflavik International Airport, 47 km outside the city, not at an airport actually named Reykjavik. Reykjavik's own small domestic airport, inside the city, only handles flights within Iceland.

One outdated claim is worth killing here. PLAY, the Icelandic low-cost carrier that once undercut Icelandair on price, ended all its North American flying in 2025, closing its Stewart, Boston and Baltimore-Washington routes by that October. It never flew JFK or Newark in the first place, and today it flies nowhere in the United States. If a search result still shows a PLAY fare from New York, the listing is stale.

Newark to Reykjavik: Icelandair and United fly this route too

Newark is not a consolation prize. Icelandair and United both fly this pairing nonstop, together putting up 14 weekly departures as of June 2026, with a flight time of about 5 hours 50 minutes each way, only slightly shorter than from JFK because the two airports sit almost the same distance from Keflavik. Both airlines fly a Boeing 757 here, the same aircraft type used from JFK.

An ewr to Reykjavik search typically turns up fewer daily choices than a JFK one, simply because there are fewer weekly frequencies, not because the route itself is somehow lesser. If your onward flights connect through Newark anyway, or it is the closer airport for you, there is no operational reason to prefer JFK instead.

Coming home, icelandair Reykjavik to newark flights and United's own nonstop both tend to leave Keflavik in the early evening, landing at Newark the same day thanks to the five-hour time difference working in your favor westbound.

What changes at immigration: ETIAS is not one of them, yet

As of September 2026, ETIAS is not required to fly from New York to Reykjavik. The EU dropped its original Q4 2026 launch target in July 2026, and 2027 is now the likely date. A great many travel sites already tell readers to apply for it regardless. They are wrong today, and the date is worth checking again closer to your travel date, since it has already slipped once.

What does apply, and gets missed just as often, is Iceland's actual status: it sits inside the Schengen area but outside the European Union, a combination that trips up plenty of careful travelers. As a Schengen member, Iceland lets US and UK passport holders in for up to 90 days in any 180-day period without a visa, under the rule shared by all 29 Schengen countries, confirmed by the US State Department. Your passport needs at least three months of validity beyond your planned departure date, not beyond your arrival, and border staff can ask for proof of onward travel or funds even though they rarely do. The UK Foreign Office states the same passport rule for British travelers on the same flights.

None of this involves a visa application, a stamp bought in advance, or a form filled out before you fly. It just has to be true on the day you land.

Landing at Keflavik: getting the last 47 km into Reykjavik

Every one of these flights, whichever New York airport or airline, lands at the same building: Keflavik International Airport, about 47 km (29 miles) from downtown Reykjavik, a drive of roughly 47 minutes with no traffic and no stops. There is no train and no metro; the run into the city is a road trip only, through the terminal's newest wing, which opened in March 2025.

Three ways to cover that distance exist. The scheduled airport bus, Flybus, costs 3,999 ISK one way to the BSI terminal (about $33) or 7,298 ISK round trip, in about 45 minutes, with connecting minibuses to most hotels. A taxi is faster door to door and pricier: Hreyfill, the taxi cooperative, quotes a fixed 22,500 to 29,250 ISK depending on whether one to four or five to eight of you are riding, which beats the bus once three or four people split the fare. A private car with a driver sits above both on price and above both on convenience, worth booking ahead mainly for a late arrival, a lot of luggage, or a group that would rather not stand at a bus stop after an overnight flight.

Two ways to book the Keflavik transfer before you land, both cheaper arranged ahead than negotiated at the curb.

Most booked

Shared shuttle bus, Keflavik to Reykjavik

About 45 minutes

A guaranteed seat on a shared coach to BSI or central Reykjavik, free Wi-Fi on board

Solo travelers and couples who would rather not think about the ride

from $37

Ansehen

Door to door

Private transfer, Keflavik to Reykjavik

About 45 minutes

A private car and driver straight to your address, no other passengers, help with luggage

Groups of three or more, late arrivals, or anyone heading to a hotel outside the center

from $106

Ansehen

Using the stopover: many of these tickets are stopover tickets

A fair share of nyc to Reykjavik searches are not for a simple round trip at all. Icelandair lets passengers connecting between North America and Europe break their journey in Iceland for up to seven nights at no extra airfare, which is a large part of why the JFK and Newark routes carry as much traffic as they do; a country of under 400,000 people would not otherwise fill a Boeing 757 daily on its own.

If you are using the stopover for a single day between flights, the practical question changes from how to get into town to what you can actually see before flying back out. A full-day tour that starts from a Reykjavik pickup point and returns in time for a late departure covers more ground than renting a car and reading Icelandic road signs on four hours of sleep.

GetYourGuide

Golden Circle full-day tour with Kerid crater

An 8.5-hour loop covering Thingvellir, Geysir and Gullfoss with a stop at Kerid crater, sized to fit around a same-day arrival or a late departure.

from $91

Ansehen