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DelayAtlas

Transatlantic route · frequency, carriers and airport records

KEF→MSP

Reykjavík to Minneapolis

Flights
808 both ways
Carriers
2
Distance
2,936 mi
Period
July 2025 to June 2026
—GRADE

No public record scores Keflavík to Minneapolis-St Paul International flight by flight. The US Department of Transportation's on-time database covers domestic flights only, and in Europe only the United Kingdom publishes punctuality by route, so what follows is built from the three measurements that do exist. The DOT's international report counts 808 flights between the two airports in the twelve months to June 2026, about one departure a day in each direction, flown by Icelandair and Delta. EUROCONTROL's year-to-date figure has 69.0% of all departures from Keflavík leaving within 15 minutes of schedule and 77.8% of arrivals landing within 15 minutes. At the other end, 79.2% of MSP's domestic departures arrived on time in the DOT data, which says something about how the airport itself runs, not about this route.

On EUROCONTROL's year-to-date arrival punctuality, Keflavík ranks 15th of the 41 European airports on this site with service to the United States. Bilbao leads that table at 84.3% and Manchester closes it at 65.7%. A long-haul departure inherits the airport's morning: an aircraft that arrived late from its previous sector, or a departure queue built up by weather, delays the transatlantic wave with everything else.

Key figures

Flights

808

Both directions, July 2025 to June 2026 (DOT)

Carriers

2

Icelandair, Delta Air Lines

KEF departures on time

69.0%

All destinations, year to date (EUROCONTROL)

MSP domestic on time

79.2%

US DOT, last twelve months of domestic departures

Without a route-level record, the useful question is what the two airports do to a schedule. EUROCONTROL attributes 0.0 minutes of air traffic flow management delay per arriving flight to Keflavík so far this year; that is delay imposed by the network to hold traffic on the ground elsewhere, not the airline's own. In the DOT data, a delayed domestic departure from MSP ran a little over an hour late on average over the last twelve months, and 1.44% of its scheduled flights were cancelled.

Carrier by carrier

Who flies KEF to MSP

Icelandair flew 69% of the 808 flights between KEF and MSP in the DOT's count, with Delta Air Lines on 248. Loads averaged 149 passengers a flight, which on this route means wide-body aircraft nearly full.

Carriers on KEF to MSP by flights operated
AirlineFlightsSharePer monthPassengers / flight
Icelandair56069%47140
Delta Air Lines24831%21167

DOT international report, July 2025 to June 2026; flights in both directions together. No delay figures exist for this pair in any public source.

Across the year

How often KEF to MSP flies through the year

The DOT's international report puts 124 flights on the pair in July 2025, the busiest month of the window, and 32 in February 2026, the thinnest. A summer-to-winter swing of that size means the winter schedule is a different operation: fewer frequencies, so a cancellation leaves a longer wait for the next seat.

Flights per month, both directions

  • July 2025124
  • August 2025124
  • September 202575
  • October 202550
  • November 202536
  • December 202532
  • January 202634
  • February 202632
  • March 202634
  • April 202640
  • May 2026107
  • June 2026120
Flights in both directions together, as the DOT international report counts them; flights per calendar month.

The DOT's international report counts flights in both directions together: 808 between KEF and MSP from July 2025 to June 2026, about one departure a day in each direction, carrying 120,193 passengers. That makes it the 7th busiest of 16 US routes from Keflavík and the 4th busiest of 8 European routes into MSP.

The departure airport

How Keflavík is running

EUROCONTROL's figures for Keflavík as a whole, every airline and every destination: 69.0% of departures and 77.8% of arrivals within 15 minutes of schedule from 1 January to 21 October 2026, with 88.5% of scheduled flights operated. The last seven days ran at 70.5% for departures, 2 points better than the year so far. Air traffic flow management delay attributed to the airport averaged 0.0 minutes per arriving flight this year, 0.0 over the last week.

EUROCONTROL punctuality at Keflavík
WindowDepartures on timeArrivals on timeSchedules operatedATFM delay / arrival
Yesterday (21 October 2026)79.5%89.6%91.2%0.0 min
Last 7 days70.5%78.1%91.6%0.0 min
Year to date69.0%77.8%88.5%0.0 min

Every US route from Keflavík, and its full punctuality record

The arrival airport

Landing at Minneapolis-St Paul International

Minneapolis-St Paul International is scored on this site from the DOT's domestic data: 79.2% of its 114,673 domestic departures arrived on time over the last twelve months, with delayed flights running a little over an hour late, and 1.44% were cancelled. Those are domestic flights, not this route, but an arriving transatlantic flight shares the same runways, the same weather and the same ground delay programmes, so a bad day at MSP reaches a flight from KEF just as surely. The airport's own page has the hour-by-hour and month-by-month detail, and its live FAA status appears above when the FAA has something to say.

Domestic on time

79.2%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late (DOT)

Avg delay

71 min

Delayed domestic flights only

Cancelled

1.44%

Domestic departures

114,673

Last twelve months

Minneapolis-St Paul International (MSP) delay statistics, hour by hour and month by month

Your rights

EC 261/2004 on KEF to MSP

Every flight that departs Keflavík falls under Regulation (EC) 261/2004, whichever airline flies it and wherever it lands. If it arrives at Minneapolis-St Paul International three hours or more late, or is cancelled with under 14 days' notice, and the cause was within the airline's control, each passenger is owed €600 (€300 if the airline got you there under four hours late), on top of rebooking and care. Weather, air traffic control restrictions and strikes outside the airline are the usual exemptions. The return flight from MSP is covered only when the carrier is EU based. The sector is about 2,936 miles, 4,724 km, which puts it in the top distance band.

Delayed three hours or more? Check a claim with Compensair →

What to do with this

Booking KEF to MSP

There is no grade to give KEF to MSP without a route record, and this site does not invent one. What the three sources support: about one departure a day in each direction, a choice of two carriers, a departure airport that gets 69% of its departures away on time and an arrival airport that runs 79% on time domestically. Leave two hours for any onward connection at MSP; immigration comes before the connecting flight.

Common questions

KEF to MSP questions

How often are KEF to MSP flights delayed?

No public dataset records delays for this route flight by flight: the US on-time database is domestic only and only the UK publishes route-level punctuality in Europe. The nearest measurements are the departure airport's EUROCONTROL punctuality (69.0% of departures within 15 minutes this year) and MSP's domestic record in the DOT data (79.2% on time).

Which airlines fly KEF to MSP?

Icelandair and Delta Air Lines, in order of flights operated between July 2025 and June 2026. Icelandair accounted for 69% of the 808 flights the DOT counted on the pair.

Can I claim compensation for a delayed KEF to MSP flight?

Yes, if the flight arrived three hours or more late or was cancelled at short notice for a reason within the airline's control: departures from Keflavík are covered by EC 261/2004 whichever airline operates them. The fixed amount for a sector of this length is €600 a passenger, €300 if the airline got you there under four hours late. The return from MSP is covered only on an EU carrier.

How many flights a day are there from KEF to MSP?

About one departure a day in each direction: the DOT counted 808 flights in both directions over twelve months, peaking at 124 in July 2025 and falling to 32 in February 2026.

Related

Where to go next

Iceland publishes no route-level punctuality, so this page cannot grade the route. The UK pages in this section can, because the CAA does.

Sources: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, International Report (flights and passengers by carrier and airport pair), July 2025 to June 2026; EUROCONTROL Aviation Intelligence Portal, airport punctuality and ATFM delay to 21 October 2026. Rebuilt 22 October 2026; the EUROCONTROL figures refresh with each weekly build, the others when their publisher releases a month. How these sources differ.