A Boeing 757 & 767 Retirement Confirmed

Icelandair’s era with the Boeing 757 and 767 is drawing closer to a close after schedule plans revealed the last flights have been locked in, although subject ot change.

Flagged by aeroroutes.com, the wrapping up of these flights at the beginning of 2027 marks not only the end of an era but a chance to give these workhorses a proper send-off.

Icelandair will farewell these classic Boeing jets as it becomes one of many airlines globally to move towards newer, vastly more efficient aircraft to carry it deep into the coming decades.

The Final Boeing 757 & 767 Flights

According to aeroroutes.com, the latest timetable shows that Icelandair has removed all 757-200 schedules from March 2027 onward, which means the model’s retirement has been brought forward to the peak of the 2026/27 winter season.

The last planned Boeing 757 flight is scheduled for 6 January 2027, with the carrier operating a Copenhagen-to-Reykjavik flight as FI204/205.

In the run-up to the removal of the Boeing 757, Icelandair’s winter 2026/27 schedule using this aircraft will gradually wind down. While the aircraft will continue to serve cities such as Amsterdam and London, the jet will exit service over time, with Amsterdam’s last flight from Keflavik occurring on 11 December, 2025.

The Boeing 767-300ER is the last Boeing workhorse still in service, representing an era departing. The jet, which has had its retirement in the pipeline for quite some time, will be phased out on the same day as its last scheduled mission, Keflavik to Boston, with the eastbound sector departing on 5 January 2027 and thus arriving back in Iceland on 6 January 2027.

Before the last 767 flight, the airline will see operations taper off across Europe and North America. Cities such as Dublin, London, Paris and Copenhagen will all lose their 767 services by the end of this year, or into the first days of 2027.

Once these flights conclude and the first week of 2027 comes to a close, the airline will have said goodbye to the Boeing 757 and 767, marking the end of an era for these jets, which are still being phased out worldwide.

Why The 757 & 767 Are Being Retired

Icelandair’s decision to retire the Boeing 757 and 767 is no surprise; this has been a long time in the making and is part of efforts to accelerate retirements to better manage costs.

The airline’s CEO, Bogi Nils Bogason, has repeatedly said that the 757 has been a great aircraft for them over the years; however, they now face very high maintenance costs, and above all, high fuel burn. With prices having risen, these narrowbodies from an earlier era have become increasingly expensive to operate.

When these are deployed on thinner transatlantic routes, where yields are already under pressure, having an aircraft that makes operations unsustainable is not optimal. The Boeing 767 also falls into this same category, representing an era now on the way out.

Maintenance costs for these jets as they age are also rising; the aircraft’s age and heavy checks have become much more frequent and expensive. After years of volatility and unforeseen headwinds, the need to modernize the fleet sooner has moved to the forefront of priorities.

While the 757 and 767 were initially slated to be retained through the late stages of this decade, this year’s volatility has eroded the rationale for keeping them. Instead, the jets will depart, leaving a memory of a time when these Boeing jets were flying globally.