Icelandair gets package from Orlando airport

Icelandair’s return to Orlando International Airport after an eight-year absence is being sweetened by an incentive package worth up to $340,000.

But the airline says that’s not why it’s leaving Orlando Sanford International Airport.

The Scandinavian carrier has been flying out of Orlando Sanford since 2006, after it was offered up to $450,000 to use the facilities there. That agreement has expired.

Icelandair spokesman Gudjon Arngrimsson said in an email to the Orlando Sentinel that the key to the switch scheduled to take effect in September 2015 was not the money, but the airline’s intention to expand in Florida.

“With more frequency and ambitions to grow Europe to Florida business, we feel we need to be in the prime airport. The airport is also more centrally located than Sanford,” Arngrimsson wrote.

Asked if the money swayed Icelandair toward Orlando International, Arngrimsson wrote, “No, not really — airport charges did not play a significant role.”

But Larry Dale, who runs Sanford International, said, “money talks … All’s fair in love and war.”

Icelandair was the first regularly scheduled international carrier to fly into Sanford, as well as Orlando, where it operated from 1984 to 2006. Orlando International was not allowed to offer incentives until this month when its board voted to allow them.

Orlando International has promised to refund as much as $340,000 after one year in landing fees, terminal rent and other costs to Icelandair, depending on how many passengers it carries.

Most airports, including Orlando’s chief in-state rivals in Tampa and Miami, have provided some sort of financial assistance to prospective airlines for several years, according to industry experts.

Tampa International, for instance, waives landing fees and terminal rent for two years for new long-haul international carriers. Airlines such as Icelandair are coveted by airports because they typically carry free-spending passengers.

The board of Orlando International decided earlier this year that it would set aside as much as $4 million annually to lure airlines to the airport.

Icelandair has promised to fly in and out of Orlando four times a week with jets that carry as many as 183 passengers.

Dale said Icelandair brought in more than 16,500 passengers during the past year in Sanford, which was not enough to qualify for the maximum $75,000 annual payment the airport and Seminole County pledged to the carrier. Dale said he did not have access to the records to say exactly how much Icelandair received.

Although he declined to be specific, Dale indicated his board might prepare a counteroffer to Icelandair.

“We’re not going to give up on them,” he said. “We love having them.”

Michael Raucheisen, an Icelandair spokesman based in Quincy, Mass., said the carrier might offer free round-trip tickets to Iceland as part of a promotion when it starts flying out of Orlando. Earlier this month, it gave away 22 tickets in Boston.

Orlando International officials say even if they spend all $4 million set aside for incentives, the airport will not lose money. International passengers, they say, would spend nearly $1.8 million on concessions at Orlando International shops and restaurants during the year.

And, when combined with baggage fees and a passenger facility charge, the airport stands to clear more than $900,000 a year, officials said.

If Icelandair flies planes at just over 80 percent capacity, the passengers would spend nearly $900,000 during a year’s time, Orlando International managers estimate.