EDMONTON — Icelandair is increasing service from Edmonton to year-round and has announced an earlier launch date of March 5, 2014.

Edmonton will be Icelandair’s 13th North American gateway and the second year-round gateway in Canada.

The increase is part of Icelandair’s 2014 schedule, the largest in the airline’s history. Service from Edmonton will operate year-round on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The 6-hour, 20-minute eastbound flight will depart from EIA at 6:30 p.m. and arrive in Reykjavik at 6:50 a.m. the following morning. The westbound flight will leave Reykjavik at 4:45 p.m. and arrive at EIA at 5:30 p.m. the same day, with flying time of six hours, 45 minutes.

In addition to increasing service from Edmonton, Icelandair will offer extra capacity with 17 additional flights across the network, including more flights from Halifax and Toronto, the launch of Vancouver and one new destination (Geneva).

“2014 will be a big year for Icelandair. Earlier this year we announced our service from Edmonton, giving Alberta passengers faster and easier access to Europe. Due to the demand for international carriers from Edmonton and the positive response Icelandair has received, we think it makes sense to operate year-round. We are also moving our launch date to three weeks earlier than originally planned. We see this as the beginning of a strong relationship with Alberta and anticipate Edmonton strengthening our bond with the Canadian market,” said Thorsteinn Egilsson, General Manager of The Americas.