Preparation begins for handover of airport land in Skerjafjörður to City of Reykjavík

Preparation is underway for the handover of ten hectares of airport land in Skerjafjörður to the City of Reykjavík. The CEO of Isavia stated that careful planning is required to ensure that flight safety is not compromised as the new residential area is developed.

Sigrún Björk Jakobsdóttir, Isavia’s CEO for domestic airports, explained that a formal application is being prepared for submission to the Transport Authority, the regulatory body overseeing airports. She anticipates sending this documentation by the end of the week or early next week.

The ten hectares being repurposed are located from the corner of Einarsnes to the hangar south of it, and the existing perimeter fence is approximately 900 meters long. This area includes a fire department training ground, grasslands, wetlands, and snow storage sites, which means the change will significantly restrict airport operations.

Future developments in Skerjafjörður are subject to a thorough review by the City of Reykjavík in alignment with the approved zoning plan. Sigrún emphasized the need for careful attention to the process, pointing out that hasty decisions in urban planning could lead to irreversible consequences.

A petition has already been initiated on island.is, calling on Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson, to retract previous recommendations concerning the area from former Minister of Infrastructure Svandís Svavarsdóttir.

The buildings planned by the city will reach heights of three to five stories, which could impact air traffic. These developments will create wind barriers that could lead to hazardous conditions on the runways, which were previously exposed to airflow. Sigrún urged that flight safety must remain a priority and cautioned against compromising it for residential development.