AN airline is to introduce more flights from Glasgow in a bid to secure more transatlantic traffic.

Icelandair is to introduce a fourth weekly flight from the west of Scotland hub to tempt more Scots on to its connecting flights to America and Canada.

The announcement comes almost 67 years to the day the first Icelandair flight with four crew and four passengers began services from Scotland's biggest city, just weeks after the Second World War ended.

The airline currently offers three flights out of Glasgow each week but will introduce a fourth every Friday beginning March 15 next year.

General manager Hjorvar Saeberg Hognason said: "We are so pleased to be adding more flights to our Glasgow service. We already offer some of the quickest connections to the US and Canada and these new Friday flights will increase our frequency to popular destinations such as Halifax and Toronto in Canada and Boston and Seattle."

Amanda McMillan, managing director at Glasgow Airport which is currently coping with one of it's busiest periods of the year, is backing the expansion.

She said: "Icelandair is one of our longest serving airlines having operated flights from Glasgow for 67 years.

"Its welcome decision to add a fourth weekly service will not only provide passengers with greater choice and flexibility it will further strengthen Scotland's connectivity with North America which is a hugely important market."

Reykjavik-based Icelandair is celebrating 75 years of aviation this year.

The airline flies passengers from Glasgow to Iceland where it operates connecting flights to the major American cities of Boston, Denver, Minneapolis/St Paul, New York, Orlando, Seattle and Washington DC as well Halifax and Toronto.

gordon.thomson@heraldandtimes.co.uk