Icelandair's 'coolest' plane set to land in Glasgow

A hand-painted, glacier-themed plane is making its first visit to Glasgow after joining the Icelandair fleet.

The airline commissioned the Vatnajokull glacier-themed aircraft as part of celebrations to mark its 80th anniversary this year.

The plane has been spray-painted by hand by a team of artists who took 24 days and used 195 litres of paint to create the image of the glacier on the exterior of the aircraft.

All Icelandair planes are named after volcanoes and the Vatnajokull follows on from the Hekla Aurora, created in 2015 and inspired by the northern lights, as the second hand-crafted piece of artwork to adorn one of its aircraft.

The interior of the plane is also designed to suggest the glacier experience, with LED blue lighting in the main cabin and ice white and turquoise headrests.

The drinks trolley has been transformed into a mini ice cave, while cups, napkins and even sick bags are decorated with glacier prints.

Birkir Holm Guonason, chief executive of Icelandair, said: "We can't wait to share the Vatnajokull with our passengers.

"Icelandair believe that travelling is one of life's great pleasures and a trip on this plane will ensure customers experience time well-travelled, as they sit back and experience Iceland's most extreme elements from the comfort of their own seats."

The plane arrives in Glasgow from Rekjavik at 10.40am on Tuesday and will return to Iceland later the same day.

It will be part of the transatlantic schedule and will fly to cities including Manchester, London and Birmingham.

The Vatnajokull glacier is the most active in Iceland with around 60 eruptions over the last 800 years, and has several active volcanoes beneath its surface.