For years, spotting Icelandair's Hekla Aurora was like catching the real aurora itself: rare, dazzling, and unforgettable. The Boeing 757, painted in swirling greens, turquoise, and midnight blue, turned heads at airports across Europe and North America. But last October, the plane made its final flight, and fans thought the magic was gone. Not quite.

Now, 25,000 keychains are keeping the spirit of Hekla Aurora alive. Each one is cut from the actual fuselage of the retired aircraft, so no two pieces look alike. The project is a collaboration between Icelandair and Aviationtag, a German company that transforms retired planes into collectible tags. It's a way for travelers who never got to fly on her, and those who did, to hold onto a piece of the sky.

A Plane's Second Life

Hekla Aurora didn't start out as a work of art. It joined Icelandair in 2004 as a standard 757, the kind you'd barely glance at. But in 2014, the airline flew it to Norwich, UK, where a team of artists spent weeks airbrushing the Northern Lights across its body. The result was so realistic that plane-spotters would track its route just to see it in person.

When the aircraft was finally retired, it sat in a scrapyard in Lleida, Spain, under a blazing sun. Aviationtag's crew spent the summer there, cutting sections of the fuselage in temperatures that often topped 40°C. The pieces were then shipped to Cologne, where they were sorted, polished, and laser-engraved with individual edition numbers.

"An aircraft like Hekla Aurora doesn't come along every day," said Tobias Richter, co-founder of Aviationtag. "Its livery, its history, and the connection people feel to it are simply extraordinary."

Collecting the Aurora

Each keychain sells for €39.95, but serious collectors can grab sets of nine or fourteen for €409.35 and €634.30. Icelandair is also giving away ten tags to fans who share their best memories of flying on Hekla Aurora or seeing the Northern Lights in Iceland.

The tags are more than just souvenirs. They're a way to keep a piece of aviation history alive, especially as Icelandair accelerates its retirement of the 757 fleet. The airline originally planned to phase out the type by summer 2027, but rising fuel costs pushed that timeline up. The last 757 is expected to leave the fleet this winter.

This isn't the first time airlines have turned old planes into keepsakes. Air France sells keychains made from leather headrests and wallets stitched from lifejackets. Lufthansa and its sister airlines offer parts of their retired aircraft through Worldshop. And if you're into quirky liveries, EVA Air's Hello Kitty planes and JetBlue's Super Mario jet come to mind.

For those who never got to see Hekla Aurora in the sky, these keychains offer a small, tangible connection to a plane that was more than just metal. As Icelandair put it on social media, "saying goodbye to such beauty wasn't easy." But with a keychain in your pocket, a little bit of the aurora stays with you.

If you're planning a trip to Iceland and want to catch the real Northern Lights, check out our guide to epic journeys that might inspire your next adventure. And if you're curious about other ways airlines are rethinking travel, read about Qatar Airways' new satellite WiFi or how trains are replacing planes on some routes.