Somehow I doubt anyone is flying to Rome via Iceland. Even if there's no direct flight, people would go through London, Paris, Madrid or another big hub.
With the great circle route it's not that far out of the way (especially from the west coast of the US) and Iceland Air has some great deals. If you spend a night in Iceland, you can get some crazy cheap flights.
Ok, but did you make a stop at Baffin Island like the map suggests? Also one airline couldn't possibly carry all traffic from the Western US to Europe. And Keflavik International Airport doesn't look like it can carry all this traffic either.
I was looking into some transatlantic flights a few days ago. The cheapest one had a 20 hour layover in Iceland, which for a vacation type/no rush flight would be awesome.
Why? Iceland Air offers some of the cheapest flights across the Atlantic - I've stopped there on my way to Paris several times. And you can take a few days as a stopover for nothing, which is a nice way to arrive at your final destination already unjetlagged.
