Icelandair, Iceland’s largest airline, was originally founded as Flugfélag Akureyrar in the north of Iceland on June 3, 1937.
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Icelandair, Iceland’s largest airline, was originally founded as Flugfélag Akureyrar in the north of Iceland on June 3, 1937.
Six years later the company moved to Reykjavik and changed its name into Flugfélag Íslands. In 1944 a second airline, Loftleidir, was founded by three young Icelandic pilots. Both companies served domestic destinations at that time but commenced international operations after WWII. Loftleidir flew across the Atlantic to America for the first time in 1953. The main reason for the success of Icelandic airlines was the importance of the country as stopover point for transatlantic passengers. Additionally, Loftleidir was much cheaper than most of its competitors as it was not part of IATA, which at that time determined transatlantic fares, and could thus charge prices independently.
In 1973 the two airlines were merged under a new holding group, Flugleidir, which carried on all existing flight services. Icelandair became the international name of this new airline, while Flugleidir remained the official airline name on domestic flights.
In 1987 a contract with Boeing was signed, giving Icelandair an all Boeing fleet, which later became a single type fleet of Boeing 757s.
A holding group with 11 subsidiaries in Icelandic travel and tourist industry was established in January 2003. The name remained Flugleidir (changed to FL group in 2005) or Icelandair Group in English, the biggest subsidiary is Icelandair.
In October 2005 a Boeing 767 was purchased, serving Icelandair’s first destination on the US west coast, San Francisco. Boeing 787s have been ordered, too. Two are due for delivery in 2010.
The airline was listed on the Iceland stock exchange in December 2006. It is completely privatized.
Owning more than 20 aircraft Icelandair serves 26 destinations in Europe and America from its main hub Keflavík International Airport.
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