Icelandair
Icelandair aims to be the preferred airline to and from Iceland and an attractive choice for North Atlantic travel, committed to providing safe and reliable air travel and unique services. Icelandair currently serves 23 gateways in Europe, the USA and Canada.
The company has transformed Iceland’s geographical location between North America and Europe into a business opportunity by building an international route network with Iceland as a hub.
Icelandair divides its marketing activities into three main categories: Travel FROM Iceland, travel TO Iceland and travel VIA Iceland – i.e., flights between Europe and North America with a stopover in Iceland. By linking these three markets using the same Boeing 757 aircraft and the same route network the company has succeeded in sustaining and strengthening this business over a long period of time.
What Icelandair’s international expansion has accomplished for Icelanders, apart from an increase in the number of tourists and the business activities that have developed around the tourist industry throughout the country, is a system of outstanding flight services between Iceland and other countries.
Icelandair Route Network
The Icelandair business strategy is based on the geographical position of Iceland on the flight route between northern Europe and the eastern shore of the USA/Canada. By combining in its aircraft, passengers visiting Iceland, passengers departing from Iceland and passengers traveling across the Atlantic via Iceland, Icelandair has been able to expand its network steadily over the past decades. Icelandair connects 15-20 European cities to 5-8 North American cities through the hub in Iceland. The network is based on a 24hour rotation with morning and afternoon connections in Iceland.
The story so far
The story of commercial aviation in
In 1943 the company moved its headquarters to the capital, Reykjavík, and changed its name to Flugfélag Íslands, which then later assumed the international trade name Icelandair.
Another important milestone was passed in 1944, when three young Icelandic pilots, returning from flight training in Canada, founded Loftleidir, later also known as Icelandic Airlines.
Initially, both companies concentrated on Icelandic domestic air services.
However, in 1945 Flugfélag Íslands made its first international flights to
In 1973 it was agreed to merge both Flugfélag Íslands and Loftleidir under a new holding company, Flugleidir. In October 1979 Flugleidir assumed all operating responsibilities of its two "parents", and decided to use Icelandair as its international trade name, only retaining the Flugleidir name in the Icelandic domestic market.
On the 50th anniversary of the company in 1987 a breakthrough agreement was signed with the Boeing company to renew the fleet of Icelandair that served international flight. A new generation of Boeing jets, Boeing 757-200 and 737-400 replaced the older fleet gradually from 1989 to 1993.
In January 2003 Flugleidir became a holding company with 11 subsidiaries in the travel and tourist industry in
In May 2005, a Boeing 767 aircraft was incorporated into Icelandair's route network serving between
In October 2005, fundamental changes to the FL GROUP took place where investments became the focus of FL GROUP and its airline and tourist service operations were divided between two separate subsidiaries; Icelandair Group and FL Travel Group.
In October 2006 FL GROUP sold Icelandair Group to a new group of investors, who then put Icelandair Group on the Icelandic Stock Market.