Icelandair

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Icelandair
IATA
FI		 ICAO
ICE		 Callsign
Iceair
Founded 1937
Hubs Keflavík International Airport
Frequent flyer program SagaBonus
Member lounge Saga Lounge
Fleet size 23
Destinations 26
Parent company Icelandair Group
Headquarters Reykjavík, Iceland
Key people President and CEO: Jón Karl Ólafsson
Website: http://www.icelandair.net


Icelandair is an Icelandic airline. Part of Icelandair Group, it is Iceland's largest airline, with main offices in Reykjavík. It operates services to 26 cities in 12 countries. Icelandair's hub is located at Keflavík International Airport.

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Icelandair traces its roots to the year 1937 when Flugfélag Akureyrar was founded in Akureyri on the north coast of Iceland. Operations started in 1938 with a WACO YKS-7 floatplane. In 1940 the company moved its headquarters to Iceland's capital, Reykjavík, and changed its name to Flugfélag Íslands.

A company called Loftleiðir was formed by three pilots in 1944. Initially Loftleiðir and Flugfélag Íslands concentrated on Icelandic domestic air services.

In 1945 Flugfélag Íslands (Iceland Airways Ltd.) made its first international flights to Scotland and Denmark. Scheduled international services were commenced in 1946 with converted Liberator aircraft leased from Scottish Airways. Loftleidir began international operations in 1947, and its pioneering low-fare services across the North-Atlantic commenced in 1953. At the time IATA determined the fares for airlines flying between Europe and North-America and all airlines charged the same amount. Loftleidir was not a part of IATA and could therefore determine its own fares, undercutting all competing airlines. This made them a popular hub for travel between Europe and North-America.

Flugfélag Íslands and Loftleiðir were merged in 1973 and the name Flugleiðir was adopted. The company's English name became Icelandair.

Icelandair Boeing 757-200 landing
Icelandair Boeing 757-200 landing

A large portion of the air traffic between the United States to Europe flies over Iceland making the island a transfer point for people travelling between the U.S. to Europe and vice versa. This accounts for much of the company's passenger traffic. Icelandair's stopover plan dates back to when Loftleidir started the plan in 1963 on its transatlantic flights at no extra cost. At the time Loftleidir was the only airline that did this and therefore pioneered sixth freedom rights.

Icelandair transported over one and a half million passengers in 2005 (1,526,241), the largest number of passengers that the airline has transported in one year. The number of passengers increased 14.5% from the previous year and since 1993 this amount has tripled. On average Icelandair operated 28 flights a day in 2005. (source: Icelandair 2005 Annual Report).

Destinations served from Iceland:

Icelandair Boeing 757-200 with winglets taking off
Icelandair Boeing 757-200 with winglets taking off

Artist's drawing of a Boeing 787 in Icelandair livery
Artist's drawing of a Boeing 787 in Icelandair livery

The Icelandair fleet includes the following aircraft (at February 2007)

On 28 February 2005 Icelandair signed a contract for two Boeing 787s for delivery in 2010 and purchase rights for 5 more.

On 5 April 2006 Icelandair signed a contract to exercise two of their five Boeing 787 purchase rights for delivery in 2010.

Icelandair shares many of these aircraft with its sister company Loftleiðir Icelandic. Loftleiðir Icelandic is now operating 6 Boeing 757-200s and 3 Boeing 767-300s. Icelease, another sister company of Icelandair, owns 15 Boeing 737-800. These aircraft are leased to other companies including Air China.

  • The first jets Icelandair acquired for their international routes were Douglas DC-8 when the airline was still operating as Loftleiðir Icelandic and Boeing 727s as Flugfélag Íslands. After the merger of the two, both types were used but during the 1990s they started acquiring their current fleet Boeing 757s along with Boeing 737s that have now been phased out of operation.


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