Icelandair
Icelandair is
Iceland's largest airline and has its main offices in
Reykjavík. It operates services to 22 cities in 12 countries. Its hub is located at
Keflavík International Airport.
Icelandair is a part of
FL GROUP*
IATA Code:
FI*
ICAO Code:
ICE*Callsign: Iceair
Icelandair traces its roots to the year 1937 when Flugfélag Akureyrar was founded in Akureyri on the north coast of Iceland. In 1943 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.However, in 1945 Flugfélag Íslands made its first international flights to Scotland and Denmark. Loftleidir began international operations in 1947, and its pioneering low-fare services across the North-Atlantic commenced in 1953.
Flugfélag Íslands and Loftleiðir were merged in 1973 and the name Flugleiðir was adopted. It was decided that the company´s english name would be Icelandair.
The low-fares airline
Iceland Express started competing with
Icelandair on two routes in
2003, from
Keflavík to
Copenhagen,
London in addition it now competes on routes to
Stockholm,
Berlin and
Frankfurt.
A large portion of the air traffic between the
United States to
Europe flies over Iceland. Iceland has become 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.
Icelandair transported over one and a half million passengers in 2005 (1,526,241). This is the largest number of passengers that the airline has transported in one year. The amount of passengers increased 14.5% from the previous year and since 1993 this amount has tripled. The airlines load factor was close to 78%. On average Icelandair operated 28 flights a day in 2005. (source: Icelandair 2005 Annual Report).
Destinations served from Iceland:
*
Amsterdam,
Netherlands (
Amsterdam Schiphol Airport)
*
Barcelona,
Spain (
Barcelona International Airport) -seasonal
*
Berlin,
Germany (
Berlin-Schönefeld International Airport) -seasonal
*
Copenhagen,
Denmark (
Copenhagen Airport)
*
Frankfurt,
Germany (
Frankfurt International Airport)
*
Glasgow,
United Kingdom (
Glasgow International Airport)
*
Helsinki,
Finland (
Helsinki-Vantaa Airport) -seasonal
*
London,
United Kingdom (
London Heathrow Airport)
*
Madrid,
Spain (
Madrid Barajas International Airport) -seasonal
*
Manchester,
United Kingdom (
Manchester International Airport) -seasonal
*
Milan,
Italy (
Malpensa International Airport) -seasonal
*
Munich,
Germany (
Munich International Airport) -seasonal
*
Oslo,
Norway (
Oslo Airport)
*
Paris,
France (
Charles De Gaulle International Airport)
*
Stockholm,
Sweden (
Arlanda Airport)
*
Zürich,
Switzerland (
Zürich International Airport) -seasonal
*
California**
San Francisco (
San Francisco International Airport) -seasonal
*
Florida**
Orlando (
Orlando Sanford International Airport)
*
Maryland**
Baltimore/
Washington, D.C. (
Baltimore/Washington International Airport)
*
Massachussetts**
Boston (
Logan International Airport)
*
Minnesota**
Minneapolis/
St. Paul (
Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport)
*
New York**
New York City (
John F. Kennedy International Airport)
|
Artist's drawing of a Boeing 787 in Icelandair livery |
The Icelandair all-
Boeing fleet consists of the following aircraft (at December
2005):
*17
Boeing 757-200*1
Boeing 757-300*1
Boeing 767-300*0
Boeing 787 (4 on order)
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.
Fleet History
* Initially
Icelandair used
Douglas DC-8 aircraft for their international routes. During the 1990s they acquired new
Boeing 757s. In
1997 the airline established a subsidiary,
Air Iceland, to operate domestic and some short-haul routes.
* When
Flugfélag Íslands began international flights from Iceland, it used a
Consolidated Catalina flying boat.
*
Icelandair*
Icelandair Fleet Detail*
Icelandair Passenger Opinions*
Photos of Icelandair aircraft*
Icelandair.is " Sagan (Icelandair " History)
*
Airline Codes Website*Air International, April 2005
*Flight International, 5-11 April 2005
