Icelandair is the national airline of Iceland, flying international and domestic flights.

In 1919, the first airplane arrived in this northern European country.

Icelandair Boeing 757.

In 1937 Icelandair began its life, but with the name of Flugfelag Akureyrar, based primarily in the northern city of Akureyri. In 1943 the airline moved its base to the country's capital of Reykjavík and changed its name to Flugfelag Islands.

By 1944, a competitor appeared - Loftleiðir, also known as Icelandic Airlines. In 1945, Flugfélag Íslands became the first Icelandic air company to fly international flights, when service was inaugurated to Largs in Scotland, using a Consolidated Catalina flying boat. In 1947, Loftleiðir followed suit, starting their own international flights, and in 1953, Loftleiðir became the first Icelandic company to fly transatlantic flights from Iceland.

Fierce competition continued until 1973, when the two airlines merged. At first, they adopted the name Flugleiðir, a hybrid of their two old names. In 1979, they changed the name to Icelandair, but they kept the name of Flugleiðir for domestic advertising.

In the 1990s, they expanded their cargo operations and made several advertising agreements with such model airplane manufacturers as Wooster and Schabak.

For a long time, Icelandair relied on DC-8s for their international routes. That began to change during the 1990s, when they acquired new Boeing 757s.

Today, Icelandair is Iceland's far biggest carrier and the only one on most routes but the low-fares airline Iceland Express started competing with Icelandair on two routes in 2003, from Keflavík to Copenhagen and London.

Destinations served from Iceland

• Glasgow, United Kingdom
• London, United Kingdom
• Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Paris, France
• Oslo, Norway
• Copenhagen, Denmark
• Stockholm, Sweden
• Helsinki, Finland
• Berlin, Germany
• Frankfurt, Germany
• Munich, Germany
• Zurich, Switzerland
• Milan, Italy
• Madrid, Spain
• Barcelona, Spain
• Boston, USA
• New York City, USA
• Baltimore-Washington, USA
• Orlando, USA
• Minneapolis-St. Paul, USA
• San Francisco, USA

External link

• Icelandair website (http://www.icelandair.com)