Air Atlanta Icelandic

IATA	ICAO	Callsign
CC	ABD	ATLANTA

Founded

1986

Hubs

Keflavík International Airport

Fleet size

Headquarters

Kópavogur, Iceland

Key people

Hannes Hilmarsson, CEO

Website

airatlanta.is

Air Atlanta Icelandic is a charter and ACMI airline based in Kópavogur, Iceland. It specialises in leasing aircraft on an ACMI (Aircraft, Crews, Maintenance, Insurance) and wet lease basis to airlines worldwide needing extra passenger and cargo capacity. It also operates charter services. The company operates in different countries and has bases worldwide.

The airline was established on 10 February 1986 by Captain Arngrimur Johannsson and his wife, Thora Gudmundsdottir. It started operations in 1986. Its first contract came when Caribbean Airways wet-leased a Boeing 707-320 from them for its London to Barbados flights. In 1988, the airline leased planes for Air Afrique to be used during the Hajj pilgrimage trips. This would become an important part of the structure of Air Atlanta Icelandic later on. Sudan Airways and Lufthansa were among the other airlines that benefited from leasing passenger airplanes from Air Atlanta Icelandic during the late 1980s, as well as Finnair, which leased a Boeing 737 from the Icelandic company.

It was in 1991 that Air Atlanta Icelandic was able to take passengers to the sky with its own airline operation. Its first flight was with a Lockheed L-1011-500 plane. Later in 1992, Air Atlanta Icelandic participated in the United Nations peacekeepers airlifting, flying the UN representatives from former Yugoslavia to Nigeria and France.

In 1993, the Boeing 747 arrived, and Saudia became one of the first airlines to lease that plane from Air Atlanta Icelandic, also for Hajj flights. After signing a contract with Samvinn Travel, Air Atlanta Icelandic began operating domestic charter flights as well. Later in 1993, a flight from Phnom Penh to Bangkok was launched using a Boeing 737-200.

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Wikipedia