Loftleiðir
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| Founded | 1944 | ||||||
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| Ceased operations | 1979 (merged in 1973 with Flugfélag Íslands to form Icelandair) |
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| Hubs | Reykjavík Airport | ||||||
| Focus cities |
John F. Kennedy International Airport Luxembourg Airport |
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| Headquarters | Reykjavík, Iceland | ||||||
| Key people | Kristjan Gudlaugsson (Chairman, 1970) Sigurdur Helgason (vice-chairman, from 1953) Alfred Eliasson (co-founder and CEO from 1953) |
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Loftleiðir HF, internationally known as Icelandic Airlines (abbreviated IAL) or Loftleiðir Icelandic, was a private Icelandic airline headquartered on the grounds of Reykjavík Airport in Reykjavík, which operated mostly trans-atlantic flights linking Europe and America, pioneering the low-cost flight business strategy on these routes.
Loftleiðir (the name being a compound of the Icelandic words for Air and Way) was founded on 10 March 1944, by Alfred Eliasson and two other young Icelandic pilots who had just returned from flight training in Canada. The first revenue flight (from Reykjavík to Ísafjörður) took place on 6 April of that year. During the initial years, only domestic routes out of Reykjavík Airport were operated using airplanes of the types Douglas DC-3, Consolidated PBY Catalina,Stinson Reliant, Grumman Goose,Noorduyn Norseman, Avro Anson and Vultee L-1 Vigilant. The first international flight (from Reykjavík to Copenhagen) using a Douglas DC-4 took place on 17 June 1947, the Icelandic National Day. Loftleiðir had expected to take delivery of the DC-4 already in 1946 (the first Icelandic airline to operate an airliner of that size and range), but the delivery was delayed because of the bankruptcy of the interior outfitter. Initially, the DC-4 was deployed on flights to Europe, as well as on chartered flights for third party companies, for example from Britain to South America.
In 1948, Loftleiðir was granted governmental approval to operate passenger services to the United States of America, which were launched in August of that year when a second DC-4 joined the fleet, with New York's Idlewild Airport as first destination. In 1949 and 1950, the DC-4s were leased to U.S. carrier Seaboard & Western Airlines because of the difficult financial situation Loftleiðir was in during that period.
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