Stodir

Stodir

Type	Private
Industry	Investment
Founded	1973
Headquarters	Reykjavík, Iceland
Key people	Ingibjorg Stefania Palmadottir (Chairman of the board), Jón Sigurðsson (CEO)
Profit	(ISK 67.3 billion) (2007)
Total assets	ISK 422.3 billion (2007)
Number of employees	78 (2007)
Website	www.stodir.is

Stodir (Icelandic: Stoðir, FL Group prior to 4 June 2008) is an international investment company, headquartered in Reykjavík, Iceland with offices in London. The company was founded on July 20, 1973, under the name Flugleiðir. It was formed as a holding company for Loftleiðir and Air Iceland.

Stodir was best known for its subsidiary Icelandair Group, which was sold in October 2006. Icelandair, Loftleidir Icelandic and other companies of Icelandair Group have been leaders in the Icelandic flight and tourism industry for about 70 years.

The company was placed into administration in September 2008 after Glitnir, its largest investment, was part-nationalised by the Icelandic government.

The company that is nowadays called Stodir was founded in 1973. In the beginning it was a holding company for "Loftleiðir" and Air Iceland under the name Flugleidir, a hybrid of the two old names. In 1978 Flugleidir took over all assets of both companies. Until then "Loftleidir" had used "Loftleidir Icelandic", "Icelandic Airlines" or just "Icelandic" for international marketing and Air Iceland used "Icelandair". That same year the name "Icelandair" was to be used solely for international marketing. Flugleiðir was still the official name of the company until 2005.

In 2005, the company known as Flugleiðir was changed to an investment company called FL GROUP. The airline had been spun off into a subsidiary named Icelandair in 2002. On October 23, 2005 FL GROUP announced its acquisition of the Danish low-cost airline Sterling Airways. In addition, FL GROUP holds a 16.18% stake in British "no-frills" carrier easyJet. On January 6, 2006, Hannes Smárason, CEO, stated that a merger of easyJet and Sterling was a possibility.