- Loftleiðir
Loftleiðir was a private
Iceland ic airline that operated from 1944 to 1973 when it merged with Flugfélag Íslands to formIcelandair .History
Loftleiðir, or Icelandic Airlines Loftleiðir, was founded on
March 10 ,1944 by three young Icelandic pilots after returning from training inCanada . During the first year of operation, they only operated on domestic routes fromReykjavík Airport and international services fromKeflavík International Airport .On
June 17 ,1947 , (Iceland's Independence Day), Loftleiðir inaugurated the first international service, linkingReykjavík andCopenhagen with a Skymaster. This was the first aircraft fitted for international operations. In1948 Loftleiðir was granted permission to operate in theUSA , and in August1948 , a Loftleiðir Skymaster landed atIdlewild Airport (now JFK) with 46 passengers. In1952 Loftleiðir opened regular services betweenNew York andEurope "via" Iceland.During the 1950s, restrictions on international air traffic were more rigid than today. The freedoms of the air restricted airliners to carry passenger and cargo to and from the country of the aircraft's registration only. Loftleiðir benefited from this by selling air-tickets from USA to European Cities by breaking the ticket into two, one to Iceland and one from Iceland. It was not necessary to break the journey, only issue the passengers with two tickets.
During the 1960s and 1970s, Loftleiðir introduced low-cost fare on the
North Atlantic starting fromLuxembourg via theNordic Countries and Iceland. The low-cost tickets became very popular and attracted many passengers. The airline faced problems withIATA because of this.Fact|date=March 2007The competition between Loftleiðir and Iceland's flag carrier, Flugfélag Íslands, led to economical problems and the two companies merged in
1973 into a new company,Icelandair . The name Flugfélag Íslands appeared again in1997 through a merger of Icelandair andFlugfélag Nordurlands , it was used for the domestic airline arm of the company. From2003 , Loftleiðir Icelandic operated again as a charter-company sub-charter aircraft to other airline, as a part of Icelandair group.External links
* [http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/ll.htm Loftleiðir]
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