Icelandair Group

Operations

Icelandair Group focuses on the international airline and tourism sectors, with Iceland as the cornerstone of its international route network. The business concept of the Group is built exclusively on Icelandair's route network and on marketing Iceland as a year-round destination.

During 2013 the Group employed an average of 2.850 full-time employees. 1.387 of those were employed by Icelandair. The number of employees had been rising steadily from 2.028 in 2010.

Icelandair Group is the parent company of nine subsidiaries that form the two business segments of Route Network and Tourism Services. In addition to passager flights operated by Icelandair, the Group has vast interests in most aspects of Icelandic tourism and aviation, including hotel chains, travel agencies, domestic airlines and cargo, support services, as well as fledging ACMI and lease operations.

History

Icelandair Group traces its roots to the year 1937 when a fledging airline, Flugfélag Akureyrar, was founded at Akureyri on the north coast of Iceland. In 1943 the company moved its headquarters to the capital Reykjavík and changed its name to Air Iceland, which later assumed the international trade name Icelandair.

In 1944 another Icelandic airline was founded, Loftleiðir, by three young pilots returning from flight training in Canada. Initially, both companies concentrated on Icelandic domestic air services but then began international flights between Iceland and other countries. In 1953 Loftleiðir pioneered low-fare services across the North Atlantic and became quite successful for the greater part of two decades.

In 1973, however, it was agreed to merge both Air Iceland and Loftleiðir under a new holding company, Flugleiðir. In October 1979 Flugleiðir assumed all operating responsibilities of its two parentes and decided to use Icelandair as its international trade name, retaining the Flugleiðir name for the Icelandic domestic market.

In January 2003 Flugleiðir became a holding company with 11 subsidiaries in the travel and tourist industry in Iceland with Icelandair being the largest subsidiary. In 2005 the name Flugleiðir was changed to FL Group which would concentrate on investment, while Icelandair continued its flight operations under the aegis of a separate company, Icelandair Group. The board of directors of FL Group announced in February 2006 its intention to list Icelandair Group on Iceland Stock Exchange. Then in December of the same year the company was listed as ICEAIR on the ICEX.

The next year FL Group landed in dire financial straits and then Icelandair Group was hit by the 2008–2012 Icelandic financial crisis. In 2009 Icelandair Group started a financial restructuring, which was successfully completed in February 2011.

Financial performance in 2013

Number of passengers carried by Icelandair in 2013: 2.258, up 16% by the year before.

Number of passengers in domestic flights (and Greenland) in 2013: 307.000, down 11%.

Available hotel room nights in 2013: 314.603, up 7%.

Sold hotel room nights in 2013: 222.320, up 6%.

Income in 2013: USD thousand 1.022.957, up 14%.

Profit in 2013: USD thousand 56.418, up 12,1%.

EBITDA was USD 143.7 million, up by USD 34 million in 2012.

Shareholders

Most of the shareholders of Icelandair Group are pension and investment funds in Iceland. The Pension Fund of Commerce is the biggest shareholder, with 14.36% of shares at the end of 2013. About 22% of the shares are held by small shareholders with less than 0.70% of the shares each.

List of subsidiaries

The subsidiaries of Icelandair Group are now ten: