Loftleioir The hippie airline

摘要

Perched in the North Atlantic on the very.periphery of Europe, Iceland is relatively isolated and has a national population comparable to a mid-sized British town. Yet this remote island nation was at one time home to not just one but two international airlines. First on the scene was Flugfelag Akureyrar (Airline of Akureyrar), -founded in June 1932 in Akureyri, a small port and' fishing town in the EyjafjoeRiur fjord in the country's far north. Three years later the company relocated its headquarters to the -capital Reykjavik and changed its official name to Flugfelag tsla'nds (Flight Corrtpany of Iceland - not to be confused with two short-lived seaplane operators of the same name). To increase its international appeal, it was more commonly known under its trading name Iceland Airways. The second player arrived on March 10,1944 in the shape LoftleiSir (also known as Loftleioir Icelandic and Icelandic Airlines), the brainchild of three young Icelandic pilots Alfreo Eliasson, Kristinn Olsen and Sigurour Olafsson, who were unable to find paid work after graduating from flight school Like its rival, the new arrival concentrated initially on domestic operations using a Stinson Reliant single-engine monoplane TF-AZX. A testament to the fledgling firm's diversity and flexibility, this aircraft spent the whole summer of 1944 supporting the local fishing industry. Eliasson and Olsen lived in a tent on the shores of Lake Miklavatn for several months, accumulating around 300 flying hours searching for shoals of herring.