Air Iceland Connect informations and photos

Air Iceland Connect, formerly Flugfélag Íslands, is a regional airline with its head office at Reykjavík Airport in Reykjavík, Iceland. It operates scheduled services under the brand of its parent company, Icelandair, to domestic destinations across Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands (operated by Atlantic Airways). Its main bases are Reykjavík Airport and Akureyri Airport. It is a subsidiary of Icelandair Group and merged with Icelandair in 2021, being fully absorbed into the parent company, while at the same time still operating flights under the name of its parent company.

Air Iceland Connect can trace its history to 1937. On 3 June that year Flugfélag Akureyrar was established; the airline changed its name to Flugfélag Íslands on 13 March 1940, the third airline to bear this name. The first Flugfélag Íslands was founded on 22 March 1919 and dissolved the following year. A second airline of the same name was founded on 1 May 1928 and operated until 1931. In 1973, Flugfélag Íslands and Loftleiðir merged under the name Flugleiðir hf. Its domestic division was called Flugleiðir while its transatlantic division was called Icelandair.

In Akureyri, Tryggvi Helgason founded the airline Norðurflug; it was incorporated on 1 May 1995 as Flugfélag Norðurlands. Subsequently, in 1997, Norðurlands merged with Flugleiðir's domestic operation under the name Flugfélag Íslands.

In late 2011, Flugfélag Íslands acquired two Bombardier Dash 8-200 aircraft for delivery in early 2012. Upon delivery of these aircraft, the airline sold its only Dash 8–100 series aircraft. It previously operated ATR 42 aircraft, wet leased from Islandsflug, from 2000 to 2003. A fleet of three Bombardier Dash 8-Q400 aircraft replaced the airline's five Fokker 50 aircraft in 2015–16. Services using the new aircraft included routes to Aberdeen which started in March 2016, and Belfast which began in June 2017, both flown out of Keflavík International Airport.

In May 2017, Flugfélag Íslands announced it had rebranded as Air Iceland Connect. Árni Gunnarsson, managing director of Air Iceland Connect, stated that the name change would help distinguish themselves from Icelandair and signify the airline's connection to Icelandic and international destinations. Dropping the Icelandic name resulted in complaints about the attack on the Icelandic language.

In February 2018, Air Iceland Connect announced a strategy change by focusing on regional destinations. Therefore, flights to the United Kingdom had been cut by 14 May 2018 and the Bombardier Dash 8 Q400s will be phased out.

On 9 March 2021, Icelandair Group announced that Air Iceland Connect is to merge its sales operations with Icelandair by uniting domestic and international services from 16 March 2021 and continuing the current flight operations under the Icelandair brand. The company Air Iceland Connect continues to operate domestic flights under its own legal responsibility but using the Icelandair brand.

Air Iceland Connect operated to the following destinations under its own name, before its operations were integrated with Icelandair's in March 2021.

Air Iceland Connect had codeshare agreements on flights to the Faroe Islands operated by Atlantic Airways, as well as on services to Grímsey, Thorshofn, Vopnafjörður and Nerlerit Inaat Airport operated by Norlandair.

As of December 2020[update], the Air Iceland Connect fleet consisted of the following aircraft, all of which now operate the same flights under the Icelandair brand:

Among the destinations, most in Greenland and some in Iceland have runways less than 1,100 metres (3,600 ft) in length. The Q200 is the only aircraft type possessed by Air Iceland Connect compatible with such runways. Its retired fleet includes Fokker 50s.

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