Sigurdur Helgason

Who was Sigurdur Helgason?

Sigurdur Helgason was an innovator in low-cost airlines.

Sigurdur Helgason is credited with pioneering the "hippie airline", Icelandair, that made low-cost air travel to Europe possible for generations of Americans

Born July 20, 1921, in the Icelandic capital, Reykjavík, Sigurdur Helgason came to the United States in his 20s and graduated with a business degree from Columbia University in New York in 1947. He then returned to Iceland, where he managed a cement company.

In 1953, Helgason joined the board of what is now Icelandair, a small airline that had been formed by three pilots nine years earlier. At the time International Air Transport Association controlled its members' fares. As a non-member, Icelandic was able to significantly undercut other transatlantic carriers' pricing, and it began service from New York to Luxembourg in 1955. According to Gudjon Arngrimsson, Icelandair's current Vice President for Corporate Communication, Helgason was a "very key player" in the strategy.

Helgason managed the American operations of the company from 1961 to 1973, at which point he returned to Reykjavík to become CEO of Icelandair. He stepped down as chief executive in 1984, assuming the position of chairman until retirement in 1991. He then lived In Iceland, Mustique, and New York.