Word: icelandair
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Icelandic government quickly took matters in hand. Prime Minister Steingrimur Hermannsson, granted emergency powers, commandeered the four largest central hotels. Tourists on an Icelandair promotion package were ordered to clear out early. That opened up space for only 916 visitors, but again entrepreneurial Icelanders promptly filled the gap. Houses and apartments in central Reykjavik were renting for an unheard of $6,000 to $7,000 for the summit week. "This is a chance of a lifetime," said one woman. "I'd much rather be in Majorca anyway." The Soviet Union plans to solve the space crunch by sending...
Black clouds for Icelandair...
...still at cut rates. In 1977 Icelandic carried 240,000 passengers. But then came Freddie Laker's Skytrain flights and subsequent price slashing by the major airlines. Budget flyers could now skip both Reykjavik and Luxembourg and still save money. After losses of $15 million last year, Icelandair, its official name since 1979, slashed the number of transatlantic flights from 23 to 2 per week and laid off 900 of its 1,700 employees. Though it will continue European and domestic flights with a new Boeing 727 and four F-27 Friendships, Icelandair will abandon all but a token...
...Lilliputian line has been hurt by other problems as well. Last year Icelandair's single DC-10 was grounded for 37 days following the crash of an American Airlines DC-10 in Chicago. The airline has also been troubled by a large number of no-show passengers, who had booked with it as a backstop in case they could not get stand-by seats on a major carrier...
Earlier this year Iceland's government gave the company a $5 million loan in the hope that the vacation season would get Icelandair aloft again. But the tourists did not return. The company also attempted a merger with Lux-air, Luxembourg's airline. That also failed to take off. Now Icelandair is negotiating to sell its elderly Boeing 727s to Yugoslavia, and it has leased its DC-10 to Air Florida. Like the flower children it once served, Icelandair is left mostly with memories...