Grounded: Islandsflug / ICEBIRD Airlines
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ค. 2024
- Episode 50 of Grounded takes a look at an airline very close to my heart, Islandsflug, also known as Icebird Airlines. This small Icelandic airline formed through the merger of a flight school and a tiny regional airline to become one of Europe's largest ACMI carriers, operating aircraft on behalf of numerous airlines across Europe including Excel Airways, Jet2, Aviajet, Blueline, Ryanair and Air Miles. They would eventually be absorbed into Air Atlanta Icelandic during 2005 so lets grab a party hat and sit down for the Islandsflug story :)
Naturally because of the nature of Islandsflug's operation, I mention quite a few airlines during this episode, some of which I have covered in previous episodes. Details of those are available below;
Airways International Cymru
Airways-Cymru were a small Welsh charter airline, they operated a fleet of BAC-1-11s and 737s until a sub-lease to an American carrier went sour and resulted in the bankruptcy of both companies. The Airways International Cymru episode is available here:
• Grounded: Airways Inte...
Sabre Airways
Sabre Airways was a charter airline operating Boeing 727 and 737s, they were the first airline in the UK to operate the 737-800 and also were behind the infamous "Peach Air". Sabre would rebrand as Excel Airways in 2001, if you want to know the Excel Story then this is the place to start, the Sabre story is available here:
• Grounded: Sabre Airways
Excel Airways
Excel Airways formed following a rebranding of Sabre Airways in 2001, operating the 737-800, 757, 767 and 747 Excel became the third largest travel company in the UK. Their story was so long and complex I had to split it into two, this episode covers the rise of Excel Airways and is available here:
• Grounded: Excel Airways
XL Airways
Following a management buy-out from Air Atlanta Icelandic / Avion Group, Excel was rebranded as XL Airways and was one of the UK's leading charter airlines and recipient of many awards. Unfortunately the MBO was ill-thought out and combined with dodgy dealings from the Icelandic former-owners it was a house of cards waiting for a global recession... The fall of XL Airways is covered in episode 8 and available here:
• Grounded: XL Airways
** PRODUCTION NOTES **
Ok first off, I want to apologise for any mispronunciation during this one, I know I stuffed up at least once... I don't sound particularly great in this episode, I had just recovered from illness so it took several attempts to record audio due to my voice going, hopefully it is barely noticeable.
Due to the nature of Islandsflug's operation there were a lot of aircraft moving around, some were very short term charters or sub-leases. In the interest of keeping the run-time down and also not making everyone bored I have left a few out, the most noticeable would be the 737s leased to FlyGlobespan. It was a bit of a trade-off really as Islandsflug didn't have a route network outside of their domestic operations and the cargo route so I've tried to make the best out of the info I had.
** 50th Episode Arrives **
Can you believe that this is the 50th episode of Grounded? I sure can't :) Just want to say a special thank you to those who've been following the series, it's you folks that keep me going :)
I do want to do a special episode to follow on which offers a behind the scenes look at Grounded and my channel in general as well as some Q & A providing there is enough interest. If you do have a question or want to know more then head on over to my website and send one in on the contact form, or post down below - all sensible questions will be answered, the not so sensible ones maybe too ;)
I really appreciate any comments and feedback on this or other episodes as well as suggestions for future episodes. Believe me, if I say that your airline is "on the list", it really is :) Check back to see future episodes or better yet, subscribe to catch them as they land and as always, thanks for watching!
** Chapter Guide **
00:00 - Islandsflug Origins
00:46 - Early Fleet
01:17 - International Expansion
02:02 - Enter The 737
03:58 - Icebird Airlines
04:55 - The New Millennium
05:10 - Sunbird Airlines
06:15 - Icelandic Registrations
06:30 - ACMI Leasing Market
09:23 - Excel Airways
09:40 - Acquired by Air Atlanta Icelandic
10:09 - UK Operations
12:02 - Absorbed into AAI
12:22 - Outro
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#Islandsflug #Icebird #AirAtlantaIcelandic
Some comments have disappeared, I believe due to issues with YT. If it's happened to you reply here and I'll get right back to you :)
I must have blinked back then - I don't remember the A310s . Congrats on 50!
Thanks mate :) Yes the A310s and A300s spent a lot of time in either the livery of who they were operating for or a basic white livery if they were moving around a lot so easy to miss. I remember being offered a trip across the pond on the Airbus but not being able to get over to Brussels in time to make the flight :/
Very Very interesting....cant wait to hear your personal adventures
Thanks Gregory :)
Another great review. Had fond memories of their first summer in BRS and payload problems on Runway 09! Great period to be based in BRS
Thanks Mark, I must have just missed you then as I was there in 2005 ;) The payload problems were supposedly the reason we swapped ELY for ELV as "Victor" supposedly had higher rated engines, which to be fair could be correct as my first flight was BRS-RHO on ELY and we had to divert for fuel on the way out and never needed to again after the aircraft swap.
@@ExpoAviation yes I remember leaving all the bags behind on the RHO sector! I started in BRS from 2001 through to 2018. Great place to be. My office was right next door to the Office in north side house initially before the crew room was moved into the old terminal. Loved Excel brand and the people. Was there in BRS for the last arrival. Very sad.
Great series btw!
Thanks Mark, I'm glad you've enjoyed the series :)
I only remember the crew room after the move to the old terminal, I only found out last weekend that it's been torn down for more ramp space. I did like the old terminal, just full of staff with our own security checkpoint, happy days :)
By any chance do you remember the riot that kicked off over the Zakynthos and Kefalonia flights one Sunday? When we finally got our 737 fixed at 1am and then something else broke so a passenger and her family requested to be offloaded and it was done on the taxiway since we were the only aircraft movement?
@@ExpoAviation god yes I remember it well! Got called in from home as it was so bad. Finally to see it push then a call from ops it’s coming back! Also remember a dispatcher leaving his radio on board so he jumped in a car and drove after the aircraft and the crew throwing the radio out of the window at the entrance to 27!! Happy days
Greetings from California, very exited to see you hit this huge milestone, once again a great episode:)
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it :)
Keep it going! Another great episode! ;-)
Thank you, will do :)
Other fantastic upload Expo 👍
Thanks Alex :)
Thanks for all the wonderful videos greetings from Scotland 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧 we flew home to Glasgow on excel I had celebrated my 40 TH the day before so it was late October 2004 wonderful memories
Thanks Ian, I'm glad you are enjoying the show :) I'm not sure who you flew with as Excel had gone bust in 2008 (sadly I was there), it could have been XL France as they held on until last year?
@@ExpoAviation it was definitely excel we flew with when we got to the Bellevue complex alcudia we booked self catering but they had us as half board so half board it was this has never happened again
@@ExpoAviation my apologies I got my years mixed up yes it was excel but it was 2004 maybe it’s a senior moment not a t 57 I hope
that's quite alright, we all have senior moments now and then :)
It was a great company to work for as well. Actually it was merged to Air Atlanta Icelandic. Great video keep them coming! The pronunciation was Islandsflug. It was the similarity of the logo with Aegean Airlines. Could you please make a video for TransAer?
It sure was :) Some of the friendliest pilots I ever had the pleasure of working with and a great laugh too :) I remember the merger very well as I was called in for "airport duties" at Bristol to help the transition, basically swap out the Islandsflug safety cards for Air Atlanta Icelandic ones as well as replace the Islandsflug manuals with the AAI ones - I still have the aircraft copy of the Cabin Crew manual from TF-ELV in my collection :)
Oh how did I miss the Aegean Airlines logo similarity? You are right, I can't believe I missed that. Yes I have started gathering notes on TransAer and should be covering them soon :)
@@ExpoAviation yeah it was a very nice workplace. Great atmosphere. Dont worry about the logo similarity i have noticed that back then cause i am from Greece and it was too obvious. I remember i did a very small research back then to see who used it first and it seems like the final logo was used at the same year 1998 for both companies. The only thing is that Islandsflug seemed to evolve it from a similar logo that was used on their Do208s that had a similar design with thicker gull wings. I am looking forward for your future videos and especially the TransAer one! Thanks a lot for your efforts.
One of my funniest memories was when we were boarded by the Greek military, the captain on that days flight was Greek and his son was based at the airport we landed at and wanted to say hello and bring some of his mates. As for the logo, the original Islandsflug logo was a recolouring of the logo inherited from Eagle Air, that was quickly dropped as the Metroliner had the new logo though the "sun" was painted grey and the birds had thicker wings, the final design was settled with the arrival of the ATR :)