Flug : tímarit um flugmál - 01.03.1955, Blaðsíða 40

Tlie Civil Aviatioit Admmísii’aiíon o£ Iceland
Brief hisiory
In its winter session of 1945, the Parliament
passed a law to the effect that the post of Director
of Civil Aviation be established.
This law, no. 24, of February 12, 1945, was the
beginning of the Civil Aviaton Administration of
Iceland, as it is know to-day.
Prior to this establishment of a special Govern-
ment agency to deal exclusively with aviation,
this young industry had been handled by other
agencies, with the assistance of a special adviser on
aeronautics, who reported directly to the Govern-
rnent. This adviser, Mr. Agnar Kofoed-Hansen, had
been appointed in 1956, prior to which time the
Government liad no direct concern with aviation
in Iceland, altliough appreciable progress had al-
ready been made in the preceeding years.
It would perhaps be appropriate, at this point,
to rnention very briefly the main aviation activities
that had taken place in Iceland in the years prior
to 1945.
The first Icelandic Air Transport Company,
Flugfélag íslands, was formed in 1919, luich would,
if it had survived, have been the second oldest air-
line in Europe to-day. Insurrnountable difficulties,
however, forced this company out of business after
a bold attempt had been made to organize air trans-
portation in Iceland.
The farsighted idealists had not given up the
í okkar vörzlu. Þessi félög eru bandaríska félagið
T WA, liollenzka félagið KLM, franska félagið Air
France og svo EL-AL, sem er flugfélag ísraelsmanna.
Þessi félög nota aðallega Gonstellationvélar, DC-4
eða Skymaster eins og hún er vanalega kölluð og
DC-6 sem er nýrri gerðin af Skymaster. Þegar okkur
skortir varahluti í flugvélarnar verðum við að
leita til varnarliðsins, sem á miklar birgðir vara-
hluta á vellinum.“
Þarf ekki flugskýli til starfseminnar?
„Jú, þegar fram líða stundir þurfum við auðvit-
að flugskýli, en eins og er fáum við afnot af flug-
hope that air transportation could be established
in this country. So the second attempt was made
in 1928. This was more succesful than the first one
and lived to see its third anniversary before mis-
liaps arul the general financial depression forced it
to discontinue its activities. This second Flugfélag
lslands, however, gained some invaluable experi-
ence, which showed that aviation was a rneans of
transportation extremely well suited for Icelandic
conditions, in spite of adverse weather at times,
whicli ivas far more irnportant a factor at that time
tlian it is lo-day.
The third and finally successful atternpt at air
transportation was made in 1957, when a few people
in Akureyri lmd the foresight to form Flugfélag Ah-
ureyrar, which was later to becorne tlie present well-
known Flugfélag íslands (Iceland Airways). This
cornpany operated, first witli a four-seater Waco
floatplane, and later, throughout the war with more
aircraft, and owned in the beginning of 1945, four
aircraft.
In 1944, three young pilots, who had recently
cornpleted their pilot’s training abroad, came home
with a four-seater flotplane, established an air-
line company and started to fly. This small airline
xcas later to be known throughout the world as Loft-
leiðir, the Icelandic Airlines.
After this brief interlude on the progress of avia-
skýli lijá varnarliðinu þar sem liægt er að korna
fyrir tveimur DC-6 flugvélum og tveimur Douglas-
vélum í einu. Með samningum við varnarliðið
fáum við forgangsrétt fyrir eina flugvél í skýlinu,
en annars eru viðgerðir við vélarnar unnar í þeirri
röð, sem vélarnar koma í.“
Verður starfsemi flugyirkjunardeildar aukin á
nrestunni?
„LJm það er eríitt að segja, því ennþá er starf-
semi flugvirkjunardeildarinnar alveg á byrjunar-
stigi og of snemmt að segja til um það, hvert verð-
ur framtíðarskipulag þeirra mála.“ /;.
38 - FLUG