The Braathens Connection
By the end 1951, the Icelandic government found the severe competition between the two airlines destructive and decided to divide the domestic routes between them. Loftleiðir found its share too lean and suspended regular domestic services in January of 1952. Later that month Loftleiðir suffered another blow when the remaining DC-4 TF-RVH Hekla ran off the runway in Pisa and burned out. From being a transatlantic operator, Loftleiðir was now relegated to being a broke non-scheduled airline on an Atlantic island.
On the other side of the Norwegian Sea, Ludvig G. Braathen had founded Braathens South American and Far Eastern Airtransport as an extension of his shipping line in 1946. During the first few years the ex-USAAF Skymasters were used for charters. In 1949 Braathens pioneered services to the Far East with the longest over land service originating in Western Europe, linking Oslo with Hong Kong. However, in 1951 the Scandinavian governments decided to award all international routes to Scandinavian Airlines System, the Scandinavian chosen instrument, at the end of the running concession periods. Mr. Braathen started looking for new markets.
The Norwegians and the Icelanders met offering the other what they lacked. Loftleiðir had concessions to fly between the United States and Iceland, but also between Iceland and Europe. Braathens SAFE still had three years before losing its concession on the Hong Kong route. But more important to Loftleiðir was the Braathens maintenance facility at Stavanger, which it was to use the next 10 (17?) years, long management experience, and a solid bank account.
The two airlines set up a unique operation with two Skymasters - one owned by each airline - often with mixed crews. On the surface it remained a Loftleiðir operation. Both aircraft were painted in full Loftleiðir colours even thought the Braathens machine never left the Norwegian register. All crews carried Loftleiðir uniforms, and the cabin crew was entirely Icelandic. This Nordic airline union almost spanned the world linking Europe with New York to the west and Hong Kong to the east.
Loftleiðir’s managing director at the time Gunnar Þ. Gunnarsson stated that in his opinion there can be no doubt that this joint-venture paved the way for Loftleiðir’s growth in the fifties and also made the transatlantic service possible.
The first flight left Reykjavík airport for New York on June 12, 1952. The service spanned the North Atlantic to Norway offering a transatlantic fare about 16 percent lower than that offered by IATA
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