The relationship began with abduction

“It was an easy decision to put this book together. When the company was approaching its eightieth anniversary, in March 2024, Haukur Alfreðsson from the Loftleiðir Historical Society approached me and suggested that I make a grand photo book about the company’s history, a book that would make sense of this great Loftleiðir Airlines adventure. I thought so and got to work,” says Sigurgeir Orri Sigurgeirsson, recalling what made him decide to document the history of Loftleiðir and publish the book Loftleiðir, which was published last year.

He says it is safe to say that a lot of research went into the book.

“Although not specifically for the book itself. I had planned to make a documentary about Alfreð Elíasson and Loftleiðir in 2009. When making the film, I did a lot of preparatory work that was very useful in making the book. The work involved collecting photographs from the company's history and scanning them. Only a fraction of the photographs I scanned ended up in the film. The text in the book is based on the excellent biography of Alfreð Elíasson, written by Jakob F. Ásgeirsson in 1984, and interviews I conducted with Loftleiðir employees while making the film.”

A unique collection of photographs

When asked if he had to search far and wide for material, Sigurgeirsson says he has received photographs from various Loftleiðir employees.

“Among them were Halldór Sigurjónsson, chief engineer, Magnús Guðmundsson, pilot Kristjana Milla Thorsteinsson, wife of Alfred Elíasson, pilot Alfred Olsen, pilot Baldur Bjarnasen, pilot Jóhannes Markússon, chief engineer Einar Runólfsson, and pilot Dagfinnur Stefánsson, along with others,” he explains, adding that amateur photographer Stefán Nikulásson captured the early years of Loftleiðir on film.

“His collection is unique and was put to good use in the creation of the book, as well as the Icelandair photo collection. Furthermore, Elías Alfreðsson and collector Eiríkur Líndal were very helpful with various types of advertising material, brochures, flight schedules, and more. I myself bought some of the advertising material from sites that sell such collector's items.”

The biggest find, however, was in the collection of Swedish photographer Lennart Carlén, who worked for Loftleiðir from 1956 to 1973.

“Haukur Alfreðsson and I visited Lennart’s widow, Suzette Reding Carlén, in May, who lives in Luxembourg. She was very generous and helpful and gave us one thousand photographs from Lennart’s collection. She said that going through his collection and finding pictures related to Loftleiðir had helped her through her grieving process, but until now she had not trusted herself to look in his collection because of too many memories, sadness and grief,” he says, and goes on to mention that Suzy, as she is always called, has posed for many of Lennart’s advertising photos for Loftleiðir.

“They met, as the law requires, at Hotel Loftleiðir. Suzy, along with two other Luxembourg girls, had been hired as flight attendants for Loftleiðir from a group of 500 applicants and they came to Iceland for a course one spring day in 1968. They were sitting at a table in the crowded restaurant when Lennart appeared and asked if he could share a table with them.

Suzy was immediately impressed by this adventurer who traveled the world and took photographs. Despite a twenty-year age difference between them, they got along very well, were both wanderlust people by nature and were blessed with one daughter.” He adds that Lennart was an exceptionally skilled photographer and a joy to behold. “With his good presence and sense of humor, he achieved a good mood in his pictures. He was also an extremely skilled aircraft photographer, both in the air and on the ground.”

“Mom, look what I found!”

Are you personally connected to Loftleiðir or anything in its history?

“My acquaintance with the Loftleiðir family started on a rather negative note. When I was a baby and sleeping in a wagon outside my home, a member of the Loftleiðir family, named Kjartan Olsen, did not mind and kidnapped me from the wagon. He took me to his house and said to his mother: “Mom, look what I found!” His mother, Lilja Olsen, was shocked and returned me home with a heartfelt apology. Kjartan Olsen was about seven years old at the time. I think he wanted to join the Loftleiðir family and felt like I belonged there.

When I grew up, Kjartan and I became best friends and sometimes played a game of knife throw in the garden at home. One time, he accidentally threw a knife into my foot,” says Sigurgeirsson, noting that he still has a scar on his big toe where the blade of the knife sank into the flesh. "This was, as I recall, the last time I played this game with Kjartan."

He is a great joker and humorist, and his father was Olav Olsen, a pilot at Loftleiðir and one of the famous Olsen brothers, who were all Loftleiðir employees. The eldest brother, Kristinn, founded Loftleiðir with Alfreð Elíasson and Sigurður Ólafsson, and Olav’s family's home was opposite my childhood home on Þinghólsbraut in Kópavogur."