SAGA SHOP - Haust I Fall 2019

88 Icelandair Stopover What can you tell us about the old strategy for Icelandair Group? In 2012, we set ourselves the goal of unlocking Iceland’s potential as a year-round destination and, alongside that, strengthening Iceland’s position as a connecting hub between North America and Europe. We maintained our focus on flexibility and experience in order to build a powerful interna- tional airline here, with the goal of investing in the development of the Icelandic tourism industry and marketing Iceland as a destination on the global stage. Since 2012, enormous progress has been made, in collaboration with many of the large players in Icelandic tourism. The numbers speak for themselves: Iceland has moved BRINGING THE SPIRIT OF ICELAND TO THE WORLD Bogi Nils Bogason , President and CEO of Icelandair Group, speaks about the extensive work underway to strengthen Icelandair’s position in a changing market, including a new strategy for the airline. from being a summer destination to a year- round destination, and the tourism industry is today the backbone of the Icelandic economy. What were the reasons for creating a new strategy? Now that many of the goals of the former strategy have been realized, we considered it the right time to shift our strategic mindset and move from focusing on the tourism industry as a whole to focusing on the airline industry it- self. As a company, we run complex opera- tions in challenging environments, and we face enormous competition from other international airlines. We have therefore sharpened our role, and we will shift the focus in order to strengt- hen our future competitiveness, with a focus on aviation. What are the key features of the new strategy? We see our most important role as creating a simple, comfortable and enjoyable experience for our customers throughout the service process. However, we want to do this by continuing to create an Icelandic experience for our customers, as we are an Icelandic airline with strong Icelandic roots. We want to build the experience of the specialties and values that we, as Icelanders, think we have to offer—such as being resource- ful, flexible and willing to work hard. This change to our strategy doesn’t essentially alter the way we work. We have never had the goal of being a low-cost carrier, for example. What we can do is take better advantage of our location, and fine-tune our prod- ucts, services and cost structure in order to deliver smooth and enjoyable travel experiences.