02/20/09
Icelandic airline executive Sigurdur Helgason, who pioneered cheap flights that carried legions of backpackers between Europe and the United States in the 1960s and '70s, has died. He was 87.Helgason died Feb. 8 on Mustique, a tiny private island in the Caribbean, an Icelandair spokesman said Friday. No cause of death was given.Helgason, who reportedly spent winters on Mustique after retiring, was CEO of Icelandair from 1974 to 1984 and then chairman of the board until 1991.He previously ran Icelandic Airlines' U.S. operation in New York when it gained a big following among 20-somethings for its cheap flights to Luxembourg via Iceland, said the spokesman, Gudjon Arngrimsson. Icelandic merged with another airline in 1973 to become Icelandair, the country's flagship carrier."This idea of using Iceland as a hub between Europe and the U.S. ... that was the big break. In the '60s this really took off," Arngrimsson said.
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