Birkir Hólm Guðnason has been appointed CEO of Icelandair. Birkir has been with Icelandair for eight years and his latest position being the General Manager for Scandinavia. Björgólfur Jóhannsson, CEO of Icelandair Group, has also been acting CEO of Icelandair, but now steps down from that post and continues as CEO of the Group. Björgólfur Jóhannsson CEO of Icelandair Group says that being the Managing Director of Icelandair is a challenging job. "Icelandair is one of the largest companies in Iceland and plays an important role in Icelandic society. Birkir Hólm is a powerful leader who knows Icelandair inside out and has a variety of experiences of the operation of the company in Iceland and abroad. I trust him and his staff at Icelandair to lead the company and develop it with the changes in our business environment. There are immediate issues facing us in the form of higher fuel prices and consumer demand following economic uncertainties and a firm hand is needed at the controls of the airline." Birkir Hólm Guðnason says he looks forward to the task; "It is an honour to have the opportunity to lead Icelandair. I have worked for the company in a variety of jobs and countries and I know we have great staff which I look forward to work with. The big task ahead is a profitable operation of Icelandair in the challenging present environment. That is an exciting project which I will enjoy to tackle with my colleagues." Birkir is 34 years old. He finished his MBA in International Business Economics at Aalborg University, Denmark in 2000 and has since then worked for Icelandair. First as Sales Manager in Iceland, then as Sales Manager in North America, then as General Manager for Central Europe, situated in Frankfurt and from 2006 as General Manager for Scandinavia, situated in Copenhagen. He lives with Fríða Dóra Steindórsdóttir and has three children.