Air Iceland Network, 2011

Two dull marketing statements overwhelm the cool arctic shine of Air Iceland's route map, showing the island nation itself, its glacier fields demarcated in white. The airline operates its pegasus-emblazoned props out of Reykjavík's airport in the city's center (Keflavík is not served) to the tiny communities in the north and northeast of the country, as well as a half-dozen settlements on nearby Greenland, which is unfortunately not charted here.

A connection to the main airport on the Farøe Islands, at Vágar, is also indicated by an arrow at bottom-right. Its nice that the airline is low-cost and reasonably low-fare, but somewhat unfortunate that the Nordic exoticness is in turn so under-celebrated.

Icelandair System, 1999

Icelandair enjoyed a golden era as Iceland's economy boomed in the last ten years and Iceland became the hippest destination for European and American weekenders. This map shows the flag-carrier on the cusp of this period, which has since ended with the complete meltdown of the global finance, which hit Iceland as hard as any place.

Note the North American destinations: Minneapolis, Orlando, Baltimore, and Halifax-- Baltimore is sadly no longer a destination, and the other two are now seasonal. Icelandair is much more widespread in Europe, ten years on, making its own way to Helsinki, for instance. It also stretches to Seattle now, filling the gap which was created when SAS made the painful decision to withdraw its long-going Copenhagen service. Two Greenlandic cities are also marked in red, although these flights are often passed between Icelandair, Greenlandair, and Air Iceland.