The business concept of the group is built exclusively on Icelandair's route network and on marketing Iceland as a year-round destination.

[5] Icelandair Group is the parent company of nine subsidiaries that form the two business segments of Route Network and Tourism Services.

[6] In addition to passenger flights operated by Icelandair, the group has vast interests in most aspects of Icelandic tourism and aviation, including hotel chains, travel agencies, domestic airlines and cargo, support services, as well as fledgling ACMI and lease operations.

Icelandair Group traces its roots to 1937 when the airline Flugfélag Akureyrar, was founded at Akureyri on the north coast of Iceland.

[7] In 1943 the company moved its headquarters to the capital Reykjavík and changed its name to Air Iceland, which later assumed the international trade name Icelandair.

[14] On 5 November 2018, Icelandair Group announced that it had made a purchase agreement to acquire all shares of competitor WOW air.