Birkir Hólm Guðnason is an Icelandic

Icelanders

Icelanders are a Scandinavian ethnic group and a nation, native to Iceland.On 17 June 1944, when an Icelandic republic was founded the Icelanders became independent from the Danish monarchy. The language spoken is Icelandic, a North Germanic language, and Lutheranism is the predominant religion...

 business leader, currently the CEO of Icelandair

Icelandair

Icelandair ehf is the flag carrier airline of Iceland, based on the grounds of Reykjavík Airport in Reykjavík. It is part of the Icelandair Group and currently operates scheduled services to 31 cities in 13 countries on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean out of its hub at Keflavík International Airport...

, the flag carrier

Flag carrier

A flag carrier is a transportation company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given country, enjoys preferential rights or privileges, accorded by the government, for international operations. It may be a state-run, state-owned or private but...

 airline

Airline

An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit...

 in Iceland.

Biography

Birkir (see Icelandic name customs

Icelandic name

Icelandic names differ from most current Western family name systems by being patronymic in that they reflect the immediate father of the child and not the historic family lineage....

) comes from Akureyri

Akureyri

Akureyri is a town in northern Iceland. It is Iceland's second largest urban area and fourth largest municipality ....

 in the north of Iceland. He finished a Bsc

BSC

BSC is a three-letter abbreviation that may refer to:Science and technology* Bachelor of Science , an undergraduate degree* Base Station Controller, part of a mobile phone network; see: Base Station subsystem...

. degree in Business Economics and Administation in 1998 af Aalborg University, Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

. Two years later he finished his MBA in International Business and Economics from the same university.

Birkir has worked for Icelandair ever since. At first he was Sales Manager in Iceland, then had the same job for North America. He moved back to Europe when he became General Manager

General manager

General manager is a descriptive term for certain executives in a business operation. It is also a formal title held by some business executives, most commonly in the hospitality industry.-Generic usage:...

 for Central Europe, stationed in Frankfurt. From 2006 he was General Mananger for Scandinavia, stationed in Copenhagen.

Then in May 2008 Birkir was appointed CEO of Icelandair.

He has presided over the company in turbulent times, first with the Icelandic economic collapse in late 2008 and then the volcanic eruptions in 2010

Air travel disruption after the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption

In response to concerns that volcanic ash ejected during the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland would damage aircraft engines, the controlled airspace of many European countries was closed to instrument flight rules traffic, resulting in the largest air-traffic shut-down since World War II...

 and 2011, but claims that these difficulties will only leave Icelandair more energetic and dynamic than before.

With his partner, Fríða Dóra Steindórsdóttir, Birkir has four children born 2000-2010.