The Colombian Air Service (, SACO), was an early

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines ...

. Founded in 1933, in 1940 SACO merged with the Colombo-German Air Transport Company (''Sociedad Colombo-Alemana de Transportes Aéreos'', or

SCADTA Sociedad Colombo Alemana de Transportes Aéreos (SCADTA; ), was the world's second airline, and the first airline in Latin America, operating from 1919 until World War II. After the war, SCADTA merged with Colombian regional carrier Colombian Air ...

); the new company was named

Avianca Avianca S.A. (acronym in Spanish for ''Aerovias de Colombia S.A.'', "Airways of Colombia", and stylized as avianca since October 2023) is the largest airline in Colombia. It has been the flag carrier of Colombia since December 5, 1919, when it ...

(''Aerovías Nacionales de Colombia''). Avianca still operates to this day, and claims SCADTA's history as its own, thus making it the second-oldest airline in the world.

History

In the Hoover Administration ,American governors were fearing that European owned airlines were violating the

Monroe Doctrine The Monroe Doctrine is a foreign policy of the United States, United States foreign policy position that opposes European colonialism in the Western Hemisphere. It holds that any intervention in the political affairs of the Americas by foreign ...

, especially SCADTA , so to try to replace SCADTA ,they hired Ernesto Samper to create an airline. On June 23, 1934, Ernesto Samper arrived in Bogotá with three Curtiss Kingbird and four American aviators hired to operate them. With these aircraft, the SACO expanded its operations to other cities,

Bucaramanga Bucaramanga () is the capital and largest city of the department of Santander Department, Santander, Colombia. Bucaramanga has the fifth-largest economy by GDP in Colombia, has the lowest unemployment rate and is the ninth most populous city i ...

, Cartago,

Montería Montería () is a municipality and city located in northern Colombia and the capital of the Departments of Colombia, Department of Córdoba Department, Córdoba. The city is located away from the Caribbean sea, by the Sinú River. The city and r ...

and Cartagena.

Accidents and incidents

On June 24, 1935, a

Ford Trimotor The Ford Trimotor (also called the "Tri-Motor", and nicknamed the "Tin Goose") is an American Trimotor, three-engined transport plane, transport aircraft. Production started in 1925 by the companies of Henry Ford and ended on June 7, 1933, afte ...

of SACO collided during take off with another Ford Trimotor of SCADTA at

Medellín Medellín ( ; or ), officially the Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín (), is the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia Departme ...

, Colombia. 15 people were killed, including the world-famous tango singer

Carlos Gardel Carlos Gardel (born Charles Romuald Gardès; 11 December 1890 – 24 June 1935) was a French-born Argentine singer, songwriter, composer and actor, and the most prominent figure in the history of tango. He was one of the most influential inter ...

.Todotango.com page describing the collision resulting in the death of Carlos Gardel
retrieved 28 December 2008. After the accident, the SACO airline stopped operating for some time, while it was reorganized and new aircraft were acquired.

References

Avianca Defunct airlines of Colombia Airlines established in 1933 Airlines disestablished in 1940 1940 mergers and acquisitions 1933 establishments in Colombia 1940 disestablishments in Colombia {{Colombia-airline-stub

History

Accidents and incidents

See also

References