The Colombian Air Service (Spanish: Servicio Aéreo Colombiano, SACO), was an early Colombian airline. Founded in 1933, in 1940 SACO merged with the Colombo-German Air Transport Company (Sociedad Colombo-Alemana de Transportes Aéreos, or SCADTA); the new company was named Avianca (Aerovías Nacionales de Colombia).[1] Avianca still operates to this day, and claims SCADTA's history as its own, thus making it the second-oldest airline in the world.
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| Founded | June 15, 1933 | ||||||
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| Commenced operations | June 27, 1933 | ||||||
| Ceased operations | June 14, 1940 (merged with SCADTA to form Avianca) | ||||||
| Alliance | Pan Am | ||||||
| Headquarters | Bogotá, Colombia | ||||||
History
editOn 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, Cartago, Montería and Cartagena.
Accidents and incidents
editOn June 24, 1935, a Ford Trimotor of SACO collided during take off with another Ford Trimotor of SCADTA at Medellín, Colombia. 15 people were killed, including the world-famous tango singer Carlos Gardel.[2] After the accident, the SACO airline stopped operating for some time, while it was reorganized and new aircraft were acquired.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Burden, William Armistead Moale. The Struggle for Airways in Latin America (reprint), p.73. Arno Press, New York, 1977. ISBN 0-405-09716-6
- ^ Todotango.com page describing the collision resulting in the death of Carlos Gardel Archived 2008-11-20 at the Wayback Machine retrieved 28 December 2008.
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