Aerolíneas Argentinas

Aerolíneas Argentinas is the first South American airline to receive the Boeing 737-MAX 8.

Pictured: the aircraft was delivered to Buenos Aires on November 23, 2017. In June 2018, 5 B737MAX8s were operated on the line, by 2020 the carrier will receive 11 B737s in this version. Boeing Photos

The history of air transport in the second largest country in South America goes back almost a hundred years. For seven decades, the country's largest air carrier was Aerolíneas Argentinas, which faced competition from independent private companies during the development of the public aviation market. In the early 90s, the Argentine company was privatized, but after an unsuccessful transformation, it again fell into the hands of the state treasury.

The first attempts to establish air traffic in Argentina date back to 1921. It was then that the River Plate Aviation Company, owned by Major Shirley H. Kingsley, a former pilot in the Royal Flying Corps, began flying from Buenos Aires to Montevideo, Uruguay. Military Airco DH.6s were used for communications, and later a four-seat DH.16. Despite a capital injection and name change, the company went out of business a few years later. In the 20s and 30s, attempts to establish a regular air service in Argentina were almost always unsuccessful. The reason was too strong competition from other modes of transport, high operating costs, high ticket prices or formal obstacles. After a short time of work, transport companies quickly closed their activities. This was the case in the case of Lloyd Aéreo Córdoba, assisted by Junkers, who operated from Córdoba in 1925-27 based on two F.13s and one G.24, or in the mid-30s Servicio Aéreo Territorial de Santa Cruz, Sociedad Transportes Aéreos (STA) and Servicio Experimental de Transporte Aéreo (SETA). A similar fate befell several flying clubs serving local communications in the 20s.

The first successful company that maintained its aviation activities in the country for a long time was an airline created on the initiative of the French Aéropostale. In the 20s, the company developed a postal transport that reached the southern part of the American continent, from where connections with Europe were made from the end of the decade. Recognizing new business opportunities, on September 27, 1927, the company established Aeroposta Argentina SA. The new line started operating after several months of preparation and operation of several flights in 1928, which confirmed the possibility of regular flights on separate routes. In the absence of official consent, on January 1, 1929, two Latécoère 25s owned by the society made an unofficial maiden flight from General Pacheco Airport in Buenos Aires to Asuncion in Paraguay. On July 14 of the same year, postal flights were launched across the Andes to Santiago de Chile using Potez 25 aircraft. Among the first pilots to fly on new routes was, in particular, Antoine de Saint-Exupery. He also took charge of Latécoère 1 1929 November 25, opening a combined service from Buenos Aires, Bahia Blanca, San Antonio Oeste and Trelew to the oil center of Comodoro Rivadavia; the first 350 miles to Bahia were traveled by rail, the rest of the journey was by air.

At the turn of the 30s and 40s, several new companies appeared on the Argentine transport market, including SASA, SANA, Corporación Sudamericana de Servicios Aéreos, capitalized by the Italian government, or Líneas Aéreas del Sudoeste (LASO) and Líneas Aéreas del Noreste ( LANE), created by the Argentine military aviation. The last two companies merged in 1945 and began operating as Líneas Aéreas del Estado (LADE). The military operator still carries out regular air transportation to this day, therefore it is the oldest operating carrier in Argentina.

Today, Aerolíneas Argentinas is the country's second oldest and largest airline. The history of the airline dates back to the 40s, and the beginning of its activity is connected both with changes in the air transportation market and with political transformations. It should be mentioned at the outset that prior to 1945, foreign airlines (mainly PANAGRA) enjoyed fairly large commercial freedoms in Argentina. In addition to international connections, they could operate between cities located within the country. The government was unhappy with this decision and advocated that domestic companies retain more control over air traffic. Under new regulations that came into effect in April 1945, local routes could only be operated by state-owned enterprises or authorized by the company's aviation department, which were owned by Argentine citizens.

ALFA, FAMA, ZONDA and Aeroposta - the great four of the late 40s.

The government divided the country into six regions, each of which could be served by one of the specialized joint-stock companies. As a result of the new regulation, three new aviation companies have entered the market: FAMA, ALFA and ZONDA. The first fleet, whose full name is the Argentine Fleet Aérea Mercante (FAMA), was created on February 8, 1946. He soon began operations using Short Sandringham flying boats, which were purchased with the intention of opening a connection with Europe. Line became the first Argentine company to launch transcontinental cruises. Operations to Paris and London (via Dakar), launched in August 1946, were based on the DC-4. In October, Madrid was on the FAMA map, and in July of the following year, Rome. The company also used the British Avro 691 Lancastrian C.IV and Avro 685 York C.1 for transport, but due to low comfort and operating limitations, these aircraft performed poorly on long routes. The airline's fleet also included twin-engined Vickers Vikings operated primarily on local and continental routes. In October 1946, the DC-4 began flying to New York via Rio de Janeiro, Belém, Trinidad and Havana, the carrier also operated to São Paulo; soon the fleet was replenished with DC-6 with a pressurized cabin. FAMA operated under its own name until 1950, its network, in addition to the previously mentioned cities, also included Lisbon and Santiago de Chile.

The second company created as part of the changes in the Argentine transport market was Aviación del Litoral Fluvial Argentino (ALFA), founded on May 8, 1946. From January 1947, the line took over operations in the northeastern part of the country between Buenos Aires, Posadas, Iguazu, Colonia and Montevideo, operated by the LADE military. The company also operated postal flights, which until now have been operated by a company owned by the Argentine military - Servicio Aeropostales del Estado (SADE) - part of the aforementioned LADE. The line was suspended in 1949, the last leg of its operation on the route map included Buenos Aires, Parana, Reconquista, Resistence, Formosa, Monte Caseros, Corrientes, Iguazu, Concordia (all in the northeastern part of the country) and Asuncion (Paraguay) and Montevideo (Uruguay). ALFA's fleet includes, among others, Macchi C.94s, six Short S.25s, two Beech C-18S, seven Noorduyn Norseman VIs and two DC-3s.