SCADTA

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SCADTA (Sociedad Colombo-Alemana de Transportes Aereos, "Colombian-German Air Transport Society") was the first airline in Latin America, operating from 1919 until World War II.

At their first years, SCADTA worked with Junkers hydro-planes that could land in the middle of the Magdalena River since there were'nt any landing strips at the time.

The company's German ownership motivated the U.S. government to subsidize Pan American World Airways' expansion in Latin America under the Hoover administration. SCADTA was barred from operating flights to the US and the Panama Canal, although it continued to maintain a broad route network in the Andes region. The formation of Panagra in the 1930s further eroded SCADTA's position in the market. [[[Prior to World War 2, the principal shareholder, an Austrian anti-nazi called Von Bauer, secretly sold his shares to United States nominees. ]]] In 1941, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, SCADTA was forced to cease operations and its assets were transferred by the Colombian government, to the new Colombian airline, Avianca. [[[ The german nationals among the former staff were left unemployed.]]]

Amendments in [[[ ]]] taken from Gebauer & Londono, El Correo Aereo en Colombia, Bogota c. 1980. The latter is the definitive history of early airmail service in Colombia.

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