Salon :: Tech & Business

Ask the pilot: The rich, colorful, checkered history of flying in Latin America. Plus: In which cities is it best to just fly in and get the hell out?

The history of civil aviation in Central and South America is a rich one. After all, it was a Brazilian, Alberto Santos-Dumont, who in 1906 made the first fully controlled flight of an airplane. <P>For many decades, however, it was U.S. and European companies that controlled most of South America's airways. It can be argued that the most influential carrier on the continent today isn't a South American carrier at all but, rather, American Airlines, which can trace its Latin lineage all the way back to 1929 and the founding of Panagra (Pan American Grace Airway). Panagra was a joint venture between Juan Trippe's Pan Am and the Grace Shipping Co., set up to compete with SCADTA, a German-owned outfit that monopolized many of the continent's most prestigious routes. Panagra later merged with Braniff, whose routes were eventually sold to Eastern in the early 1980s. With Eastern's demise, they were acquired by American. <p>...</p><img src="http://feeds.salon.com/~r/salon/tech/~4/251108640" height="1" width="1"/>

Comments