Aerolíneas Argentinas S.A. | Origins
Origins
Argentine civil aviation has its roots in the French airmail line Aéropostale and its South American subsidiaries, one of which was Aeroposta Argentina. Aeroposta was established in 1927 primarily as a mail carrier. Early flights in this country were often perilous; rudimentary equipment, strong winds, and poor landing strips inspired flying adventures of the kind recounted by the famous French aviator and writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Moreover, the company was battered by worldwide economic depression in the early 1930s, during which time the French government withdrew much of its financial support for parent company Aéropostale. In 1932, control of Aeroposta underwent several changes, including temporary ownership by the Argentinian post office, but the company ultimately survived as Aeroposta Argentina, S.A., the national airline of Argentina. In 1937, Aeroposta's economic woes were somewhat allayed when Argentina's Pueyrredon financial group, a conglomerate of banks and insurance companies, bought out the remaining French interests in the line. Although Aeroposta came under the control of Ernesto Pueyrredon, it also continued to receive a subsidy from the Argentinian government.
Beginning in the late 1930s, other airlines were starting to crop up in Argentina. In 1946, the government of Argentina imposed some organization on the country's airlines (and fended off competition from foreign airlines, such as the U.S. based PANAGRA), forming a system of mixed-stock companies. Aside from Aeroposta, three new joint stock companies were created out of the airlines that had sprung up in the 1930s. The first was FAMA (Flota Aérea Mercante Argentina), which set the precedent for the nation's international air service. ALFA (Aviaciín del Litoral Fluvial Argentina) was formed by merging one private, one military, and one civil airline. ZONDA (Zonas Oeste y Norte de Aerolíneas Argentinas) took over PANAGRA's domestic trade network in the northwest.