Aeroposta Argentina

rdf:langString Aeroposta Argentina

rdf:langString Aeroposta Argentina S.A. was an early pioneering airline in Argentina established in the late 1920s, and a subsidiary of the French airmail carrier Aéropostale. It was created on September 5, 1927, as a subsidiary of the Aéropostale (formally, Compagnie générale aéropostale). In 1929, Aéropostale started expanding its airmail service within South America, and provided the first domestic air services on routes to Asuncion, Paraguay, Santiago de Chile, plus Bahía Blanca, Comodoro Rivadavia and Rio Gallegos in southern Argentina. The task to open the new air routes was given to, among others, two well-known French aviators: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry as the director of the newly formed company based in Buenos Aires, and to Jean Mermoz, as the company's chief pilot. Saint-Exupéry conducted Aeroposta's inaugural flight on November 1, 1929, flying from an airfield at Villa Harding Green to Comodoro Rivadavia. In the early days of commercial aviation, which was still in its infancy, its pioneers had to scout routes and sites for everything from potential emergency landing strips to gasoline depots. Saint-Exupéry's experiences in Argentina would inspire his novel Night Flight, winner of the Prix Femina literature award in 1929 and later made into an identically named Hollywood movie. That same year regular flights commenced to other Argentinian cities: Posadas and Mendoza. The following year service was further expanded to include Comodoro Rivadavia and San Antonio Oeste, closely followed by Río Gallegos. Aeroposta Argentina remained Argentina's only airline until 1946, when several new ones were created. In 1949 Aeroposta Argentina merged with three other air carriers, ALFA (Sociedad Mixta Aviación del Litoral Fluvial Argentino), FAMA (Flota Aerea Mercante Argentina) and ZONDA (Zonas Oeste y Norte de Aerolíneas Argentinas), giving rise to the county's new national airline, Aerolíneas Argentinas.