AVIANCA, 95 years! Colombia, Masha pabien!

WILLEMSTAD - Sociedad Colombo Alemana de Transportes Aéreo (SCADTA) was established on December 5, 1919 in Barranquilla, Colombia. The founder and first CEO of SCADTA was Ernesto Cotissoz, a businessman of Jewish origin. His father Jacob Cortissoz born in 1848 in Curaçao was a Curaçaoan. Ernesto Cortissoz Alvarez-Correa died on June 8, 1924 at the age of 39 in a plane crash.

After the Japanese air attack on Pearl Harbor, SCADTA was forced to cease operations and to merge with the state airline SACO (Servicio Aéreo Colombiano). Thus arose AVIANCA (Aerovias Nacionales de Colombia).

The Brazilian SYNERGY GROUP took AVIANCA in 2004 and changed the name to Aerovias del Continente Americano (Avianca). After the merger of AVIANCA and TACA in February 2010 the official name was changed to AVIANCA TACA. Then in 2013 with the introduction of the new logo it was again transformed into AVIANCA.

Happy birthday AVIANCA, the second oldest airline in the world. Thank you for your service to Curaçao. Remember that Curaçao was also part of your humble beginning.

Thanks to Rudy L. Sprock for the information.