Formed at Buenos Aires on September 5, 1927 as a subsidiary of the famed French international mail line Aeropostale (1) (Compagnie Generale Aeropostale, S. A.). Board members include both French and Argentine officials and famed French pilot Paul Vachet is made director general. The Argentine carrier takes up all of 1928 with preparations for service. On September 14, the government of Paraguay provides a mail contract.
Flying a Latecoere 25 provided by Aeropostale (1) (Compagnie Generale Aeropostale, S. A.), Vachet inaugurates AA’s twice-weekly scheduled service to Asuncion on January 13, 1929 via Monte Cuceros and Posadas. Following the route proving flights of another famed Aeropostale pilot, Antoine de Saint Exupery, the Argentine subsidiary is able to launch regularly scheduled flights on November 1 from Bahia Blanca to Comodore Rivadavia, via San Antonio Oeste and Trelew.
Following additional exploratory flights, Saint Exupery, flying a new Latecoere 28 with Aeropostale (1) (Compagnie Generale Aeropostale, S. A.) President Marcel Bouilloux-Lafont as passenger, opens regular AA service from Comodore Rivadavia south to Rio Gallegos on April 2, 1930 , via Puerto Deseado, San Julian, and Santa Cruz. Six more Late 25s and a Potez 25A.2 are transferred to the subsidiary from its parent during the remainder of the year.
Aeropostale (1) (Compagnie Generale Aeropostale, S. A.) in forced into liquidation in France on March 31, 1931, leaving its South American subsidiaries without the company’s support. On April 17, the Asuncion service is suspended. Without income, AA “rents” its assets to the national government on September 29, which renames its temporary acquisition Aeroposta Nacional. Under direction of the Post Office, the Bahia Blanca-Rio Gallegos route is kept open as of October 2.
The Post Office operation ends on March 31, 1932; during its service time, a total of 208 passengers in addition to mail, are transported. On May 31, the government, in cooperation with the French department handling the liquidation of Aeropostale, reactivates the onetime junior airline partner as a private commercial company, AA.
A special fuel allowance together with a temporary monthly subsidy is provided from June 1 to December 31; meanwhile, Rio Gallegos flights continue much as before. On March 24, 1933, the government grants the carrier an exclusive ten-year route concession and a monthly 180,000-peso subsidy.
The Pategonian operation continues in 1934 and 1935; in November of the latter year, the route is initially, although not regularly, extended from Rio Gallegos to Rio Grande, the main town on the island of Tierra del Fuego. During the year, 7 ex-Aeropostale Latecoere 28s are delivered.
All French interest in the carrier are purchased from Air France in 1936 and it becomes a fully Argentine company. A Poetz 29-2 is obtained at the same time. During the year Dr. Ernesto Pueyrredon takes a personal interest in the airline and on February 1, 1937 the commercial conglomerate bearing his name purchases the airline, allowing him to become president.
The government subsidy is continued and on October 14, AA begins to receive five Junkers Ju-52/3ms, courtesy of a cooperative arrangement with Deutsche Lufthansa, A. G. (DLH). These now allow full, regularly scheduled service on the Patagonian run (even as far south as Rio Grande) and transfer of the northern terminus of that route from Bahia Blanca to Quilmes, a Buenos Aires suburb, where international connections can be made.
Services are maintained in 1938-1945 with little change. In February of the latter year, the operations of Servicio Aereo Territorial de Santa
Cruz, S. A. are taken over.
On April 12, 1946, the Argentine government decides to create a number of airline mixed-stock companies and, later in the year, an ex-USAAF UC-78 joins the fleet.
On February 13, 1947, AA is reorganized for the fifth time in its history, becoming a joint-stock company (20% government ownership, 80% Pueyrredon). Meanwhile during the month, the first of six Douglas DC-3s are delivered. The government now allocates regional airline routes within the country in an effort to coordinate air transport operations; spheres of influence are created and Aeroposta receives Zones I and II (roughly the southern half of the country below a line gradually descending southwest to the Chilean border from Buenos Aires).
Two new routes are opened on May 15: Buenos Aires to Bariloche/ Esquel; on Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost terminus is transferred to Ushuaia from Rio Grande. Additionally, the carrier is granted international traffic rights to serve the Chilean cities of Pilmaiquen and Punta Arenas.
The DC-3 order is finished in 1948 and on May 3, 1949, following the government’s decision to create a single state airline, the company is one of four airlines merged to form Aerolineas Argentinas, S. A.
World History
