Since I’m heading off to Colombia, I thought I’d leave you with one of the rare Colombia-themed ephemeral items in the collection. The following is an airline luggage label designed for SCADTA (Sociedad Colombo Alemana de Transporte Aéreo), which boasted as being the first airline to provide air service to South America.
Also known as the Colombo-German Air Transport Society, the German-owned company began operations in Colombia after the First World War in 1919. The small airmail carrier used Junkers seaplanes to make landings in the Magdalena River since there were few if any landing strips in Colombia’s rugged mountain terrain.
Partly in response to the rise of this German competitor, U.S. President Herbert Hoover subsidized the expansion of Pan Am (Pan American World Airways) with the aim of establishing a dominant presence in the Latin American air routes.
After the Second World War, SCADTA merged with SACO (Servicio Aéreo Colombiano) to form Avianca (Aerovías Nacionales de Colombia), the Colombian carrier which continues to operate today.
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