Airlines in Italy
For some reason, the Italians were reluctant (either privately or under governmental subsidies) to sponsor airline development. Though the Italian aircraft manufacturers could have supplied the planes, and although the military had a great deal of advanced experience via its air arms, the Italian civil routes were one of the last to begin operations in Europe.
The first steps to create an Italian national carrier were
taken in 1928, when state-owned capital was used to form S.A.M. (Societa
Aerea Mediterranea), which – with proper organization and modern equipment –
was ultimately to put Italy into the commercial running alongside Imperial Airways,
Lufthansa and Air France. Operations began on
1 January, 1928, with service between Brindisi and Valona, and in April a second route was
added from Rome to Cagliari, a service that was later extended to Tunis. By 1930, the S.A.M. fleet comprised nine flying
boats, nine Savoia-Marchetti S.55s, one S.59, and one Cant 22, and its operations had
proved sufficiently encouraging for the Italian government to begin a cautious expansion
by amalgamating other, smaller, operators with it. The
first of these was Transadriatica, which was taken over in 1931, and in that year the
company also inaugurated some new overland routes to Vienna, Munich and Berlin, using
newly-acquired landplanes such as the Savoia-Marchetti S.71 – six of which were
delivered – and the Junkers F.13. By
1932, S.A.M. aircraft were flying on scheduled services to Cagliari, Tunis, Palermo, Bari,
Brindisi, Tirana, Salonika, Florence, Venice, Vienna, Munich, Berlin, Aquila, Pescara, and
Ancona; its fleet had now grown to ten Savoia-Marchetti S.55s, one S.66, six S.71s, six
Junkers F.13s, three Junkers G.24s, and two Fokker F.VIIs.
Established Italian Airline Routes c.1930
In 1934, S.A.M. took over three more Italian airlines, SANA (Societį Anonima di Navigazione Aerea) – which already had
an established network of flying boat services to Africa, using Dornier Wals –
S.I.S.A. and Aeroespresso Italiana, and on 28 October that same year it was formed into a
new company named Ala Littoria, Italy’s first national flag carrier. This did not mean that it had a monopoly, for
another carrier, Avio-Linee Italiane, which was owned by the Fiat Company – retained
its independence and continued operations with a mixed fleet of aircraft that included
Fokker F.VIIs.
In March 1935, Ala Littoria absorbed another Italian concern, Societą Adria Aero Lloyd, and took over that company’s routes in Albania and North Africa. From then until 1939 the airline was responsible for carrying most of Italy’s civil air traffic; in 1939 it opened its last service before the outbreak of hostilities – a route from Rome to Buenos Aires, using Cant Z.506 flying boats.
