Linha Aérea Transcontinental Brasileira S.A. was a Brazilian airline formed in 1944 and that started scheduled flights in 1946. In 1951 it was sold to

Real Transportes Aéreos Real Transportes Aéreos (acronym to Redes Estaduais Aéreas Limitadas, literal translation: State Air Networks Limited) was a Brazilian airline founded in 1945. It was merged into Varig in 1961, when Varig bought the Consórcio Real-Aerovias-Nac ...

, which incorporated the airline the following year.

History

Linha Aérea Transcontinental Brasileira was formed on July 22, 1944 with a fleet of five

Avro Anson The Avro Anson is a British twin-engine, multi-role aircraft built by the aircraft manufacturer Avro. Large numbers of the type served in a variety of roles for the Royal Air Force (RAF), Fleet Air Arm (FAA), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), R ...

s. Some experimental flights were made in 1945 but only on February 1, 1946 scheduled flights began. In October 1948 Transcontinental started and operational agreement with VASD, being the first case of an operational agreement between Brazilian airlines.Pereira (1987) page 289 In 1949 a third route was created, between

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

and

Fortaleza Fortaleza ( ; ; ) is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeastern Brazil. It is Brazil's 4th largest city—Fortaleza surpassed Salvador, Bahia, Salvador in 2022 census with a population of slightly over 2.4 mi ...

. In 1951 Transcontinental was sold to and incorporated by

Destinations

In 1948 Transcontinental was flying between

and

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, and

and

Recife Recife ( , ) is the Federative units of Brazil, state capital of Pernambuco, Brazil, on the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of South America. It is the largest urban area within both the North Region, Brazil, North and the Northeast R ...

via the coast. In 1949 a third route was created, between Rio de Janeiro and

Fleet

Accidents and incidents

*6 June 1951: a Douglas DC-3 D registration PP-NAL struck high ground while flying below minimums during approach to

. One crew member and one passenger died.

References

External links