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-engined, 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) a ...

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 ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

and

Fortaleza Fortaleza (, locally , Portuguese for ''Fortress'') is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeastern Brazil. It belongs to the Metropolitan mesoregion of Fortaleza and microregion of Fortaleza. It is Brazil's 5th largest city and the t ...

. In 1951 Transcontinental was sold to and incorporated by

Destinations

In 1948 Transcontinental was flying between

and

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

, and

and

Recife That it may shine on all ( Matthew 5:15) , image_map = Brazil Pernambuco Recife location map.svg , mapsize = 250px , map_caption = Location in the state of Pernambuco , pushpin_map = Brazil#South A ...

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