Svensk_Interkontinental_Lufttrafik

Swedish Intercontinental Airlines

Swedish Intercontinental Airlines

Defunct Swedish airline, 1943–1948


Svensk Interkontinental Lufttrafik AB, SILA, trading internationally as Swedish Intercontinental Airlines, was an airline formed in 1943[1] by banker Marcus Wallenberg Jr.[2][3] An early president of the airline was Per Norlin.[4] In August 1946 with Danish Air Lines and Norwegian Air Lines it became a part of a three-airline consortium[5] (later four, with AB Aerotransport) that would eventually merge on 30 June 1948 with a pooled capitalization of $25 million as Scandinavian Airlines.[6] The airline operated Douglas DC-4[7] and Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft.

In 1946, the company was asked by a group of Jewish Americans if it could transport about two thousand wealthy Jewish Poles out of Poland, to then fly to the United States to resettle there. Given a scarcity of aircraft (SILA operated only a twice-weekly schedule between Stockholm and Warsaw), the airline was not able to take action on the request.[8] The airline was also a part of the 1946 introduction of United States airmail service to Copenhagen and Stockholm.[9]


References

  1. "Sweden Plans a Big Merger of Airlines". Messenger-Inquirer. Owensboro, Kentucky. Associated Press. October 23, 1947. Retrieved September 30, 2020.
  2. Millbrooke, Anne (2008). Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Alphabets of Aviation. Xlibris US. p. 556. ISBN 9781462818433.
  3. Buraas, Anders (1972). Fly over fly: Historien om SAS (in Norwegian). Oslo: Gyldendal Norsk Forlag. ISBN 82-05-00891-4.
  4. "Urges Agreement on Ocean Air Rate". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. January 5, 1946. Retrieved September 30, 2020.
  5. "Scandanavian Air System Is Formed". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Associated Press. August 19, 1946. Retrieved September 30, 2020.
  6. "All Scandinavian Air Lines to Merge". Boston Globe. February 11, 1948. Retrieved September 30, 2020.
  7. "International Airlines Now Operating Douglas DC-4 Equipment". San Francisco Examiner. August 29, 1946. Retrieved September 30, 2020.
  8. "Asked Passage for Jews: Swedish Air Line Official Discloses Request for Transport". Kansas City Star. Associated Press. January 5, 1946. Retrieved September 30, 2020.
  9. "Air Mail Flights to Denmark, Sweden". The News-Messenger. Fremont, Ohio. September 23, 1946. Retrieved September 30, 2020.

Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Svensk_Interkontinental_Lufttrafik, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.