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{{Short description|First airline in Latin America}}
{{Infobox airline
|airline        = SCADTA<br>(Sociedad Colombo Alemana de Transportes Aéreos)
|logo           = SCADTA_(logo).svg
|logo_size      =
|fleet_size     = [[Avianca#Former fleet|See ''Avianca'']]
|destinations   = 
|IATA           = -
|ICAO           = -
|callsign       = SCADTA
|parent         = [[Pan Am]]
|founded        = December 5, 1919
|commenced      = September 5, 1920
|ceased         = June 14, 1940 (merged with [[SACO (Colombia)|SACO]] to form [[Avianca]])
|headquarters   = [[Barranquilla]], [[Colombia]]
|key_people     = Ernesto Cortissoz (First [[CEO]])
|hubs           = {{nowrap|[[Soledad International Airport]]<ref>[https://www.elespectador.com/opinion/veranillo El primer aeropuerto de Colombia: Veranillo. - elespectador.com], (''Spanish'')</ref>}}
|secondary_hubs =
|focus_cities   = [[Techo International Airport]]
|frequent_flyer =
|alliance       = 
|subsidiaries   =
|num_employees  =
}}

'''Sociedad Colombo Alemana de Transportes Aéreos''' ('''SCADTA'''; {{langx|de|Deutsch-Kolumbianische Luftverkehrsgesellschaft}}), was the world's second airline, and the first [[airline]] in [[Latin America]], operating from 1919 until [[World War II]].<ref>{{cite news|first1=Claire|last1= Brown| title= National Air and Space Museum Exhibition Examines the Development of Latino Aviation|date=28 July 1998|publisher= Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum|quote=SCADTA Junkers F 13, one of the first commercial airlines in Colombia. SCADTA is the oldest, continuously operating airline in the Western Hemisphere.|url=http://www.nasm.si.edu/events/pressroom/releaseDetail.cfm?releaseID=108|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100408163410/http://nasm.si.edu/events/pressroom/releaseDetail.cfm?releaseID=108|archive-date= 8 April 2010 }}</ref> After the war, SCADTA merged with Colombian regional carrier Colombian Air Service ({{langx|es|Servicio Aéreo Colombiano}}), or [[SACO (Colombia)|SACO]]. Together, SCADTA and SACO formed [[Avianca]] - Aerovías Nacionales de Colombia, the Colombian flag-carrier. Avianca still operates to this day and claims SCADTA's history as its own, thus making it the [[List of airlines by foundation date|world's second-oldest active airline]], after [[KLM]] from the [[Netherlands]].

==History==
[[File:SCADTA Junkers W 34 "Magdalena".jpg|thumb|left|A SCADTA [[Junkers W 34]] on the [[Magdalena River]] (circa 1920s)]]
[[File:Hangar SCADTA 1922 (51312094238).jpg|thumb|A SCADTA Hangar in [[Veranillo]] 1922]]

SCADTA started out as a small airmail carrier using [[Junkers (Aircraft)|Junkers]] seaplanes capable of landing on Colombia's [[Magdalena River]], mostly since there were very few suitable landing strips in Colombia at the time. The [[Germany|German]] nationality of some of SCADTA's owners motivated the [[United States]] government to subsidize [[Pan American World Airways]]' expansion in Latin America under the [[Herbert Hoover|Hoover administration]]. SCADTA was barred from operating flights to the United States and the [[Panama Canal]], although it continued to maintain a broad route network throughout the [[Andes|Andean]] region. The formation of [[Pan American-Grace Airways]] in the 1930s further eroded SCADTA's position in the market. 

Prior to World War II, principal shareholder and [[Austria]]n industrialist Peter Paul von Bauer was forced by the US governments to sell his shares to the [[Pan American World Airways]] in an attempt to protect the airline from acquisition by [[Nazi Germany]]. Many of the airline's pilots, technicians, and key administrators were German or [[Austria]]n, and even though most had lived in Colombia for several years, the United States was afraid that the SCADTA pilots were engaged in espionage, and could be plotting to convert civilian aircraft into [[bomber]]s, in order to attack the Panama Canal.<ref name="LeoBra, pg. 115-119">{{cite book | last=Leonard| first=Thomas M.|author2=John F. Bratzel| title=Latin America during World War II| publisher=Rowman & Littlefield| year=2007| isbn=978-0742537415}}</ref>

The Colombian government was not concerned about SCADTA, though, and did not question the loyalty of the German pilots. However, restrictions were also placed on German pilots on how they could be utilized by an airline. For example, at least one pilot on every plane had to be Colombian.<ref name="LeoBra, pg. 115-119"/>

Following the [[Japan]]ese attack on [[Pearl Harbor]] in late 1941, SCADTA was forced to cease operations and its assets were merged by the [[Colombia]]n government with the state-owned airline [[SACO (Colombia)|SACO]], forming the modern Colombian national carrier: [[Avianca]].

==See also==
*[[Colombia during World War II]]

==External links==
{{Commons category|SCADTA}}
*{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20160125121534/http://thebatterseareview.com/critical-prose/158-the-logic-of-the-air The Battersea Review - Scadta/Panamerican relationship]}} Scroll to middle of page.

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Portal bar|Colombia}}
{{Avianca}}
{{Latin America during World War II}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:SCADTA}}
[[Category:Airlines established in 1919]]
[[Category:Airlines disestablished in 1940]]
[[Category:Avianca]]
[[Category:1919 establishments in Colombia]]
[[Category:Defunct seaplane operators]]