SAM Colombia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| SAM | ||
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| IATA MM |
ICAO SAM |
Callsign SAM |
| Founded | October 6, 1945 | |
| Hubs | El Dorado Int'l Airport | |
| Frequent flyer program | AviancaPlus | |
| Member lounge | Avianca VIP lounges | |
| Fleet size | (2006) | |
| Destinations | (2006) | |
| Parent company | Avianca | |
| Headquarters | Medellín, Colombia  |
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| Key people | Fabio Villegas, CEO | |
| Website: www.avianca.com |
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SAM (acronym of Sociedad Aeronáutica de Medellín) is an airline based at El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá, Colombia. It operates domestic and international routes. It is a subsidiary airline of Avianca.
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[edit] History
Due to the topography with which it was created, Medellín was then an island in the figurative sense. Surrounded by mountains everywhere marked the commercial and industrial lead of the 40s. At that time a group of entrepreneurs began to move the key idea: To provide the city with an air transportation system that would connect it once and for all with the entire world. The axis Medellín-Puerto Berrío was so dynamic that the idea was discussed in entrepreneurial circles of both places and, in October 1945, at the 3rd Notary Public’s Office a deed incorporating Sociedad Aeronáutica de Medellín S.A. was recorded.
Medellín, due to that entrepreneurial audacity began to be a city with an airline, although it was still in paper. And it was in the mentality of its first partners and promoters, the final founders: Luis Coulson, Gilberto Escobar, Julián Restrepo, Joaquín Londoño, and Gustavo Correa who, since the beginning of 46 began to land their dream. For such entrepreneurial management a corporation was created with 15,000 shares, at 10 pesos each. In other terms, Col.$150 thousand were contributed, of which Col.$50 thousand were subscribed forthwith from the 5,000 shares, and the remaining 10,000 remained at the disposal of the Board of Directors.
The promoters received a decisive allied, Captain Denis Powelson, expert in the aircraft world market, enthusiast, in love with the country and explorer of its infinite possibilities. The Company, in principle, had decided to acquire small aircraft, but the concept changed and grew: There would be wide-range aircraft to save once and for all the cargo market to and from Miami. The DC-3, type C-47 aircraft arrived in October 1946. SAM was no longer a dream of a few and became a community reality: The first aircraft of the airline departed from Las Playas Airport in Medellín heading to Miami in the midst of a fair joy. It was the HK 500, piloted by Powelson himself with a three and a half ton cargo capacity.
In the second year of activities, SAM’s wings grew and began to embrace the world of the nearest Colombian cities: flights to Bogotá, Bucaramanga, Planeta Rica, Barranquilla. It was a fast growing process in this first start. Industrial and commercial activity increased to the point that in 1950 the fleet was comprised of 18 cargo planes and the destinations were beyond the map. SAM’s aircraft flew to and from Panama, San Juan de Puerto Rico, Lima and Talara in Peru, Kingston in Jamaica, Caracas and Maracaibo in Venezuela, La Habana in Cuba, Managua in Nicaragua, Quito in Ecuador, Curaçao, Mexico, Santiago de Chile, and Manaus, Brazil.
Having proven its efficiency in air transportation and established the routes that put an end to the bottling-up of Medellín and Colombia, in 1958 SAM decided to transport passengers. Air navigation with people on board started in a DC-3 and a C-46, and one of the milestones was San Andres, where it was the first flight of any airline. Wings were open and two years later the first Douglas DC-4 was incorporated to the fleet with a capacity for 65 passengers, but it was in 1970 when SAM became more famous because it inaugurated the Jet-Prop era for the country.
For then, the domestic and international airline, through its routes had become Colombian in its capital: The Santo Domingo Group had entered and accelerated its modernization and market share processes.
Then came the Electra and the taking of Central America was completed in those days, for Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica began being served from here. The Company then changed to the B727 range. Subsequently, the fleet was made up by British RJ-100, Twin Otter, and Cessna Grand Cravan. With these modern aircraft SAM united the most important cities of the country (Medellín, Bogotá, Cali, Barranquilla, Pereira, Montería, Valledupar, Cartagena, Santa Marta, Riohacha, Cúcuta, Leticia, and Quibdó), as well as several regional destinations (San Andrés, Providencia, Capurganá, Bahía Solano, Caucasia, Puerto Berrío, Chigorodó, and Nuquí) and, in addition, certain international destinations (Aruba, San José de Costa Rica, Panama, Quito, Caracas, and Curaçao).
At present, SAM maintains its operation in hands with Avianca, the airline of Colombia.
[edit] Destinations
[edit] Fleet
- Main article: Avianca's fleet
[edit] External links
[edit] References
| Avianca Group |
|---|
Avianca • Avianca Cargo • Avianca Services • AviancaPlus • DesKubra • El Dorado International Airport
  Capital Airlines • Helicol • OceanAir • SAM • VIP • Wayraperú SCADTA • SACO • Alianza Summa • ACES |
| Airlines of Colombia |
|---|
|
AerOasis • ADA • AeroRepública • AeroSucre • AeroSur • Aexpa • AIRES • Avianca • Avianca Cargo • Cargo Express • Central Charter de Colombia • Colombian Air Cargo • Cosmo Air Cargo • Helicargo • Helicol • LAS • SADELCA • SATENA • SAM • SARPA • Searca • TAC • Tampa Cargo • Vertical de Aviación |
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