Southern Air Transport

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Southern Air Transport was the name of two airlines in the United States.

[edit] Southern Air Transport (1929)

The first Southern Air Transport, based in Dallas, Texas, formed on February 11, 1929 when businessman A. P. Barrett consolidated Texas Air Transport and several other small aviation companies. Later that year SAT came under the control of the Aviation Corporation, the company that organized American Airlines.

[edit] Southern Air Transport (1947-1998)

The second Southern Air Transport, based in Miami, Florida, is best known as a front company for the Central Intelligence Agency. It was founded in 1947 and became a subsidiary of the CIA's airline proprietary network, the Pacific Corporation. SAT's Pacific Division supported the US war effort in Southeast Asia. Although the CIA was ordered to divest its airlines in 1976, SAT continued to support US covert activities in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Angola, and elsewhere. In 1986 Nicaragua shot down a SAT cargo plane and captured SAT employee Eugene Hasenfus, leading to the Iran-Contra affair.

The airline declined during the 1990s. In late 1998 it tried to merge with other aviation companies, but it filed for bankruptcy on October 1, the same day that the CIA released a report detailing allegations that it had been used for drug trafficking.

Former United States Attorney General William Barr was described as a Southern Air Transport employee in Compromised, written by Terry Reed.