The story
The Beginning
After 1945 the company, Avianca had a complete monopoly over the airline industry. A couple of mechanics and pilots decided to form their own company on May 7, 1945, in the city of Barranquilla. Captain Ernesto Recaman Saravia was the first company leader of Lansa. His first actions of being the company leader were the purchase of four Canadian-made Avro Anson 625A aircraft. Each Avro had a capacity of a maximum of eight passengers. Lansa built their first airfield, only 2 kilometers away from Paseo Colón. The airfield was named "Las Nieves" which translates to "the snows". It was equipped with a 1400 meter long track next to a wooden shed that served as an air terminal. The first planes were delivered to "Las Nieves" on September 3, 1945.
Outcome
Lansa as a result of its success from its Atlantic coast routes and in Medellín and Bogotá, the company then acquired four Douglas DC-3 aircraft after having a successful year in 1946. In that same year, Lansa became a publicly traded company and changing its name to Línea Aéreas Nacionales S.A. After having been 2 years in the airline industry, Lansa accumulated 18 DC-3 aircraft. Its services were extended to the Caribbean Region, Neiva, Garzón, Popayán and Ipiales in the south of the country of Colombia. In 1948 there were negotiations of acquiring three Martin 202 aircraft, which had a maximum capacity of up to 40 passengers. However those negotiations were never finalized and the deal was off.
Internationalization
Lansa's first international flight was on February 8, 1947, from Barranquilla to Maracaibo. In order to expand its international operations, Lansa decided to request routes from Cartagena and Barranquilla to Havana and Miami, with the aim of competing directly with Avianca. This was the first major move by Lansa to compete internationally with Avianca. Also that year in 1947, two DC-4s were bought from the Argentine Merchant Air Fleet. Under the direction of Humberto Zimmermann, former Avianca worker, Lansa airmail services were inaugurated on June 22, 1950, then that the National Government awarded him a contract for the transport of mail and parcels.
From Wikipedia’s article on LANSA (Colombia), shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3