LATI (airline)

LATI-Linee Aeree Transcontinentali Italiane (Italian Transcontinental Airlines) was a transatlantic airline operating between Italy and South America between 1939 and 1941.^[1] It originated from Ala Littoria flag carrier. Although the transatlantic service was permanently discontinued in December 1941 following the entry of the United States into World War II, the company continued to exist as a paper entity until 1956.^[2][3]

LATI was estabilished on 11 September 1939, a few days after the start of World War II. For the first flight Italy and Portuguese government built up a new airport in the Ilha do Sal, the first airport in Cape Verde archipelago. It was essentially meant to serve as a fuel and provisions stop for flights from Rome to South America. In 1947, the Portuguese colonial administration purchased the airport.

The first flight was made by a Savoia-Marchetti SM 83 between Rome and Brazil on 5 December of the same year along the route:

• Rome – Seville – Lisbon – Villa Cisneros – Ilha do Sal (European section);
• Ilha do Sal – Fernando de Noronha – Recife (Atlantic section);
• Recife – Salvador – Rio de Janeiro (South American section).

The flight lasted 23 hours (for the 9,200 kms distance). Unfortunately, on the return journey the trimotor, registered I-ARPA, crashed near the town of Essaouira, Morocco, with the loss of the aircraft and the death of all occupants.

The air connection initially operated weekly, departing from Italy on Thursdays. After June 10, 1940, the day Italy entered the war, it had to be reduced to just one crossing a month. On January 15, 1941 during the return trip of the flight #104, the I-BAYR registered SM-75 was lost in the Atlantic Ocean with 8 flight crew and 2 passengers. It seems that it was overloaded (more than 10 tons) with diamonds and special materials that were needed for military industrial production in Italy. It was the only disaster that struck the route. In summer 1941 the route was expanded, to reach Buenos Aires (capital of Argentina).^[4]

The last flight was performed on 19 December 1941, following the entry into the war of the United States, which controlled Atlantic airspace. Furthermore, Brazil prohibited the use of its territory for any operations. The company had also been accused of smuggling rare minerals and collaborating with the fascist government in tracking British ships in the Atlantic Ocean. LATI recorded 211 trans-Atlantic flights, 132 of which saw the use of a special Savoia-Marchetti SM 83. The speed reached 300 km/h but it was only allowed to carry up to 500 kg. The flights were postal services but a few passengers were allowed to use them. Furthermore LATI had been able to pick up much of the mail traffic that German Lufthansa had provided to South America prior to ending its service in August, 1939. Until December 1941 it was the main carrier of postal services between Western Europe occupied by the Axis and South America.

Afterwards LATI focused exclusively on European (Athens, Seville, and Lisbon) and African (Algiers, Benghazi, Derna, Tripoli, and Tunis) routes until September 1943. During these years, on various occasions related to war, the aircraft lost were 1 Fiat G.12, 7 Savoia-Marchetti SM.75s, 2 Savoia-Marchetti SM.79s, 2 Savoia-Marchetti SM.82s, and 5 Savoia-Marchetti SM.83s. At the end of the conflict, the company, although formally still in existence, was unable to resume any type of activity until its liquidation in 1956, with the only interlude being an attempted merger with [Alitalia-Aerolinee Internazionali Italiane]] that failed.

• List of defunct airlines of Italy

• The Italian Air Service to South America (December 1939—December 1941), by Samuel J. Pezzillo ([1])