TABA (Transportes Aereos Bandeirantes)

  1947 to 1951

  Brazil

TYPE: Airline

IATA/ICAO CODES: -- / ---

HEADQUARTERS: Rio de Janeiro

FORMER NAME: TABA (Transportes Aereos da Bacia Amazonica)

SUBSEQUENT NAME: Loide Aereo Nacional (merger)

TABA (Transportes Aereos Bandeirantes) was the new 1947 name for the TABA (Transportes Aereos da Bacia Amazonica), originally founded in 1945. The new TABA changed its focus from transporting rubber to Belem, to flying the Rio de Janeiro to Porto Alegre route. Indeed, as the market for rubber changed radically after the war, prices had dropped and the air carriage of rubber had become unviable. TABA thus requested that the Brazilian authorities change its authorized routes, and since it would not operate in the Amazon Basin anymore, the name was changed to Transportes Aereos Bandeirantes in order to maintain the acronym.

In 1948 the airline started its services from Rio de Janeiro to Laguna using a Consolidated PBY-5 Catalina. Later, the route was extended until Porto Alegre.

After being grounded for some months in 1950 for lack of equipment, TABA was sold to Loide Aereo Nacional in April 1951. The TABA brand kept on being used on some Loide aircraft until the 1960's.

1950* to February 1962*

• Curtiss C-46A-45-CU Commando: PP-LDB, PP-BLF, PP-LDX (probably leased)
• Curtiss C-46A-55-CK Commando: PP-BLE
• Other Commando: PP-BLD