Transa Chile

  June 1954 to 1963

  Chile

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TYPE: Cargo airline

IATA/ICAO CODES: -- / ---

HEADQUARTERS: Santiago

FORMER NAME: Nil

SUBSEQUENT NAME: Nil

Compania de Transportes Aereos de Chile (Transa Chile) was founded in June 1954 by Captain Mario Contraras and businessman Fernando Ovalle as a domestic and international cargo airline. Contraras was a former CINTA pilot, who decided to start his own cargo airline when CINTA decided to refocus exclusively on the carriage of passengers.

Transa Chile operated a scheduled freight service from Santiago, Chile to Caracas, Venezuela via Arica, Lima, Guayaquil and Panama using a small fleet of Commandos. It also served local destinations within Chile and nearby San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina. A permit to serve Miami, FL was obtained. Two Cansos were purchased for a service to Punta Arenas, Chila and Juan Fernandez Island in the Pacific Ocean.

Transa was one of the pioneers in the aerial transportation of fresh meat in South America. It built an airstrip in Nirehuao, in the isolated province of Aysen in the south of the country, and opened a service offering local cattlemen a solution to transport their freshly slaughtered meat to major Chilean urban centers. The concept was later extended to the province of Magallanes as well. During the summers of 1955 & 1956, over 70 tons of meat were carried by Transa from there to the rest of Chile. Even though meat could also be frozen and carried by refrigirated trucks or ships, air transportation of fresh meat proved to be a cheaper distribution process. Soon, Transa was operating two scheduled meat flights every week to the province of Magallanes, and a weekly flight to Arica in the country's north, bringing 4 tons of meat per flight.

Transa's Commandos could be chartered to any point of Chile. It published the following flight times for various domestic destinations:

• Santiago to Concepcion: 1 h 30
• Santiago to Temuco: 2 h 00
• Santiago to Osorno: 2 h 30
• Santiago to Balmaceda: 4 h 00
• Santiago to Nirehuao: 4 h 00

Transa went bankrupt in 1963, and its permit to serve Miami was taken over by Oscar Squella who formed Transportes Aereos Squella.

1955* to 1963*

Transa operated a total of six Commandos, all in cargo configuration, with a 5-ton freight capacity. Some were used for meat carriage. [some sources also mention passenger flights]

• Curtiss C-46A-40-CU Commando: CC-CNE
• Curtiss C-46A-55-CK Commando: CC-CNB (leased)
• Curtiss C-46A-60-CK Commando: CC-CNG, CC-CNC-0466
• Curtiss C-46D-5-CU Commando: CC-CND-0471
• Curtiss R5C-1 Commando: CC-CNA, CC-CIA-0497 (leased)