SAT (Southern Air Transport)
Operator Identification
1947 to October 1998
United States of America
TYPE: CIA front airline
IATA/ICAO CODES: Nil
HEADQUARTERS: Miami, FL
FORMER NAME: Nil
SUBSEQUENT NAME: Southern Air Inc.
Operator History
Southern Air Transport was a cargo airline best known as a front company for the Central Intelligence Agency and for its role in the Iran-Contra affair in the mid-1980s.
SAT was founded in 1947 in Miami as a charter airline flying cargo to the Bahamas. It was acquired by the CIA in 1960 for $300,000 from the company's founder, F. C. "Doc" Moor. At the time, it had only three aircraft and plenty of debts. SAT became a subsidiary of the CIA's airline proprietary network managed by George A. Doole Jr., the Pacific Corporation. SAT's Pacific Division supported the US war effort in Southeast Asia, and operated 23 Lockheed Hercules aircraft.
In 1963, SAT was missioned by the CIA to perform the major overhaul and ferry of 21 Commandos bound to the Ministry of External Affairs of India. These aircraft were then used to perform clandestine missions in Chinese-occupied Tibet until the early 1970's. The overhauls were outsourced to Intermountain Aviation in Marana, AZ, but SAT did provide maintenance support to the program in Charbatia, Odisha, India, also training local personnel to do the job.
The CIA sold Southern Air Transport for $2.1 million in 1973 to Stanley G. Williams, who had fronted as president of the firm from 1962 to 31 December 1973, when he purchased the airline. SAT was sold again in 1979, this time to James H. Bastian, a top-notch Washington, DC aviation attorney who had worked with Doole at the Pacific Corporation from 1961 to 1974 as secretary, vice president and general counsel. Under Bastian, the company quadrupled its revenues. It had over 500 employees in 1986.
As part of Oliver North's activities to trade arms for hostages with Iran and to support the Contra rebellion in Nicaragua, SAT carried four loads of US weapons bound for Iran from the US to Israel, and on the return flights carried weapons destined for the Nicaraguan Contras from Portugal. The shooting down of a SAT C-123 Provider in Nicaragua in October 1986 helped expose the Iran-Contra affair. Additionally, SAT aircraft were spotted being loaded with cocaine in Colombia in the same time period.
SAT later operated in conflict areas of Africa and the Middle East, while also supporting USAF's Logair cargo system in Europe. After declining in the 1990's, it closed down in 1998. Its assets were taken over by Southern Air Inc. which started operating in 1999.
Commando Operations
1950 to October 1984*
SAT operated at least five Commandos.
Last edited: 04/04/2024