Aero Portuguesa
The Aero Portuguesa (the AP, sometimes written Aero-Portuguesa, short names for the Sociedade Aero Portuguesa Lda. - Air Portuguese Society, Ltd.) was the first airline of Portugal with regular international services. It existed from 1934 to 1953, when its routes were integrated in the TAP service.
The AP was created with the main objective of providing a regular air connection between Portugal, Morocco and Brazil. The flights from Lisbon to Casablanca and Tangier started in 1934. The flights between Lisbon and Brazil started in 1936. There were also plans to establish routes between Lisbon, Madrid and Paris, between the Portuguese colonies of Guinea and Cape Verde and between the French Congo and the Portuguese colony of Angola, but the start of World War II didn't allow this.
During World War II, the AP gained the importance of being the only company of a neutral country to be authorized to fly to a belligerent territory. Because of this, the AP become the only way of communication of the allies with North Africa. These flights were used by many refugees from Europe, who were looking for refuge in Tangier. The AP route from Lisbon to Casablanca became world-famous for the movie Casablanca with Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.
The AP was absorbed by TAP in 1953.
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