Swedish Intercontinental Airlines

Svensk Interkontinental Lufttrafik AB, SILA, trading internationally as Swedish Intercontinental Airlines, was an airline and is today a part of the SAS Group.

SILA was established in 1943 by the Wallenberg family to start a flight between Sweden and England. The first CEO of the airline was Per Norlin. In 1943, he signed a contract with Douglas to buy 10 DC-4 with delivery when the war had ended.

The first civil flight between Europe and USA was in June 1945 with a modified Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress with stops at Reykjavík and Newfoundland.

During spring 1946, the B-17 was replaced by Douglas DC-4s.

In 1946, SILA became the Swedish part of SAS and in 1948 the airline was merged into AB Aerotransport in 1948. SILA was closed down in 1977.

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