Seaplanes: the commercial aviation era is born. The year was 1926!

The history of Italian Civil Aviation

The date of the first commercial flight in Italy was April 1, 1926. The Italian Company of Aviation Services (Società Italiana Servizi Aerei or Sisa), was the first airline company formed in our country. In 1926, Italian aviation began its first commercial activities utilizing seaplanes capable of transporting four passengers. The first Italian commercial route was Trieste-Turin-Trieste, with two stopovers in Venice and Pavia. For these flights, facilities built on the river Po were utilized .

Two well-known, important shipping magnates from Trieste, the Cosulich brothers, were the first to firmly believe in the development of commercial aviation. In the Monfalcone shipyards, alongside the large cargo ships, the Cosulich brothers began building the "Cant 10", single-engine double-winged seaplanes with a single hull, an open cockpit for the pilot and room for four passengers in the fuselage. Thus, the Italian Company of Aviation Services was born in Italy, and became known by the acronym S.I.S.A.. Below, is the reproduction of an old postcard which perfectly describes SISA's route.

Shortly after the establishment of SISA by the Cosulich brothers, other airline companies began operating in Italy, also employing seaplanes, creating new routes and utilizing Milan's seaplane bases (built for this purpose) and the course of the Po River.

After the creation of the Trieste-Turin-Trieste route, another route was created on April 7, 1926 : the Genoa-Rome (Ostia)-Naples-Palermo. Thus, a new company was created, the Joint-stock Company of Aerial Navigation, known by the acronym SANA (Società Anonima di Navigazione Aerea), headquartered in the city of Genoa. This time, the seaplanes utilized were the "WAL" and the "SUPER-WAL", built in Marina di Pisa under license of the German company "DORNIER".

On October 16, 1926, a new route was inaugurated connecting Venice-Trieste-Lussinpiccolo-Zara,

still under the management of SISA.; this route was essentially the continuation of the Turin-Trieste line. . 

SISA ended its first year of operations with the following statistics: 575 routes flown, 1,589 hours flown, 238,262 kilometers covered, 1,588 passengers transported, 13,470 kilos of cargo and baggage

In 1926 seaplanes were built in the FIAT facilities in the city of Pisa. Here, seaplanes of the class "WAL", produced by the German company "Dornier", which also supplied the engines for the aircrafts, were assembled. The seaplanes utilized two "WAL" engines. In the mean time, the company Siai-Marchetti appeared on the national market scene with the "powerful" S.55 models.

These twin-engine seaplanes sported two parallel hulls capable of carrying as many as 10 passengers (in catamaran-style double hulls) and they had two pilots, one of whom functioned as navigator

The evolution of commercial flights in 1926 saw times of great enthusiasm, and the contemporary press gave much emphasis to long-distance flights over the northern part of Italy. August 1, 1926 marked the official beginning of "international" aviation with the flight of the company " Aeroespresso Italiana ": departing from Brindisi, it reached Greece and the Dodecanese, then continued through Turkey as far as Istanbul. This Airline, besides its commercial aspects, was also aiming at the first international tourist travel. A special postcard, a label and many brochures commemorate this great event.

Map of the air route BRINDISI - ATHENS - ISTANBUL and BRINDISI - ATHENS - RHODES

The contemporary national press has always followed the evolution of commercial aviation, describing, thanks to the "reporters" of the time, the exciting moments of the first flights on four national routes. It should be remembered that, in the pioneering phase of aviation activity, no accidents were recorded and, in spite of the lack of adequate flight instrumentation and poor ground facilities, each and every seaplane flight was smooth and uneventful.