1934: The Maiden Flight of a Mexican Airline

September 14, 1934

The first flight of a newly organized Mexican airline took place between Mexico City and Acapulco. Aeronaves de México was founded by banker and entrepreneur Antonio Díaz Lombardo. He appreciated the tourist potential of the seaport city of Acapulco on Mexico’s Pacific coast and saw regular airborne service as one of the fastest and most efficient means of transporting vacationers to that location from Mexico City. An early advertisement for Aeronaves de Mexico proclaimed, “Fly to Acapulco in One Hour and 45 min. to the Most Wonderful Beach in América.”

The airline’s pilot for that inaugural trip from Mexico’s capital city to Acapulco was Julio Zinser, an accomplished aviator who had received the first-ever commercial pilot license to be issued in Mexico. Zinser transported a total of five passengers on the airline’s first flight, which began at the Balbuena Air Field (present-day Mexico City International Airport) and ended in the field of an Acapulco-based resort known as Los Hornos.

The plane operated by Zinser for that pioneering journey was a Stinson SR Reliant 5A, a single-engine high-wing monoplane built by the Stinson Aircraft Division of the Aviation Manufacturing Corporation of Wayne, Michigan. (The above photo features this type of aircraft.) The Stinson SR Reliant 5A flown by Zinser on September 14, 1934, had been purchased by Lombardo from an insurance company.

Aeronaves de México went on to become one of the largest airlines in Mexico. It is now called Aerovias de México, S.A. de C.V. (Aeroméxico) and has the added distinction of being that country’s flag carrier airline.

Photo Credit: Public Domain

For more information on the history of Aerovias de México, S.A. de C.V. (originally called Aeronaves de México), please check out Aeroméxico – Wikipedia

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