Surinam Airways
Surinam Airways (Dutch: Surinaamse Luchtvaart Maatschappij), also known by its initials SLM, is the flag carrier of Suriname, based in Paramaribo. It operates regional and long-haul scheduled passenger services. Its hub is at Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport.
As of July 2012, Surinam Airways was wholly owned by the Government of Suriname.
History
The airline was established in 1953 by private entrepreneurs Ronald Rudi Kappel and Herman van Eyck, aimed at operating feeder flights from a domestic network. Scheduled operations started in January 1955, initially serving the Paramaribo–Moengo route. On 30 August 1962, the company was taken over by the Surinamese government and renamed SLM – Surinaamse Luchtvaart Maatschappij.
From 1964 Surinam Airways started scheduled international operations to Curaçao together with ALM Antillean Airlines.
Upon the country's independence in November 1975, the carrier was appointed as the national airline of the Republic of Suriname, and it also started services to Amsterdam using a Douglas DC-8-63 that was leased from KLM.
