Svensk Interkontinental Lufttrafik AB, SILA, trading internationally as Swedish Intercontinental Airlines, was an airline formed in 1943[1] by banker Marcus Wallenberg Jr.[2][3] An early president of the airline was Per Norlin.[4] In August 1946 with Danish Air Lines and Norwegian Air Lines it became a part of a three-airline consortium[5] (later four, with AB Aerotransport) that would eventually merge on 30 June 1948 with a pooled capitalization of $25 million as Scandinavian Airlines.[6] The airline operated Douglas DC-4[7] and Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft.
In 1946, the company was asked by a group of Jewish Americans if it could transport about two thousand wealthy Jewish Poles out of Poland, to then fly to the United States to resettle there. Given a scarcity of aircraft (SILA operated only a twice-weekly schedule between Stockholm and Warsaw), the airline was not able to take action on the request.[8] The airline was also a part of the 1946 introduction of United States airmail service to Copenhagen and Stockholm.[9]
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