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 (1975-11), 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.

Airway (disambiguation)

An airway is a part of the respiratory system through which air flows.

Airway may also refer to:

See also

Suriname

Coordinates: 4°N 56°W / 4°N 56°W / 4; -56

Suriname (/ˈsʊrᵻnæm/, /ˈsʊrᵻnɑːm/ or /ˈsʊrᵻnəm/, also spelled Surinam), officially known as the Republic of Suriname (Dutch: Republiek Suriname, Dutch pronunciation: [ˌreːpyˈblik ˌsyːriˈnaːmə]), is a sovereign state on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west and Brazil to the south. At just under 165,000 km² (64,000 sq mi), it is the smallest country in South America. Suriname has a population of approximately 566,000, most of whom live on the country's north coast, in and around the capital and largest city, Paramaribo.

Originally inhabited by a number of indigenous tribes, Suriname was explored and contested by European powers before coming under Dutch rule in the late 17th century. In 1948 the country gained autonomy and in 1954 it became one of the constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. On 25 November 1975, the country of Suriname left the Kingdom of the Netherlands to become an independent state, nonetheless maintaining close economic, diplomatic, and cultural ties to its former colonizer.