Surinam Airways (Paramaribo) is celebrating 50 years as an airline. Organized in 1953, the airline commenced scheduled commercial operations on January 6, 1955 as SLM (Surinaamse Luchtvaart Maatschappij) flying from Paramaribo to Moengo with a Cessna 170B aircraft. The Surinam Airways name was adopted in 1966 and gradually replaced all references to SLM.
Read the full story from the Curacao Chronicle: CLICK HERE
Peter Sanches has written a beautiful book (we helped Peter with many of the photos) on the first 50 years of Surinam Airways: Flying on Trusted Wings: 50 Years of Surinam Airways (hardcover).
Copyright Photo: Ton Jochems. Ex-Air France Airbus A340-311 F-GLZG became PZ-TCP (msn 049) with Surinam Airways and is the European lifeline aircraft for the company flying between Paramaribo and Amsterdam.
Surinam Airways: 
Route Map:
Dear Bruce,
I read your blog religiously. I just wanted to clarify because I saw Surinam Airways was celebrating their 50th anniversary however if operations began in 1953 then wouldn’t it be the 60th anniversary? Could you clarify why it is just their 50th now? Thank you, and you our my main source of industry news!
Best Regards
Pablo G. Aguirre |Manager of Commercial Sales and Marketing| Omni Air International Inc.
3303 N. Sheridan Road, Hangar 19 | Tulsa, OK 74115 USA
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Thank you. I should have clarified it better. Although it has been flying longer, the airline marks August 30, 1962 as the date when it became a state-owned airline and thus a formal statutory carrier. Their year-long celebration marks the 50th anniversary of this date and the special book was commissioned to celebrate that milestone for this anniversary year. I hope this helps.
Bruce