Greece first used airmail in 1926 thanks to Aero Espresso Italiana S.A., the first airline of the Kingdom of Italy, founded on 12 December 1923. The first Italy-Greece-Turkey air route started on 1 August 1926, a loop of 870 miles, starting in Brindisi with stops near Athens and Constantinople, using Savoia-Marchetti S-55 double-hulled flying boats. The trial of AEI flights on the Brindisi-Athens-Istanbul route lasted until 31 December 1926. From 1 May 1927, after a four-month suspension, the company carried flew at full capacity with regular weekly flights, and then extended to Rhodes and other Aegean islands from 1930. AEI remained active until its absorption, in 1934, by national airline Ala Littoria (a merger of Società Aerea Mediterranea (SAM), Società Anonima Navigazione Aerea (SANA), Società Italiana Servizi Aerei (SISA) and Aero Espresso Italiana).
