Spantax was founded in October 1959 as Aero Taxis de Espana SA by Rodolfo Bay Wright and Marta Estades Saez. The airline was originally founded as an aid to oil prospecting companies in the Sahara. DC3s joined the fleet in 1960.

In 1962 the name was changed to Spantax SA Transportes Aereos. The airline started doing Inclusive Tour Charters that year. The airline also acquired DC4s, DC6s and DC7s. It also helped with the establishment of Air Mauritanie in 1962. In 1967 their first jet was acquired in the form of a CV990. Spantax went on to operate 14 of the type. Two were lost in accidents, one in Stockholm in 1970 and one in Tenerife in December 1972.

The airline acquired DC8s in 1973, DC9s in 1974. Widebodied aircraft were introduced in 1978 in the form of DC10 EC-DEG. Spantax also owned hotels, a catering division and a tour operator. However high fuel costs in the 1970s put Spantax under pressure. This was further exacerbated by the crash of EC-DEG in Malaga in September 1982 killing 50. The hotels were sold off, along with the catering division. The CV990s were phased out and Boeing 737-200s were introduced, however it wasn't enough. The company with debts of $50million was sold to Aviation Finance Group of Luxembourg. They started a fleet replacement programme by introducing MD83s into service. However talks to refinance the airline broke down and the airline collapsed on 29/3/88

Information obtained from Spantax. For more information, please contact the airline or surf to their website at the Homepage address below.