SNCAO (abbreviated from Société nationale des constructions aéronautiques de l'ouest) was a state-owned French aircraft manufacturer, which originated on November 16, 1936, from the merger of the factories of Breguet in Bouguenais, and Loire-Nieuport in St Nazaire and Issy-les-Moulineaux. The company had been formed as one of six state-owned Société Nationales in the 1936 nationalistation of military industries; at the end of 1940 these were re-organised and SNCAO was absorbed by SNCASO. In 1957 SNCASO was merged into Sud Aviation.