Diving Deep into The History of the Airline Industry

When one attempts to explore the history of the airline industry, it somehow makes us want to go through the basics first. Just to make sure we are feeding “novice to this topic” type of readers right enough. And from that POV, the first thing you should know would be what is an airline.

An airline is a company that gives passengers who need to travel some air routing transport service. Most would form partnerships with other airlines or even alliances. And also, there are different types of airline services that travellers can avail themselves of.

Now, you seem to be primarily ready to dive into the backstory, of airlines. Here we go!

A Brief Overview of the History of the Airline Industry

• Deregulation will definitely be a huge part that took place of airline industry overview.
• There were regulations to work for stability in favour of both the industry and passengers.
• Massive safety improvements were also a huge part that gradually happened as airlines were establishing more prominently
• A number of restrictions on travel as well as fare varieties were bugging travellers every now and then.
• There were so many new carriers entering the industry and failing to serve. Which eventually made them go bankrupt or survive by merging. Some just faded over time.

The Birth of Flight?

It took place in 1903. And from then the air transportation is considered to be one significant means of travelling. Today, it’s almost a revolution leaded miracle-like experience that is fueling an entire tourism industry.

Beginning of Airlines & Execution to Mid-20^th Century

During the first few years of the 20^th century, aeroplanes were unpopular but existed. And that was due to the risk that people related it with until 1925. Because that was when private airlines got the duty of delivering mail.

Soon after, the order to establish a whole air travelling system was prominent. This was including enforcement of air traffic rules. As well as making airways, getting licensed pilots, and so on.

You Might Be Wondering Exactly What was The First Airline in World!

On 16 November 1909, the very first airline in the world, DELAG was founded. The first air service schedule was on 1 January 1914.

And if you are wondering about the commercial airlines that were first to start, then the list would include Ford transport Service, Pan American, and Western Air Express.

With that being said, let’s move on to knowing when did international flights start. It was the Aircraft Transport and Travel company from Europe that planned to start the first regular international service in the world in 1919, 25^th August.

The reputation of the airline skyrocketed from this. Even though several issues were surrounding the event. Such as bad weather. The British Civil airmail contract was under their trope in November 1919 following the reliable reputation.

Cost Regulation & Best Quality Service Competition During the Middle of the 20^th Century

In the later year 1938, several functions for airlines got established. And that was done by a board created by the Civil Aeronautics Act, Civil Aeronautics Board.

Major 2 functions that the board was serving were:

1. Deciding the travel routes.
2. Regulation of passenger fare pricing.

There was however no scope for airlines to compete on the basis of offering lower fares. It was all about who was providing the best quality service. Any airline lacking to operate with expected quality for a certain route would be replaced by another airline.

This method gave more advantages to the airlines that were already thriving. And startup companies would struggle. Later to ensure more importance on safe operation, the creation of the Federal Aviation Administration took place in 1958.

Alfred Kahn Becoming CAB Chairman & The Popularity of Inexpensive Flights

It was during the mid-1970s when the new chairmen of CAB happen to be a deregulation advocates as well as an economist. His name was Alfred Kahn.

Especially low charges on transatlantic flights were seen with British airlines in the same time frame. And that was an awakening call for the airlines to lower the fees. The ones that they US Based.

This triggered the Airline Deregulation Act which passed in 1978. After a few years, the CAB saw disbandment.

Launch of New Carriers & Routes in Post Deregulation

This was during the late 20^th century. The market was full of new carriers as well as directly connecting cities routes. Both competition and fare saw a drop during this time. And customers were upsurging in number.

There were an air traffic controllers strike in 1981 that went on throughout the 1980s. The carriers that were in huge demand, TWA, and Pan American, suddenly fall weak to the competitor.

And in the early 1990s, they almost disappeared. By the late 1990s, the surviving airlines saw back their profitability.

21^st Century Seeing the Best Version of Airline

There was another downturn economically that came during 2001. And this made both fuel and labour costs go high. While there was a substantial decrease in business travel. Years of losses continued. And only in 2006 did the industry sort of recover with its profitability.

It was followed by quite a stable period. During this time, there were several service quality enhancements, treatment of passengers was bettered. And also, similar improvements took place.

Then in 2010-2011, there were strict instructions from the U.S Department of Transportation for seriously pondering modifications for passengers facing justifying situations.

Wrapping Up

And that is all we have for the history of the airline industry. We tried to keep it sweet and subtle for anyone willing to find things briefly.

However, you can spend time on a long history of the airline industry pdf available online to get a deeper insight. In case this is some project you are trying to make let’s say, a history of airline industry ppt for your study.

On That Note, Signing Off for Today