Air Travel

The arrival of air travel and the impact of the containerisation revolution on the nature of shipping rendered the ocean liner obsolete in the 1960s and 70s. Air travel replaced their scheduled passenger voyages, while container ships fundamentally changed the nature of the shipping industry and replaced the cargo operations associated with ocean liners. As a result the ocean liners had to adapt or disappear forever and they evolved into full time cruise liners and thus was born the modern cruise industry.

The first scheduled passenger airlines started operation in the 1920s and the oldest airlines still in operation today include QANTAS, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Avianca, Czech Airlines and Mexicana. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines first flew in May 1920, while QANTAS started its operations in late 1920. In America the first airlines were American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Trans World Airlines, Northwest Airlines and Eastern Air Lines. In the 1920s Pan American World Airways was also launched with its fleet of flying boats linking Shanghai to Los Angeles and Boston to London. Thus Pan Am and Northwest Airlines were the only American airlines to go international before the 1940s.

Meanwhile the first countries in Europe to embrace air travel were Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Britain. KLM is the oldest airline in the world still with its original name. Like other major European airlines of the time (such as Air France and Imperial Airways / BOAC / British Airways) KLM's early growth depended heavily on the needs to service links with far-flung colonial possessions. France began an air mail service to Morocco in 1919 that was bought out in 1927, renamed Aeropostale, and injected with capital to become a major international carrier. In 1933, Aéropostale went bankrupt, was nationalized and merged with several other airlines into what became Air France. In Finland, the charter establishing Aero O/Y (now Finnair, one of the oldest still-operating airlines in the world) was signed in the city of Helsinki on the 12th September 1923. Its first flight was between Helsinki and Tallinn. Germany's Lufthansa began in 1926. Lufthansa, unlike most other airlines at the time, became a major investor in airlines outside of Europe, providing capital to Varig and Avianca. German airliners built by Junkers, Dornier and Fokker were the most advanced in the world at the time. The peak of German air travel came in the mid-1930s, when the Nazi regime approved the start of commercial Zeppelin service: the big airships were a symbol of industrial might, but the fact that they used flammable hydrogen gas raised safety concerns that culminated with the Hindenburg disaster of 1937. This rapidly brought an end to the age of airship travel. The United Kingdom's flag carrier during this early airline period was Imperial Airways, which became BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation.) in 1939. Imperial Airways used huge Handley-Page bi-planes for routes between London, the Middle East and India. Indeed posters of Imperial Airways and their Empire Air Services became synonomous with the heyday of the British Empire. BOAC then merged with BEA in the 1970s to form British Airways.

However despite these growing airlines it wasn't until after the Second World War that airlines began to rise to dominance on the transatlantic route and supersede the traditional ocean liners as the main means of global travel. In 1950s the De Havilland Comet became the world's first jet airliner to enter service and thus revolutionised air travel. On the 2nd May 1952 British Overseas Airways Corporation begins the world's first commercial jetliner service with the de Havilland DH 106 Comet 1. The 36-seat passenger jet flies from London, England to Johannesburg, South Africa, at speeds up to 500 miles per hour. Airlines around the world quickly beat a path to de Havilland's door. In 1958 The newly redesigned Comet 4 premieres with service between London and New York. De Havilland's new jet, though, can only accommodate 67 passengers, while the forthcoming Boeing 707 could seat 111. As a result Britain lost its dominance in commercial aviation to the Americans and Boeing rose to its supreme position as one of the world's leading commercial airliner manufacturers. Thus Boeing's first jetliner, the 707, made its inaugural flight for Pan Am, travelling from New York to Paris with 111 passengers. So Boeing took the lead in manufacturing passenger jets as commercial airlines discover that jets are more reliable and profitable than piston-driven planes. In 1959  Douglas Aircraft entered the jet manufacturing competition with its first jetliner, the DC-8, which begins commercial service for both United Airlines and Delta Air Lines. By the 1960s air travel had risen to dominance on the transatlantic routes rapidly displacing the traditional ocean liners. However these continued to survive for a time on the more far flung colonial mailship routes until the 1970s. 

THE UK'S MAJOR AIRPORTS:

Currently in the UK the major airports by passenger traffic per year are:

1.       London Heathrow Airport

2.       London Gatwick Airport

3.       London Stansted Airport

4.       Manchester Airport

5.       London Luton Airport

EUROPE'S MAJOR AIRPORTS:

Currently Europe's major airports by passenger traffic per year are:

1.      London Heathrow Airport (London, England, UK)

2.      Paris Charles de Gaulle International Airport (Paris, France)

3.      Frankfurt International Airport (Frankfurt, Germany)

4.      Madrid Barajas International Airport (Madrid, Spain)

5.      Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

NORTH AMERICA'S MAJOR AIRPORTS:

Currently North America's major airports by passenger traffic per year are:

1.       Hartsfield - Jackson Atlanta International Airport (Atlanta, Georgia, USA)

2.       Chicago O'Hare International Airport (Chicago, Illinois, USA)

3.       Los Angeles International Airport (Los Angeles, California, USA)

4.       Dallas - Fort Worth International Airport (Dallas, Texas, USA)

5.       Denver International Airport (Denver, Colorado, USA)

AFRICA'S MAJOR AIRPORTS:

Currently Africa's major airports by passenger traffic per year are:

1.          Cairo International Airport (Cairo, Egypt)

2.          Johannesburg OR Tambo International Airport (Johannesburg, South Africa)

3.          Cape Town International Airport (Cape Town, South Africa)

4.          Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport (Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt)

5.          Addis Ababa Bole International Airport (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia)

ASIA'S MAJOR AIRPORTS:

Currently the Asia's major airports by passenger traffic per year are:

1.         Tokyo International Airport (Tokyo, Japan)

2.          Beijing Capital International Airport (Beijing, China)

3.          Hong Kong International Airport (Hong Kong, China)

4.          Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport (Bangkok, Thailand)

5.          Singapore Changi Airport (Singapore, Singapore)

MAJOR AIRLINES IN EUROPE:

MAJOR AIRLINES IN NORTH AMERICA:

MAJOR AIRLINES IN AFRICA:

MAJOR AIRLINES IN ASIA:

MAJOR AIRLINES IN THE MIDDLE EAST:

MAJOR AIRLINES IN OCEANIA: