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First Hot Air Balloon
Called "The First Hot Air Navigator". Invented by the brothers Joseph and Étienne Montgolfier, sons of a rich paper manufacturer from Annonay, a town south of Lyon.
Made up of hot air and hydrogen, it was over 30 feet high.
Image of the first solo flight by Jacques Charles and his assistant Nicolas-Louis Robert on December 1, 1783. -
First airships
Jean Pierre Blanchard added a manual propeller to a hot-air balloon and thus the first powered flight became known. -
A giant bird: The Glider
Sir George Cayley relied on the way animals fly when they glide, hence the name. He designed a modern glider, with a hole for the pilot under the center of gravity of the apparatus and a tail that would allow to control it. And he studied them over the next 50 years, establishing some principles of aerodynamics (keys to flight: the relationship between the forces of weight, lift, resistance and momentum). -
First International Flight
Charles Green, a famous UK aeronaut set a record for an international trip from Vauxhall Gardens in London to Weilburg, Nassau (Germany) at a distance of 770 km.
He retired in 1852 having made more than 500 balloon ascents.
Also, he experimented with coal gas as a cheaper and available alternative to hydrogen for power lifting. -
High Glider Flight
Frenchman Jean-Marie Le Bris, traveled halfway around the world studying the flight of the albatross bird. His glider, called L'Albatros artificiel, was dragged by horses to launch it into the winds. It would have reached a height of 100 metres and covered a distance of 200 metres. -
The Airplane
The brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright (Ohio) who were originally involved in repairing and selling bicycles, motivated by the work of Otto Lilienthal, create their first glider, copying the design of the biplane previously created by their contemporaries
They focused on flight and pitch control.
1900 and 1902- they tested their gliders in the coastal town of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. -
The First Plane
The Éole of the Frenchman Clément Ader, is the first self-propelled aircraft in history to operate, after landing from a distance of 50 metres with take-off included.
Two years later, Ader repeats the feat with Aircraft II flying 200 meters. -
The Bird Man
The German Otto Lilienthal, industrial and aeronautical engineer, designed and built some apparatus with wicker and fabric wings. He made more than 2,000 flights by the end of the century and he surpassed 300 meters. His fame is due in part to the fact that his end came precisely in an accident while driving one of his apparatuses. The last words you heard him say referred to the sacrifices needed to achieve progress. -
Manned Trip
In the United States, the Wright brothers made a manned take-off that lasted 12 seconds with a range of almost 37 metres.
The Wright Flyer I. -
First person to fly in a self-propelled plane
In Europe, the Brazilian Alberto Santos Dumont was the first man to complete a pre-established circuit under the supervision of specialists, journalists and witnesses, managing to move 60 metres to a height of 3 metres above the ground on 14-Bis, on the outskirts of Paris. -
Military Use
The United States government adopted the airplane for possible military use. One year after the Wright brothers offered their inventions to their government and the government denied it.
They were airplanes made of wood and cloth. -
First Airport
College Park Airport
It is the first and oldest airport in addition to being a U.S. Army school, located in Maryland near Washington DC. It still functions for small aircraft seeking to land near the American capital. -
Hydroplane Trip
French aviator Henri Fabre first flew in a seaplane he called "Le Canard", taking off from the Lac de Berre in Martigues, France. -
Development of the Seaplane
American aviator Glenn Hammond Curtiss of Hammondsport, New York; was the first to develop and fly a seaplane.
Type of aircraft that is capable of taking off and entertaining on a water surface. -
First airborne bomb attack
The Italian troops used the Blériot planes in Libya.
It was carried out by Lieutenant Giulio Gavotti from an Etrich-Taube monoplane, who threw the bomb overboard by hand after releasing it from its pin. -
Nonstop Flight
Pierre Prior makes the first non-stop flight between London and Paris. -
Warnings
In France, the Michelin brothers organised the Aéro-cible, a competition in which they tried to throw seven-kilogram bombs at targets of twenty metres in diameter from an altitude of two hundred metres. The effectiveness of these attempts showed their importance on August 3, 1914: five hours after the declaration of war a German Taube dropped three bombs on Luneville. -
The First Quadrimotor
The Le-Grand was designed by Russian Igor Sikorsky. The engines were in tandem, he made 53 flights. In one of them he stayed in the air (almost two hours) and with four passengers on board, besides the two pilots sitting in the double command cabin. -
First regular commercial line
It emerged between Tampa and St. Petersburg, Florida, served by a seaplane. -
Friend of the First World War
They represented a real superiority in being able to cross enemy lines to spy on their formations and almost at the end of the contest, face ground targets with small bombs or fight other aircraft with hand weapons.
In the beginning of the war the first airplanes hardly arrived at the 100 kilometers per hour of speed. With the surrender of the central powers at the end of 1918, the planes already achieved speeds close to 230 kilometers per hour. -
Civil Aviation
This type of aviation accepted passengers and mail transport, especially in Europe.
The planes combined the transport of passengers and mail, a curious symbiosis since the passengers and the mail bags formed a kind of ensemble. In the Western Air Express in Los Angeles: the passengers carried their bags on their knees or hanging from their body; the equivalent in the weight of a passenger was five thousand letters. -
First international passenger service
In Europe, between March and August, the French company Farman opened the route between Paris and Brussels, the first international passenger service which was later extended to other countries. -
The first transatlantic flight
It was carried out by the American seaplane Curtiss stopping over in the Azores Islands. Later, already in non-stop flight, an English plane crossed the ocean. -
The oldest airline
KLM (Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij), an airline from the Netherlands, made its first flight in 1919; it continues to operate.
In 1920, KLM opened a regular service between London and Amsterdam, which is still in operation today.
During its first year of service, KLM carried 345 passengers and nearly 25,000 kilograms of mail and cargo, which today carries a 747 on a single flight. Photo courtesy of the British Airways Heritage Collection. -
The jet engine
The English Frank Whittle created the engine, which consists of a multi-stage axial compressor and a single-impeller axial turbine, using a system with a centrifugal compressor and a centripetal turbine, already on the market.
The WU "Turbo-jet", finally built in 1937. -
First international aviation treaty
The Warsaw Convention, signed on 12 October 1929. The convention obliged the carrier to issue a ticket and a baggage check, and harmonized legislation on liability. -
Civil aviation development
Air transport of mail was handled more than air transport of passengers. As a result of the established rivalry, different countries began to subsidize national and international routes competing in service, quality, aircraft capacity and speed. This is how the Boeing and Douglas of 1932 came about. The DC-1 was the first of a series of Douglas aircraft, which would culminate in the Dakota DC-3. -
Turbine Axial Compressor Motors
El alemán Hans Von Ohain patenta también sus motores de compresor axial de turbina, el cual realiza su primer vuelo montado en un HE-178 Heinkel el 27 de agosto de 1939 logrando así convertirse en el primer vuelo a reacción de la historia. -
The Clipper makes the first transpacific flight
Pan Am operated the first transpacific flight with a Clipper between San Francisco and Manila. The flight lasted one week with several stops and delivered more than 100,000 letters of mail.
The plane was scheduled to fly over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge - under construction at the time - but the pilot realized that would not be possible and managed to cross it underneath. -
American Airlines opened the first airport lounge
The rooms have become synonymous with airlines, comfortable spaces with better services where customers can rest or work if they wish. -
Gas Turbine
Frank Whittle finishes the manufacture of his first viable engine, the W-1. Engine in which the compressor was centrifugal, double-sided, the turbine was axial and was no longer connected to the compressor in a solid way, but through a shaft.
It was mounted on the Gloster E28/39 (n.s. W4041) aircraft manufactured by the Gloster Aircraft Co. It made a 17-minute secret flight and was the second aircraft in the world to fly with a Gas Turbine. -
Signing of the Chicago Convention
The Chicago Convention established standards for regulating air transport and safety. It was signed by 52 States and remains the normative basis for commercial aviation. -
The biggest bomber
The Boeing Superfortress B29, the Enola Gay, dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. -
IATA founded and first Springbok service
The International Air Transport Association
Founded in Havana, Cuba.
Represents, leads and serves the industry through initiatives such as the Operational Safety Audit or the Simplifying the Business program.
South African Airways launched its Springbok service, connecting South Africa to Europe. Despite the three-day journey, the plane was faster than any other means of transport. -
Development of hub-&-spoke structures
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Air sector liberalization
European Commission initiatives -
Star Alliance Foundation
Five airlines on three continents founded Star Alliance. It was followed by oneworld and SkyTeam, two other global airline alliances that sought to mimic economies of scale and brought a host of customer benefits through consolidation. -
100% electronic ticket
E-ticketing eliminated the need for paper tickets and improved air travel management and security. In addition, e-ticketing facilitated the path to other Fast Travel initiatives such as self-boarding and lost luggage claims. -
First commercial flight with biofuel
Lufthansa operated the first series of scheduled biofuel flights between Hamburg and Frankfurt. Since then, the number of commercial biofuel flights has been increasing and a large number of biofuel variations have been successfully tested. The challenge now is to ensure their commercial viability in order to achieve environmental goals. -
Biometric technology for Airports
Facial recognition, iris scanning and fingerprint-based identification adds an additional layer of security and can create a more seamless passenger experience. Aruba’s Queen Beatrix International Airport introduced the single passenger token in 2015. Aruba Happy Flow links the biometric data with the passport and boarding pass, eliminating burdensome and time-consuming airport check-ins. -
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on aviation
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the aviation industry due to travel restrictions and a slump in demand among travelers. According to some commentators the ensuing crisis is the worst ever encountered in the history of the aviation industry. -
IATA Updates COVID-19 Financial Impacts
IATA now sees 2020 global revenue losses for the passenger business of between $63 billion (in a scenario where COVID-19 is contained in current markets with over 100 cases as of 2 March) and $113 billion (in a scenario with a broader spreading of COVID-19). No estimates are yet available for the impact on cargo operations. -
Systems innovates propulsion technology for aircraft electrification
BAE Systems applies energy management and engine controls technology expertise to enable the next generation of propulsion systems. The rise in greenhouse gases has airlines considering how they can reduce aircraft emissions and save on fuel – with the eventual goal of going all-electric. -
A New Guide to Air Travel During Coronavirus
Passenger Volumes: reduced flight and passenger volumes
Social Distancing
Reduced Physical Contact
Personal Protective Equipment
Cleaning and Disinfecting
Medical Exemption for Hand Sanitizer
