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First powered flight
Henri Giffard flew 15 miles (24 km) in France, with a steam engine driven craft. -
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Zeppelins
1874: Zeppelin's ideas were first outlined
1893: formulated in detail
1895: patented in Germany
14 March 1899: Patented in the United States
1910: Zeppelins were first flown commercially by Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-AG (DELAG), the world's first airline in revenue service.
mid-1914: DELAG had carried over 34,000 passengers on over 1,500 flight
1919: DELAG established scheduled daily services between Berlin, Munich, and Friedrichshafen.
1930s: Their heyday -
the first airplane to cross the Atlantic
the American NC-4
starting in New York State and making the crossing as far as Lisbon, Portugal, in 19 days -
the first non-stop transatlantic passenger flight
left Friedrichshafen, Germany, at 07:54 on 11 October 1928, and arrived at NAS Lakehurst, New Jersey, on 15 October. -
first 'round the world' commercial flight
Total flight time was 209 hours which covered 50,694 kilometers (31,500 miles). It was the first around the world flight by a commercial airliner -
first 'round the world' non-stop flight
he plane, carried a crew of 14, averaged 249 miles per hour on the 23,452-mile trip that ended successfully on March 2. -
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de Havilland DH 106 Comet
first production commercial jetliner
The Comet was adapted for a variety of military roles such as VIP, medical and passenger transport, as well as surveillance; the most extensive modification resulted in a specialised maritime patrol aircraft variant, the Hawker Siddeley Nimrod -
first commercial passenger jet
From London to Johannesburg -
Boeing 747
a wide-body commercial airliner and cargo transport aircraft,
still inuse
among the fastest airliners in service with a high-subsonic cruise speed of Mach 0.85–0.855 (up to 570 mph or 920 km/h). -
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Concorde
supersonic passenger airliner
Among other destinations, Concorde flew regular transatlantic flights from London Heathrow and Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport to New York JFK and Washington Dulles -
Airbus A380
the world's largest passenger airliner; many airports have had to upgrade their facilities to properly accommodate it because of its size. Initially named Airbus A3XX, the aircraft was designed to challenge Boeing's monopoly in the large-aircraft market; the A380 made its first flight on 27 April 2005 and began commercial service in October 2007 with Singapore Airlines.
