In the beginning, aviation as a means of transport, especially for passengers, was considered wildly impractical. Critics and cynics derided the few who speculated positively on the concept and even Orville Wright was once heard to describe the chances of transatlantic flight as “a bare possibility.” As we all know, the developments of technology, stimulus from private plus national and international governmental sources, and the inspiration of some gifted individuals have brought, indeed wrought, a revolution in this aspect of world trade.
When it began nine decades ago, commercial air transport was little more than an experimental dream; for passengers, freight, mail, and express, the principal mode of delivery was by ground or water. The air-lines1 grew in response to their ability to provide speed of delivery for any or all type of person or goods. In many places such as the United States, air shipment of goods, i. e., mail, came before purposeful transport of people. Still, by the mid - to late 1920s, passenger air transport was a goal for carriers around the world. As the cowboy philosopher Will Rogers put it during the early 1930s, “if your time is worth anything, travel by air. If not, you might as well walk!”
In the period between the wars, substantial growth in passenger transport occurred. However, the business—often portrayed as romantic-remained primarily a subsidized service for the rich or those needing rapid delivery of high-priority goods or mail. Airport and air traffic control was primitive; crashes were common and usually every bit the center of media (newspaper) attention then as now. Still, demand for the air transport of passengers alone (excluding mail or cargo) rose gradually. It grew from a few thousand in the years just before and after World War I to 18.2 million in 1946, the first year in which the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), an arm of the United Nations, reported world figures.
Following the Second World War, to which almost all of the world’s airlines contributed support and from which nearly all benefited in terms of financial, operational, or technical advancement, the air transport industry blossomed in a burst of innovative activity. New concepts of delivery were put into practice, increasingly more-sophisticated equipment came on line, and government assistance, support, and regulation grew on both the national and international level. Marketing personnel worked overtime to make flying seem ever more glamorous for everyone.
As a result, the 1946 ICAO passenger figure had more than doubled by 1951 to 39.9 million and by 1956 had risen to 78 million. Commercial domestic and international flight achieved extraordinary expansion everywhere. By the end of the 1950s, airplanes, led by the introduction of jetliners, had largely replaced the ocean liner as the prime mode of transoceanic passenger transport. Over the next three decades, air travel within some geographical areas, such as the United States, had replaced large segments of public ground passenger transport for trips over a few hundred miles. The one hundred million (108 million) mark in passenger boardings was achieved in 1960 and hit 891 million in 1985.
Still, the industry since the 1960s, particularly in the U. S., has been subject to a period of almost-regular economic boom and bust, usually in parallel with fiscal recessions. Particularly difficult years were 1969-1974 (marked by excessive capacity), 1980-1982 (fallout from deregulation), and 1990-1994 (remembered for its overcapacity, valueconscious passengers, and erosion of airline balance sheets). Many airlines failed in these hard times, just as they had earlier in the Great Depression or in the late 1940s. Deregulation has taken a heavy toll; of all the scheduled U. S. passenger-service airlines that started up in the 14 years from 1978 to 1992, only two remained in existence as late as 1996.
The Asian economic crisis, which began on 1997 and lasted for several years, brought hardship and difficulties for carriers in that part of the world. Meanwhile, privatization in Canada and Europe has rewarded some scheduled airlines (Lufthansa, British Airways, and Air France), brought ruin to others (e. g., Canadian Airlines and over 100 start-ups in Russia), and spawned low-cost carriers that have sometimes been very successful (e. g., EasyJet, WestJet) and sometimes not (e. g., Debonair). The number of charter airlines has steadily declined during these years as that industry has consolidated.
Despite severe recessions, innovations in technology, administration, marketing, cooperation, and deregulation, as well as the end of colonial empires (including the Soviet Union), have propelled this progress along and increased demand for it. In 1997, 1,479,012,000 travelers flew worldwide. That figure in 1998 is 1,586,051,000. According to preliminary 1998 ICAO figures, total traffic thus remains level with a 1 percent increase, a sharp slowdown from the average 7 percent increase over the previous five years. The trend continued in 1999 as preliminary ICAO numbers dipped to 1,581,814,000.2
Today, still due largely to the speed it offers, commercial aviation is a major world industry. ICAO reported operating revenues of $291 billion for 1997 and operating income, or profits, of $16.3 billion for its represented states. The revenue line climbed to $298.5 billion in 1998, with operating income up to $16.5 billion. Net gain for the year totaled $9.5 billion. Although revenues advanced by 3.7% in 1999 to $306.5 billion, operating expenses led by fuel costs, soared 5.2% to $294 billion. The operating profit fell to $12.5 billion.
In 1997, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) also reported significant gain, showing earnings of $5 billion for its members from their strictly international services, a figure down slightly from the all-time record of $5.2 billion in earnings reported in 1995, but up from the $3 billion of 1996. The final result after interest in 1998 totaled $3.1 billion, but dropped significantly in 1999 to just $1.9 billion.
Much of the income here celebrated remains dependent upon passenger revenues; airplanes simply cannot deliver bulk cargo in sufficiently profitable quantity as to replace railroads, trucks, barges, or supertankers. Despite the best efforts of a number of all-cargo airlines over the years, only a few companies have been able to make a success of the air freight business. Still, post, express, and time-sensitive cargo provides important income for those (largely regional or niche) freighters that survive, as well as for the diversified or passenger companies, scheduled and unscheduled alike, that haul cargo to supplement income.3
As this book is completed, all doubt concerning the value of domestic and international air commerce has long since been removed. Having grown and largely matured, the miracle of airborne mobility continues to receive its greatest tribute in this fact: millions of people around the globe simply use it daily and take it for granted. Like numerous of his other prophetic observations, Will Rogers’ air transport assertion, right years ago, is still correct today.
Although there is some debate as to which was the world’s first effective commercial airline, we have chosen to assign that honor to both DELAG (Die Deutsche Luftschiffahrt-Aktiengesellschaft, GmbH.) and the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line. Both contributed significant “firsts” to air transport history during the century’s second decade, though each flew different kinds of equipment.4
Formed by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin on November 16, 1909, DELAG’s lighter-than-air ships carried over 34,000 passengers without injury between the major German cities between 1910 and November 1913. Briefly reborn in 1919, the company relaunched dirigible service between Friedrichshafen and Berlin on August 24, only to be shut down by the Allied Control Commission on December 1. In 103 flights between these dates, the lone airship Bodensee transported 2,400 passengers and 66,140 pounds of cargo.
Meanwhile, the Florida-based St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line, which began four months of service on January 1, 1914, was the first scheduled airline to employ heavier-than-air planes. In addition, Paul Fansler’s pioneering and also accident-free operation maintained the premier regularly scheduled freight/passenger service over a defined route, under an official (if local) government subsidy contract. Further attempts to provide these levels of service, dirigible or airplane, would not occur again until after the First World War. From 1919 on, airline growth and progress has been, if at first faltering, nevertheless, relentless.
As those companies now extant continue to grow, it was difficult for this author to quit an almost-daily effort to provide coverage. But then, an old story came to mind. Years ago, one Martial wrote to a friend concerning a volume then being prepared. It was suggested by the book’s author that the tome be enlarged and more information included. The learned man replied that writer must call a halt, “otherwise, dear Avitus, there will be no book.”
Given the time lag in the availability of traffic, financial, and other statistical or even operational data, 1999 is the last year for which detailed information was plentiful for operators worldwide. Most of the statistical information that would be available for inclusion was thus in the writer’s computer by August 1,2000. As certain events of importance occurring during the following first two quarters plus, including the launch of several new airlines (and failure of others), became known, they were reported. Following Martial’s ancient advice, the cut-off date for coverage is the end of October 2000, with only the most important data added during the editing/indexing phase in the months thereafter.
The progress of events and developments must, as the result of our cutoff date, be left suspended. Numerous questions concerning specific carriers remain to be settled. Even as this work is being edited, several more new entrants are poised for takeoff here and abroad while others are on death’s door and may fold—or, like a few others, find it possible to revive.
Will VASP Brasilian Airlines — Viacao Aerea Sao Paulo, S. A and other South American carriers in a similar financial position — survive in the short-run? Will the airlines of the Caribbean be able to better coordinate their activities? Can equity partners be found for companies Eastern European flag carriers like MALEV Hungarian Airlines, Rt.? Will U. S. discount or niche carriers, like Vanguard Airlines or the fourth National Airlines, survive? Will there be additional consolidation among U. S. majors? How many Chinese and Russian airlines will merge and which ones will disappear or change their names? How will the further integration of Western Europe’s in house charter carriers proceed? North of the U. S. border, how will domestic Canadian competition flourish with the enlargement of Canada 3000 to say nothing of the merger of the Air Canada Connection partners into the super Air Canada Regional, Inc. What will the airlines scene be like in India or Indonesia in the next five years?
A whole list of additional queries just as germane (but based more on technical change, politics, economics and fuel distribution, or management on a wider scale) also need review. For example, will the cntinuing fuel-price crisis take a larger toll among the world’s airlines? What will be the final impact of the coming of the regional jet on airline operations? Will additional airpot capacity be forthcoming and will the “hub and spoke” concept continue? will customer complaints concerning poor ground and cabin service, airliner seat size, and lost baggage be more successfully addressed in this century than it was in the one just concluded? What will be the additional impact of computers on operations and service? Will airline unions grow or decline in importance? Can ATC and other flight delay problems around the world, especially in the United States and Western Europe, be resolved in a manner satisfactory to passengers, governments, and airlines alike? How will chanes in frequent flyer programs impact customers or airline yields? Can safety in the skies be improved as dramatically in northwest Asia or Africa as it has been in, say, Russia? Will the world’s airlines continue to bind themselves together into alliances like Star or One World or combines like Grupo TACA?
World History
