On May 14, 1908, the first pas senger—Charlie Furnas—entr usted his life to Wilbur Wright, who took him aloft and brought him safely back to Earth. Over the next century, humans took to flying like fish to water. A series of articles will trace the evolution and growth of this sector.

Innumerable, daring aviation feats that followed Orville Wright’s pioneering flight on December 17, 1903, invariably involved a single pilot, without passengers. The Wright Brothers themselves flew together only once in the same aircraft. Subsequently, they flew separately so that even if a crash cut one life short, the surviving sibling could continue their aviation experiments.

Merely a century ago, on May 14, 1908, in the US, the first passenger—Charlie Furnas—entrusted his life to Wilbur Wright, who took him aloft and brought him safely back to Earth. The first woman passenger followed soon after when on July 8, 1908, Thérèse Peltier flew with Léon Delagrange in Italy. If passengers were taken up it was mainly for brief joyrides. The caution of air passengers was understandable, for the first fatality involving a powered aircraft occurred the same year. On September 17, 1908, Thomas Selfridge became the first victim of many thousands of air accidents over the decades when Orville Wright crashed their two-seat plane.

In 1913, Igor Sikorsky developed the world’s first large, four-engine plane. Le Grand could carry seven passengers and stay aloft for nearly two hours. It had a plush cabin (with a lavatory, private suite and bed) and cabin heating and lighting. Its more refined successor, the Il’ya Muromets, (named after a legendary Russian warrior) also proved its worth as a powerful and rugged bomber—the first dual use aircraft with interdependent civil and military roles. In June 1914, it flew from St. Petersburg (Russia) to Kiev and back—a round trip of over 2,000 km. The world’s first scheduled air service, the St. Petersburg (USA) to Tampa Air Boat Line, began on January 1, 1914. It operated a seaplane carrying a single passenger with a one-way fare of $5 (Rs 250). After operating for just four months and carrying a total of 1,205 passengers, the company shut shop at the end of the tourist season. On July 15, 1916, William Edward Boeing, then 34 and already a millionaire, founded the US aircraft manufacturing corporation that still bears his name. Over several decades, the company would evolve into the world’s largest commercial aircraft manufacturer.

Those Dreadful Flying Machines
World War I (1914-1918) was a wasted period for commercial aviation with d esign an d production efforts of major industrial nations focussed on military aircraft. In the public perception, those dreadful flying machines were meant to rain death and destruction on the enemy rather than conv ey peaceable civilian travellers q uickly and safely to their destination. The huge surplus of military planes at the end of the war ensured that the demand for new aircraft was almost non-existent for several years. Many aircraft builders went bust. The early airliners were simply converted bombers—slow contraptions of wood, wire and fabric. They had no radio and were navigated by using a map an d comparing it with features appearing on the ground below. Why, then, would travellers want to risk their lives in th e air? In America, the y could travel with far greater comfort and convenience, and comparable speed, by rail.

In Europe, however, the English Channel worked as an incentive for Great Britain and France to start commercial services. Consequently, on August 25, 1919, the British airline, Aircraft Transport and Travel, inaugurated a regular, sustained, civil, daily (Monday to Saturday) passenger service between London and Paris. It was probably the first such scheduled service in the world. The world famous KLM (Royal Dutch Airline) was founded in 1919 and began its service from Amsterdam to London on May 17, 1920, with Fokker F-2 aircraft. This is the oldest surviving air service in the world. In Germany, Adolf Rohrbach’s Zeppelin-Staaken E.4/20 was a streamlined design, constructed mainly of duralumin alloy, powered by four engines, and weighing 18,700 lbs fully loaded. Only large wheels and landing gear struts marred its graceful lines. It had a cabin that seated up to 18, as well as a lavatory and generous mail and luggage space. At its first flight, in 1920, both its design and performance—cruising more than 130 mph at less than full power, and travelling nearly 850 miles—were a good dozen years ahead of what any other airliner had yet attained. However, in accordance with post-World War I restrictions, the Allies ordered it destroyed. A sad loss.

Global Airline Industry Takes Shape
In 1927, Juan Terry Trippe founded a modest air service that shuttled mail between Florida and Cuba. His little business eventually grew into Pan American World Airways. Commonly known as Pan Am, it was the principal international airline of the US from the 1930s until its collapse in December 1991. The airline became a major company credited with many innovations that shaped the international airline industry, including the widespread use of jet aircraft, jumbo jets, and computerized reservation systems.

The Ford Tri-motor 5-AT was used by almost all US airlines. Introduced in 1928, it could carry 15 passengers in its corrugated fuselage. New technology was also being developed. In September 1929, a young US Army lieutenant, James Doolittle, took off from Mitchell Field in New York, flew around 24 km and landed, all without seeing anything outside of his cockpit. The cockpit was shrouded and he was using the first instrument air navigation package in history, including a very accurate barometer, an artificial horizon and gyroscope, and a radio direction beacon for landing.

Growing popularity of passenger flight inspired Boeing to build its first aircraft intended specifically to carry passengers. The three-engine Model 80, launched in 1928, could carry 12 passengers, and an upgraded Model 80A could hold 18. The cabin had hot and cold running water, a toilet, forced air ventilation, leather upholstered seats and individual reading lamps. On May 15, 1930, registered nurse Ellen Church became the world’s first stewardess travelling from Oakland en route to Chicago for Boeing Air Transport. In addition to being nurses, the first eight stewardesses had to be single, younger than 25 years, weigh less than 115 lbs and less than 5 ft 4 in in height. At the end of the decade, new jobs began to appear in and around airports. Warehouses were set up and manufacturers began to build their plants closer to airports. Aeronautical schools began training aspirants to become designers and builders of aircraft, and pilots and navigators to fly them.

Not Enough Passengers
If there was one factor responsible for the establishment of aviation as a medium of commerce, it was airmail. And India deserves recognition as the cradle of airmail. In February 1911, the world’s first official airmail flight, piloted by French pilot M. Picquet, flew 10 km from Allahabad to Naini. In the US, the first scheduled airmail flight took place in May 1918. By 1925, US Post Office aircraft were delivering around 14 million letters and packages a year and maintaining regular flight schedules. However, scores of airlines set up in most parts of the world could not make a profit without direct or indirect (on account of airmail) government subsidies. Since subsidies were rarely forthcoming, most airlines folded up. The reason? Not enough passengers.

But who can blame the passengers for staying away? For better part of the 1920s, travellers could still make most overland journeys faster by train than by plane. Flying by air was decidedly uncomfortable—the aircraft were un-insulated thin sheets of metal, rattling in the wind. Cabins were un-pressurised and passengers had to stick cotton wool in their ears against the deafening engine noise.

A recession is when you have to tighten your belt; a depression is when you have no belt to tighten. When you’ve lost your trousers, you’re in the airline business.
—Sir Adam Thomson,
late founder of British Caledonian