History of Air Cargo or Air Freight and Air Mail
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My facebook page "AIR CARGO HISTORY's vintage freight dogs" is now probably the greatest source for Air Cargo or Air Freight and Air Mail History on the internet, with a timeline and many stories, pics, videos, links and fun stuff. Here you will find information as gathered from internet and other sources, to form one overall picture of the history of air cargo.
Go to the AIR CARGO HISTORY's facebook page, log in,
and then click on the years in the timeline
to see what happened back then :
It's actually quite hard to reconstruct this history. One of the reasons will of course be that the air cargo history is and has always been intertwined with the general history of aviation and airlines - a large part of air cargo has always been moved in combination with passengers.
Besides that, the industry seems to be more driven by the business (and problems) of the day and tomorrow, and not too much time is spent on looking back. The best book to be found on the subject is arguably "The history of Air Cargo and Airmail from the 18th century" by Camille Allaz. The information on internet is often scattered or focused on specific parts or companies.
Nevertheless I tried to make a general timeline (still under construction!) from everything I could find on the subject. Below is an overview of the most important milestones, all directly linked to the background information.
Please LIKE "AIR CARGO HISTORY's vintage freight dogs" and help me add historic subjects there.
Thanks, and feel free to comment or contact me about this! Enjoy!
History by year
(click on the items for further information)
- 2013
World Airways and North American Airlines parent Global Aviation Holdings files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection – again.- Air Cargo Germany (ACG) officially files for bankruptcy.
- First Korean domestic cargo airline ‘Air Incheon’ starts operation.
- American Airlines and US Airways announce that the two companies will merge in a deal that will form the largest airline in the world.
- First flight of the Xian Y-20 (Yun-20) Kunpeng, manufactured by the Xi'an Aircraft Industrial Corporation.
- 2012
- AviancaTaca Group announces that all its subsidiaries will operate under the name of Avianca.
- Southern Air files for Chapter 11 protection.
- First flight of the Ilyushin Il-476, a further development of the Il-76MD.
- Air India Cargo ends freighter aircraft operations in early 2012, due to rising competition from local cargo airlines as well as financial issues.
- Jade Cargo International officially announces the closure of the company and the start of liquidation proceedings effective June, 04, 2012. This due to lack of demand and “extended discussions” between Jade Cargo’s owners.
- UPS wants to buy TNT Express for $6.77 billion. This deal comes a little more than a month after TNT Express rejected UPS’ initial $6.4 billion acquisition offer. The deal will be blocked by EU in jan 2013 though.
- The last departure of an official Continental Airlines flight takes place as Continental Flight 1267 departs Phoenix, Arizona, bound for Cleveland, Ohio. On 3 March, Continental Airlines disappears into United Airlines, as a result of their 2010 merger.
- In March, the TSA and the CBP announce that they’re moving forward with their joint Air Cargo Advance Screening pilot program
- Due to continuous financial trouble since 2008, all VARIGLOG operations are suspended. On 27 September 2012 VARIG Logística S.A. is declared bankrupt.
- IATA begins championing full implementation of the e-airwaybill by 2015 as the first step toward e-freight, instead of the previous all-at-once method
- On January 1, the EU ETS goes into effect, placing a cap on airline emissions on flights routed into the European Union. IATA and other industry groups push back against the new rule, asking for an ICAO-provided solution instead
- FedEx announces plans to acquire French transportation company Tatex. The announcement comes a month after FedEx agrees to purchase a Polish shipping company.
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- 2010
- TNT expends its long haul network with a five day per week air cargo service linking Moscow and its main European hub Liege as well as with a direct flight between Chongqing and Liège.
- The Cargo businesses of Avianca, TACA, and Aerogal are integrated to Tampa Cargo.
- After 89 years of service, Compañía Mexicana de Aviación, S.A. de C.V. (commonly known as Mexicana) suspends all operations.
- Arrow Cargo files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
- An An-225 carries the world's longest piece of air cargo - two new 42-meter test wind turbine blades - transported from Tianjin (China) to Denmark.
- British Airways & Iberia formally combine business operations to form International Airlines Group (IAG - 55% BA, 45% Iberia)
- IATA e-freight initiative takes form.
- 2009
- Avianca merges with TACA.
- TNT continues its expansion with the acquisition of LIT Cargo in Chili and Expresso Araçatuba in Brazil and extends its integrated road network worldwide.
- The heaviest single cargo item ever sent via air freight is loaded onto an Antonov 225.
- Cargo B Airlines ceases operations after failing to receive tenders.
- 2008
- VASP is declared bankrupt.
- The Northwest Airlines - Delta merger (under the name of Delta) is approved. Delta announces that the NWA Cargo hub will be shut down by the end of 2009.
- Aloha Air Cargo established.
- Northwest Airlines announces that it will be merging with Delta Air Lines to form the world's largest airline.
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- 2006
- TNT acquires: TG+ in Spain, Speedage in India, Mercurio in Brazil and Hoau in China.
- Northwest Airlines Cargo has become the largest U.S. cargo carrier. NWA Cargo's freighters fly from key cities in the U.S. and Asia, as well as Amsterdam, connecting with the carrier's cargo hub in Anchorage, AK, facilitating the quick transfer of cargo.
- In 2006 Air India Cargo relaunches own freighter services following the merger of Indian Airlines and its domestic subsidiary Alliance Air with Air India.
- VASP starts operating under the new Brazilian bankruptcy law.
- VARIG is split in VRG Linhas Aéreas (sold to VarigLog and later Gol Transportes Aéreos) and Viação Aérea Rio-Grandense (to become Flex Linhas Aéreas, styled as FLEX, went bankrupt on August 20, 2010) as two different judicial entities and airlines.
- Regional Cargo (Mexico) starts operations.
- BAX Global is acquired from Brink's by DB Logistics, the Transportation and Logistics Division of Deutsche Bahn, for $1.1 billion. At the time of the sale, fleet operator and owner Air Transport International (ATI) is sold to Cargo Holdings International.
- 2005
- TNT announces in 2005 the extension of its Middle East Road Network and launches its first integrated road network in Asia. In January 2005, TPG operates globally under the brand TNT for all its activities.
- VARIG LOG is purchased for US$ 48.2 million by the consortium Volo do Brasil during the split-up of the assets of VARIG.
- TNT announces a change in strategy: the company is to focus on delivery services via Mail, Express and Freight transport networks.
- VARIG applies to the Commercial Bankruptcy and Reorganization Court in Rio de Janeiro.
- 2004
- myCARGO is established to perform unscheduled air cargo services providing extra capacity to major carriers.
- Jade Cargo International is established. The company is co-owned by Shenzhen Airlines (51%), Lufthansa Cargo (25%) and DEG – Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH (24%).
- Jade Cargo International is established. The company is co-owned by Shenzhen Airlines (51%), Lufthansa Cargo (25%) and DEG – Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH, a subsidiary of German state-owned bank KfW (24%).
- TPG undertakes a major expansion of the TNT Express air hub in Liège, Belgium.
- Creation of Air France-KLM, the leading European transport group.
- Etihad’s cargo division starts its cargo services under the name “Etihad Cargo”.
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- 2002
- Avianca, the regional carrier SAM Colombia and its major rival ACES Colombia, join efforts to create Alianza Summa, and begin merged operations.
- SWISS launches its freight division under the name of Swiss WorldCargo.
- The Trade Act of 2002 is enacted on August 6, providing U.S. presidents with the authority to negotiate trade deals with other nations without Congressional amendment.
- In January, Airbus starts production on the A380 in Nantes, France
- 2001
- Polar Air Cargo is acquired by Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings (AAWW).
- LAN Airlines' new cargo terminal opens in Miami.
- In response to the September 11 attacks, President George W. Bush announced the establishment of the Office of Homeland Security (OHS) to coordinate "homeland security" efforts, leading a.o. to measures to secure airline and air cargo processes worldwide.
- Aeropostal Cargo de Mexico is founded.
- TWA assets were acquired in April 2001 by AMR Corp., the parent company of American Airlines. As part of the deal, TWA declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy (for the third time) the day after it agreed to the purchase. Dec 1st TWA ceases to exist.
- American Airlines announces that it has agreed to purchase substantially all the assets of Trans World Airlines, Inc.
- 2000
- TNT Airways, the airline of the TPG group, is founded.
- Canadian Airlines is taken over by and merged into Air Canada.
- Air France, Aeromexico, Delta Airlines and Korean Air found the SkyTeam and SkyTeam Cargo alliances.
- Kalitta Air begins service in November 2000 with three Boeing 747 aircraft.
- Varig Logística S.A., operating as VarigLog, starts operations as a wholly owned subsidiary of Varig. All Varig cargo operations are united under the new airline.
- Estafeta Carga Aérea S.A. de C.V. (Mexico) is founded.
- TAPA (Transported Asset Protection Association) is set up.
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- 1997
- Burlington Air Express changes its name to BAX Global, reflecting its expansion over all continents.
- Air Canada, United Airlines, Lufthansa, Thai Airways International and Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) establish Star Alliance – the world’s first airline alliance.
- Air Inter is absorbed in Air France.
- IATA Cargo2000 (C2K) Master Operating Plan established.
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- 1994
- Federal Express shorten their official name to FedEx.
- The International Air Cargo Forum Association is created, later to become TIACA.
- Coyne Aviation is founded as a charter broker specialising in the former Soviet states. In 1996 the company name changes to Coyne Airways.
- First flight of the Antonov An-70 medium-range transport aircraft, and the first large aircraft to be powered by propfan engines.
- Lufthansa Cargo AG is founded as an autonomous logistics company within the Lufthansa Group.
- U.S. Congress further encourages the development of the cargo and express delivery part of the airline industry by preempting state efforts to regulate intrastate air/truck freight and air express package shipments.
- The Tripartite Shippers’ Group (TSG, currently known as the Global Shippers Forum - GSF) is formed.
- 1993
- Polar Air Cargo Worldwide, Inc. is formed as a joint venture between Southern Air Transport and GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS).
- Northwest Airlines begins a strategic alliance with KLM, which is the largest airline partnership ever conceived at this time.
- Qatar Airways is founded.
- Indian airline Jet Airways begins commercial airline operations with four Boeing 737-300 airliners.
- 1992
- UTA is absorbed into Air France.
- TWA files for bankruptcy, a.o. because it ignored the dedicated air cargo market, but reemerges.
- Antonov An-124 civil certification is issued.
- Aerotransportes Mas de Carga, S.A. de C.V., operating as MasAir, is founded.
- Michael Chowdry, extending a corporate trend toward outsourcing, creates Atlas Air, an airline dedicated to leasing 747-200 freighters to airlines under long-term contracts
- The International Air Cargo Forum is reorganized outside the SAE as The International Air Cargo Association
- Federal Express sends software on computer disks to thousands of customers, allowing them to track shipments from their own workstations
- Lufthansa’s Wilhelm Althen admits that the carrier’s move to start a freight network is a reaction to the competition from integrated carriers
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- 1989
- Federal Express acquires Tiger International, Inc., the owners of Flying Tigers.
- EVA Airways Corporation is founded.
- Antonov An-225 sets 106 world & class records during 3h 30m flight carrying Buran orbiter, weight: 508,200kg (1,120,000 lb).
- Eastern Airlines files for bankruptcy It eventually ceases operations 18 Jan 1991.
- IPC (International Post Corporation) is set up.
- 1988
- UPS Airlines launches: The quickest and biggest airline startup in FAA history.
- Pacific Southwest Airlines shut down operations and is integrated to USAir (now US Airways).
- UPS receives permission from the FAA to operate its own airline (as opposed to leasing), known as UPS Airline.
- Air China Cargo commences business with Air China.
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- 1986
- Federal Express introduces the SuperTracker®, a hand-held bar code scanner system that captures detailed package information.
- Burlington Northern Air Freight, Inc. (BNAFI) changes its name to Burlington Air Express, repositioning itself as an overnight air express company.
- Western Airlines and Delta Air Lines merger agreement is approved by the United States Department of Transportation.
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- 1984
- American International Airways (AIA) starts flying in 1984 using Boeing 747, Lockheed L-1011, Douglas DC-8, Twin Beech and Learjet aircraft, for air freight, air ambulance and charter passenger operations.
- American Airlines retires its 747 cargo freighter fleet and focuses on smaller shipments carried in the bellies of its passenger aircraft.
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- 1977
- Eastern becomes the first U.S. operator of an Airbus product. To gain a toehold in the U.S. market, Airbus offers Eastern a 6 months free lease of four A300's with no obligation. The gamble pays off and Eastern orders many more.
- Founding of German Cargo Services GmbH as a wholly-owned Lufthansa subsidiary.
- U.S. Congress takes the first legislative steps toward airline economic deregulation in November of 1977, when it gives cargo carriers freedom to operate on any domestic route and charge whatever the market would bear.
- U.S. Domestic Air Mail as a separate class of service (and its rate structure) is formally eliminated by the successor to the Post Office Department, the United States Postal Service (USPS).
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- 1972
- MASkargo is established in 1972 to handle the delivery of cargo around the world via Malaysia Airlines' global network of routes.
- Malaysia-Singapore Airlines (MSA) is split into Singapore Airlines and Malaysian Airlines System (MAS).
- In October, Airbus puts its first plane in the air, the A300
- Malaysia Airline System Official Launch.
- Burlington Northern Air Freight, Inc. (BNAFI), a subsidiary of Burlington Northern Railroad, opens for business in ten cities in the United States. In 1986, BNAFI changes its name to Burlington Air Express, and in 1997 to BAX Global.
- BOAC and British European Airways merge to create British Airways.
- Biman Bangladesh Airlines is established on 4 January 1972 as Bangladesh's national airline under the Bangladesh Biman Ordinance (Presidential Order No. 126)
- On the 19th of April, 1972 a Lufthansa Boeing 747 F took off as LH 460 with more than 73,000 kilograms of cargo and almost 2,000 kilograms of mail, on its first scheduled flight from Frankfurt to New York.
- 1971
- Lufthansa orders the first 747-200 freighter, giving commercial air cargo operators their first noseloading aircraft capable of carrying industrial pallets
- Southwest Airlines is founded.
- First flight of the CASA C-212 Aviocar STOL medium transport aircraft.
- First flight of the Ilyushin Il-76.
- Boeing introduces 747-200 wide-body freighter, combi and convertible versions
- 1970
- Lockheed flies its contender in the wide-body market, the L-1011.
- Douglas builds its first wide-body, the DC-10
- Cargolux is established by Luxair, the Salen Shipping Group, Loftleiðir and various private interests in Luxembourg. It starts operations in May 1970 with one Canadair CL-44 freighter flying from Luxembourg to Hong Kong.
- The World's First Jumbo Jet the 747-100 enters commercial service.
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- 1967
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- 1966
- UTA establishes a subsidiary company named Compagnie Aéromaritime d'Affrètement to give it a foothold in the rapidly growing passenger and cargo charter markets.
- Slick Airways is shut down due to a poor financial situation, and the assets are acquired by Airlift International.
- First flight of the Douglas DC-8 Super 60
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- 1962
- Pan American World Airlines places an order for two 707-321C cargo jets, marking the first cargo jet order in the U.S.
- The Port of New York Authority, anticipating a mounting volume of air cargo, announces plans to nearly double existing cargo facilities at New York International Airport to 590,000 square feet.
- Pan American World Airlines places an order for two 707-321C cargo jets, marking the first cargo jet order in the U.S.
- KLM's activities were expanding fast, especially in freight transportation.
- The Port of New York Authority, anticipating a mounting volume of air cargo, announces plans to nearly double existing cargo facilities at New York International Airport to 590,000 square feet
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- 1960
- The international wing of Thai Airways is founded.
- Contracts with United Air Lines and Trans-Texas Airways bring the Railway Express Agency into the airfreight business.
- A committee of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) in the U.S. launches the first International Air Cargo Forum to explore the needs of the emerging air cargo industry ; later this will lead to the creation of TIACA.
- Test
- 1959
- According to James Hoffa, head of the Teamsters Union, by 1960, the airfreight industry is going to expand quickly and organization is in the offing. In July, a national committee is formed to work out a campaign to that end.
- American Airlines is the first airline to offer US coast-to-coast jet service, with the Boeing 707.
- The Armstrong Whitworth AW 650 Argosy, designed for easy enplaning of large pallets of cargo and outsized loads, makes its first flight. At this time most freight was handled in small pallets or loaded by hand.
- 1958
- Slick Airways suspends all commercial flights, saying it was forced by the government’s failure to give all-cargo carriers “the same permanency of operating rights and quality of treatment enjoyed by the subsidized airlines.”
- American Airlines creates the the Paul Bunyan Box, the first Unit Load Device.
- First flight of the Douglas DC-8, a four-engine, narrow-body plane.
- U.S. Federal Aviation Act ; the legislation created a new safety regulatory agency, the Federal Aviation Agency, later called the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
- 1957
- Private investors take over a financially ailing Seaboard, installing Richard Jackson as chief executive. With New York as a base, he guides Seaboard into a dominant position in trans- Atlantic all-cargo transport.
- The CAB recommends denial of Railway Express Agency’s applications for authority to act as an international airfreight forwarder, pointing out that REA monopolizes both domestic rail and air express traffic.
- The "SS-463L" project was developed by a U.S. Air Force committee in 1957 and awarded to the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1959. The "SS-463L Pallet Cargo Handling System" specifications for aircraft (aka "463L") included a "Master Pallet" design.
- First flight of the Boeing 707 narrow-body four-engine jet airliner.
- Olympic Airways is created by shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, from the ashes of bankrupt Hellenic state airline T.A.E.
- Lockheed Super Constellation of Flying Tiger Lines sets a payload record for a commercial aircraft of 41,749 lb (18,936 kg).
- CSA Czechoslovakian Airlines inaugurates the world's first line served purely by jets.
- 1956
- Reputed to be the biggest and most modern facility of its kind in the world, the new $5.5 million International Air Cargo Center at New York International Airport (Idlewild) is formally dedicated.
- Dutch airline KLM is the first foreign carrier to purchase American commercial jets with an order for eight DC-8s with costs exceeding $50 million.
- Northern Air Cargo (NAC) is founded.
- British independent carrier Airwork Limited suspends trans-Atlantic airfreight service because its North American cargo division was unable to forecast operations at a profit or breakeven point.
- LAN becomes the first airline to conduct a commercial flight over Antarctica
- First flight of the Douglas C-133 Cargomaster.
- 1955
- Lufthansa forms anew and makes Hamburg-New York its first resumed commercial service.
- In the Air Freight Forwarder Investigation, CAB examiner Paul Pfeiffer recommends that the forwarders be permitted to continue operations “indefinitely” despite the “poor financial showing of many of the forwarders.”
- IATA establishes dangerous goods regulations that allow thousands of goods once banned from aircraft to be shipped by air.
- Twenty-five minutes after Parke-Davis & Co. signs its license, it starts shipments of the now-historic Salk polio vaccine via Emery Air Freight, with shipments destined for 19 cities cost-to-coast delivered in 14 hours.
- Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is formed through the merger of a new government-owned carrier with Orient Airways.
- Sadia S/A – Transportes Aéreos (renamed TransBrasil in 1972) is founded.
- 1954
- Air India Cargo is set up in 1954, and starts its freighter operations with a Douglas DC-3 aircraft, giving Air India the distinction of being the first Asian airline to operate freighters.
- A new five-year agreement is signed by the Railway Express Agency and 30 domestic, scheduled air carriers and contains one important change, which involves revenue apportionment between REA and the airlines.
- Air Inter is founded.
- Two of four surviving US all-freight airlines Slick and Flying Tiger decided to merge into one airline in 1954, but labor problems at both airlines prompt them to abandon this idea.
- The Air Research Bureau is established on a permanent basis, in Brussels. The name was subsequently changed to the European Airlines Research Bureau and - in 1973 - the AEA.
- 1953
- Twelve certified airfreight forwarders, which are said to handle the majority of air cargo volumes in the U.S., form the Air Freight Forwarders Association.
- Slick Airways President Thomas Grace predicts that by 2003, “airfreight rates will be approximately one-third of what they are today in terms of today’s dollar. Airfreight may be cheaper than motor freight.”
- American pioneers nonstop transcontinental service in both directions across the United States with the Douglas DC-7 .
- UPS resumes air service, offering two-day service to major cities on the East and West coasts. Packages flew in the cargo holds of regularly scheduled airlines.
- Japan Airlines is founded.
- 1952
- The Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) is created as part of the United States's mobility resources.
- The Air Express division of Railway Express Agency marks its 25th anniversary of flying airmail and air express on regular schedules.
- Nippon Helicopter, later to become All Nippon Airways (ANA), is founded.
- US Patent 2.612.994 is issued to Norman Woodland and Bernard Silver for the first barcoding system. The application described both the linear and bullseye printing patterns, as well as the mechanical and electronic systems needed to read the code.
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- 1949
- Union Aéromaritime de Transport (UAT) is founded.
- First flight of the Douglas C-124 Globemaster II.
- In August 1949, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) finally gave permission to four all-freight airlines to operate. These were Slick, Flying Tiger, U.S. Airlines, and Airnews.
- The de Havilland DH 106 Comet 1 prototype makes its first flight and becomes the first production commercial jetliner.
- 1948
- The Civil Aeronautics Board sets up a new category of “indirect air carriers” with a common carriage license to Emery Air Freight.
- Pan Am predicts that within a decade, air cargo revenues will equal those from air passengers.
- Aircargo (now called Air Canada Cargo) officially hits the skies.
- The New York International Airport begins operations on the site of the former Idlewild Golf Course in the outskirts of New York City.
- Berlin Airlift operation.
- 1947
- American Airlines President Ralph Damon says the carrier’s greatest potential area of expansion is “the field of commoncarrier air cargo operation.”
- A civil aviation agreement is signed by the U.S. and China, under which airlines of each nation will receive reciprocal landing rights and transit rights in the other’s territory. Pan American, Trans World and Northwest will operate in China.
- Arrow Air is founded.
- Southern Air Transport (SAT) is formed. SAT is best known as a front company for the Central Intelligence Agency and became a subsidiary of the CIA's airline proprietary network, the Pacific Corporation.
- Malayan Airways is founded.
- First fully pressurized planes.
- First flight of Alitalia - Italian International Airlines- on the route Turin - Rome-Catania with a three-engined Fiat G-12.
- ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) comes into being.
- Experimental helicopter mail delivery service begins in the New York City area.
- 1946
- Transports Aériens Intercontinentaux (TAI) is founded.
- TNT is founded.
- The Airborne Flower Traffic Association of California is founded to fly fresh flowers from Hawaii to the mainland U.S.
- Cathay Pacific Airways is founded.
- Alitalia - Linee Aeree Italiane S.p.A. is established as Aerolinee Italiane Internazionali, more commonly known as Alitalia, an Italian portmanteau of the words ali (wings) and Italia (Italy). It starts operations on 5 May 1947,
- Seaboard World Airlines is founded as Seaboard & Western Airlines founded by the brothers Arthur and Ray Norden.
- SAS is formed from Det Danske Luftfartselskab A/S (DDL), Det Norske Luftfartselskap A/S (DNL) and Svensk Interkontinetal Lufttrafik AB (SILA).
- KLM is the first European airline to start scheduled services to New york after the second world war.
- Korean National Airlines is founded. The company is replaced by Korean Air Lines in 1962, and later changes its name to Korean Air in 1984.
- Slick Airways is founded as the air cargo division of the Slick Corporation by Earl F. Slick
- Emery Air Freight is founded as a freight-forwarding operation by navy veteran John Colvin Emery, Sr., who rejoined civilian life with experience in military air transport service.
- 1945
- Riddle Airlines is founded by John Paul Riddle in 1945 in Miami, Florida as a charter and freight airline. In 1965, it became Airlift International.
- First flight of the Douglas C-74 Globemaster.
- Flying Tiger Line is founded.
- As the end of World War II nears, Lufthansa ceases operations and is liquidated.
- IATA (International Air Transport Association) founded.
- 1944
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- 1943
- A DC-3 takes off from New York en route to San Francisco in October, inaugurating United Airlines’ Cargolines transcontinental service.
- "Flying the Hump" - Air supply route from India to China across the Himalayan Mountains.
- While there were numerous advances in U.S. aircraft design during the war, that enabled planes to go faster, higher, and farther than ever before, mass production was the chief goal of the United States.
- 1942
- Canadian Pacific Railway Company purchases ten bush airlines in a short time span, finishing with the purchase of Canadian Airways in 1942, to form Canadian Pacific Air Lines. It will later operate under the name CP Air.
- First edition of "Air Transportation" magazine, the world's first air cargo magazine and the forerunner of "Air Cargo World" is published in October 1942.
- American Airlines introduces the first U.S. transcontinental all-cargo air service with DC-3 freighters
- 1941
- Attack on Pearl Harbor draws United States into war creating the immediate challenge to supply several worldwide areas by sea and air.
- Definition by the British and American forces of seven secure main air supply routes over which men and supplies could be moved to the WWII battlefronts.
- The earliest "true" cargo aircraft is arguably the World War II German design, the Arado Ar 232.
- The “Big Four” airlines—United, American, TWA, and Eastern—formed Air Cargo, Inc., to deliver freight.
- 1940
- United Airlines began its own air freight delivery service just before the beginning of World War II.
- SCADTA, under ownership by United States businessmen, merges with Colombian Air Carrier SACO, (acronym of Servicio Aéreo Colombiano), forming the new Aerovías Nacionales de Colombia S.A. or Avianca.
- First flight of the Curtiss C-46 Commando transport aircraft.
- The major innovations of the wartime period occurred in Europe: radar (Great Britain) and jet engines (Germany).
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- 1937
- Canada's first airline is created: Trans-Canada Air Lines, later to become Air Canada.
- Pan American World Airways and Imperial Airways flying boats conduct joint survey flights over the Atlantic Ocean in preparation for the commencement of regular services.
- Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft at the British Thomson-Houston factory in Rugby, England.
- 1936
- The Bureau of Air Commerce begins to develop a nationwide air traffic control system in the United States.
- The British Empire's Empire Air Mail Scheme, in which Imperial Airways carries all first-class mail by air, begins its first service, flying from Alexandria, Egypt.
- Germany begins sending four transport flights to Spain per week to support the Spanish Nationalist faction, It will continue to do so for over two years.
- American Airlines is the first airline to fly the Douglas DC-3 in commercial service.
- Imperial Airways commences airmail services to West Africa.
- ATA (Air Transport Association of America, today's A4A) is founded.
- 1935
- Pan American World Airways commences the first regular transpacific airmail service, to Hawaii, flying the Martin M-130 China Clipper from San Francisco to Manila, via Honolulu, Midway Atoll, Wake Island, and Guam.
- The first company to bear the name British Airways Ltd is formed, by the merger of Hillman's Airways, Spartan Air Lines and United Airways Ltd.
- A Pan American World Airways Sikorsky S-42 makes the first airline survey flight from California to Hawaii, departing from San Francisco and arriving at Pearl Harbor. It is the start of an orderly commercial air transportation system in the Pacific Ocean.
- Eventually, the two companies REA and General Air Express, found it useful to combine their operations. Beginning in February 1935, they operated as one.
- In 1935 Pan American issued a specification for a flying boat, larger than the Martin M-130, and capable of providing regular service across the North Atlantic Ocean.
- The first air traffic control tower was established in 1935 at what is now Newark International Airport in New Jersey.
- 1934
- Western Air Express is severed from TWA again.
- Following the Air Mail Act, United Aircraft and Transport breaks into three separate companies, and United Airlines now becomes a separate company.
- Lufthansa opens the first transatlantic airmail service from Berlin to Rio de Janeiro.
- Imperial Airways extends its airmail service to Australia.
- Inter-Island Airways makes the first interisland air mail flight in the Hawaiian Islands under a United States Post Office contract.
- Aeronaves de México (Aeroméxico) is founded
- Varney Speed Lines flies for the first time between El Paso and Pueblo carrying 100 letters and no passengers. The airline will eventually become Continental Airlines.
- In the United States, the Air Mail Act of 1934 closely regulates the contracting of air mail services and prohibits aircraft manufacturers from owning airlines. The entire industry is now reorganized and refocused.
- Highland Airways commences the first regular airmail service within the United Kingdom, between Inverness and Kirkwall.
- French Couzinet 71 flying boats begin the first regular air mail service across the South Atlantic Ocean.
- American Airways becomes American Airlines, Inc.
- The United States Army Air Corps begins flying US airmail after the government cancels all existing airmail contracts due to alleged improprieties by the previous administration during the negotiations of those contracts.
- The first airmail flight between Australia and New Zealand is made by Charles Ulm in an Avro Ten, taking 14 hours 10 minutes.
- Germany begins a regular air mail service between Africa and South America, employing Dornier flying boats catapulted from depot ships.
- All-metal Douglas DC-2
- 1933
- Boeing develops model 247, an all-metal, fast twin-engine airplane and the first modern passenger airliner. Also the first airliner with retractable undercarriage.
- The Brazilian airline VASP is established.
- Air France is founded.
- Douglas developes an all metal twin engined airplane, the DC-2, and later the DC-3, to compete with the Boeing 247.
- Indian National Airways Ltd is started by Govan Bros Ltd.
- Turkish Airlines is founded under the name "State Airlines".
- KLM PH-AIP Pelikaan record breaking mailflight to Indonesia
- 1932
- Pan American World Airways announces plans to offer service to Hawaii.
- Egyptair is founded.
- Imperial Airways' weekly airmail service is extended through Africa as far as Cape Town.
- General Air Express is founded
- U.S. Department of Commerce constructs 83 radio beacons across the country, becoming fully operational in 1932, automatically transmitting directional beams, or tracks, that pilots could follow to their destination.
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- 1930
- Transcontinental Air Transport (T-A-T) and Western Air Express form Transcontinental & Western Air (T&WA or: TWA).
- Many innovations take place in the thirties to make aircraft bigger, faster and safer.
- U.S. Watres Act ; authorizes the Post Office to enter into longer-term contracts for airmail, with rates based on space or volume, rather than weight.
- The Aviation Corporation's airline subsidiaries are incorporated into American Airways.
- 1929
- Pan American-Grace Airways, better known as Panagra, is formed as a joint venture between Pan American World Airways and Grace Shipping Company.
- First official airmail to the Mackenzie District of Canada's western Arctic by bushpilot.
- The Low Frequency Radio Range system (LFR) begins to replace the visual Air Beacon system. It will become the main navigation system used by aircraft for instrument flying.
- The United Aircraft and Transport Corporation is formed. The airline interests are soon grouped under a new management company known as United Air Lines, Inc. However, the individual airlines continue to operate under their own names.
- Inter-Island Airways – the future Hawaiian Airlines – commences operations.
- United States Army Air Corps Lieutenant Jimmy Doolittle makes a completely blind take-off, flight, and landing.
- Luft Hansa uses a catapult to launch a Heinkel He 12 mail plane from the passenger liner Bremen, 400 km (248 miles; 216 nautical miles) out of New York, New York, speeding the mail on its way before the ship reaches port.
- Delta Air Lines starts commercial airline operations.
- Imperial Airways commences the first scheduled air service between England and India.
- LAN Airlines begins service as “Línea Aeropostal Santiago – Arica”.
- Another company that was an early promoter of air cargo was American Railway Express (renamed Railway Express Agency or REA in March 1929).
- Southern Air Transport is formed when businessman A. P. Barrett consolidated Texas Air Transport and several other small aviation companies. Later that year SAT came under the control of the Aviation Corp., the company that organized American Airlines.
- Polish airline LOT is founded.
- By 1929, the volume of freight had grown to 257,443 pounds (116,774 kilograms), and by 1931 to more than 1 million pounds (453,592 kilograms) per year.
- The Universal Postal Union (UPU) adopts comprehensive rules for airmail at its 1929 Postal Union Congress in London.
- 1928
- The famous German pilot Gunther Plüschow carries out the first air mail from Puntas Arenas to Ushuaia, in the southern part of Argentina.
- US Foreign Air Mail Act passed; leads to formation of Pan American, which begins by transporting mail to & from South America.
- New York City decides to build its first municipal airport.
- US Government passes a law that said that an airplane producer can not be an airline at the same time. Boeing Air Transport purchased several other smaller airlines and became United Air Transport.
- 1927
- Iberia is founded.
- Germany's lead in commercial aviation is such that during the year German airlines fly greater distances with more passengers than the airlines of France, Italy, and the United Kingdom combined.
- Pan American World Airways launches its first scheduled international air service, a 70-minute flight from Key West, Florida, to Havana, Cuba.
- Jat Airways (JAT - Jugoslovenski Aerotransport) is founded on 17 June 1927 as Aeroput.
- Sociedade Anônima Empresa de Viação Aérea Rio-Grandense – VARIG, the first national airline of Brazil, is founded.
- Pan American Airways is formed to carry airmail on the Key West-Havana route.
- Boeing Air Transport is formed, to carry airmail between Chicago and San Francisco. It eventually will become United Airlines.
- 1926
- National Air Transport, one of the companies that originally made up United Airlines, was founded on November 14, 1926, for the purpose of carrying parcels.
- Northwest Airlines is founded, under the name Northwest Airways.
- Two Luft Hansa Junkers G.24s leave Berlin to make a round-trip to Beijing. They will return on September 26.
- FIATA (International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations) is founded.
- Western Air Express begins operations with flights between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles. The company is later renamed Western Airlines.
- At 6 a.m., Varney Air Lines Chief Pilot Leon Cuddeback took off from Pasco, WA on a new mail route through Boise, ID, and eventually landing at Elko, NV. Varney Speed Lines will later become Continental Airlines.
- Deutsche Luft Hansa AG is founded by the merger of Deutscher Aero Lloyd and Junkers Luftverkehr.
- U.S. Kelly Act ; government simplifies airmail service payments.
- U.S. Air Commerce Act ; government becomes regulator of commercial aviation.
- 1925
- Western Air Express is founded, later to become Western Airlines.
- The first five airmail contracts are signed. Airlines include Colonial Air, Robertson, Varney, Western Air and National.
- First scheduled airfreight service begins in the US.
- Sabena establishes the first airline connection between Belgium and the Belgian Congo.
- French airline CIDNA is formed.
- Henry Ford's express company carried 1 million pounds of freight for the Ford Company when it started in 1925.
- U.S. Contract Air Mail Act ; government transfers airmail service to private sector.
- 1924
- A KLM Fokker F.VII makes the first flight from the Netherlands to the Dutch East Indies, taking 127 hours 16 minutes.
- Canada's first regular airmail service begins, with Laurentide Air Services linking Haileybury, Ontario, with Rouyn, Quebec.
- Regular night airmail services commence in the United States, linking Chicago, Illinois, with Cheyenne, Wyoming.
- Huff Daland Dusters, Inc. is founded, later to become Delta Airlines.
- Imperial Airways is formed, with the backing of the British government.
- Pateras Pesara flies an experimental helicopter in Paris. The machine flies 800 metres (2,640 ft) in just over 10 minutes.
- 1923
- The first electric Airway Beacons (a rotating light on a tower for visual navigation by airplane pilots along a specified airway corridor) start appearing at airfields in the United States to assist in night flying operations.
- The Czechoslovakian airline CSA commences operations.
- The Belgian airline SABENA is formed, adding new European routes to SNETA's routes in Belgian Congo that it takes over.
- Dobrolyot is formed, as the first Soviet civil aviation service. It will later become part of Aeroflot.
- Air Union is created by the merger of Compagnie des Messageries Aériennes (CMA) with Grands Express Aériens (CGEA).
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- 1921
- Compañía Mexicana de Aviación begins service.
- Australia's first airmail contract is awarded to Norman (later Sir) Brearley's Western Australian Airlines (WAA).
- The Spanish airline Compañía Española de Tráfico Aéreo is established. It will eventually form part of the airline Iberia.
- The U.S. Army deploys rotating beacons in a line between Columbus and Dayton, Ohio, a distance of about 80 miles. The beacons, visible to pilots at 10-second intervals, made it possible to fly the route at night.
- 1920
- Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Ltd (Qantas) was formed by Hudson Fysh and Paul McGinness in Winton, Queensland.
- The United States Post Office awards a contract for international air mail to Aeromarine West Indies Airways.
- The first airmail service established officially by an airline occurs in Colombia, South America, by SCADTA (the later Avianca).
- Aviator Edward Hubbard is awarded the first contract international air mail route, from Seattle, Washington, to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He will employ the Boeing B-1 flying boat on the route.
- 1919
- The Swiss airline Ad Astra Aero S.A. is founded in Zürich, Switzerland. The company will later merge with Balair and together become Swissair.
- Avianca is founded as the Sociedad Colombo-Alemana de Transporte Aéreo (SCADTA) in Barranquilla. It is the first commercial airline founded in Latin America and the second in the world.
- In 1919, American Railway Express used a converted Handley-Page bomber in an attempt to fly 1,100 pounds (500 kilograms) of freight from Washington, D.C., to Chicago.
- West Indies Airways begins service between Key West, Florida, and Havana, Cuba.
- Dutch Royal Airlines for the Netherlands and its Colonies (Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij voor Nederland en Koloniën - KLM) is founded.
- London's first airport is opened, at Hounslow Heath Aerodrome. The facilities include a permanent Customs hall.
- Captain John Alcock and Lieutenant Arthur Whitten Brown make the first successful non-stop Atlantic crossing by air, flying a Vickers Vimy from St. John's, Newfoundland, to Clifden, County Galway, Ireland in 16 hours.
- A Fairey IIIC seaplane is used for a regular newspaper run, carrying the Evening Times to towns along the Kent coast of England.
- CMA (Compagnie des Messageries Aériennes) commences a mail and freight service between Paris and Lille, using ex-military Breguet 14s.
- The first U.S. international airmail is carried between Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and Seattle, Washington, in the United States by William Boeing in a Boeing CL-4S.
- 1918
- Captain R. M. Smith, Brigadier General A. E. Borton, and Major General W. Salmond set out in a Handley Page O/400 from Heliopolis to Karachi, to survey a route for airmail to India.
- In the aftermath of the First World War the Royal Engineers (Postal Section) and the Royal Air Force pioneered a scheduled airmail service between Folkestone, Kent and Cologne, Germany.
- The Danish airline Det Danske Luftfartselskab, the oldest airline that still exists (within SAS), is founded
- The first scheduled Canadian airmail flight is made, between Montreal and Toronto.
- The first regularly scheduled airmail service in the United States is inaugurated over a route between Washington, D.C. and New York City, with an intermediate stop in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Actual first flight took place in May 15, 1918.
- The first regular international airmail service begins, with Hansa-Brandenburg C.I aircraft linking Vienna, Lviv, Proskurov, and Kiev.
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- 1916
- Ruth Law sets a new distance record for cross-country flight by flying 590 miles (950 km) non-stop from Chicago to New York State. She flies on to New York City the next day.
- William Boeing founds the Pacific Aero Products Company. In 1917 it will be renamed Boeing Airplane Company.
- Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service aircraft deliver 13 tons of stores into Kut el Amara, Mesopotamia, while it is besieged by the Turks. It is the first time aircraft are used for such a purpose.
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- 1911
- The first U.S. airmail flight is made. Earle Ovington flies 6 miles (9.7 km) from Nassau Boulevard, New York to Mineola, Long Island.
- The world's first scheduled airmail post service took place in the United Kingdom between the London suburb of Hendon, North London, and Windsor, Berkshire.
- The first ever commercial cargo is flown by Horatio Barber in his Valkyrie B tail-first monoplane. The General Electric company pays £100 to have a box of Osram electric lamps flown from Shoreham to Hove in England.
- The world's second airmail flight came when French pilot Henri Pequet carried 6,500 letters a distance of 13 km (8.1 mi) from Allahabad, to Naini, United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, India, then part of the British Empire.
- The first "quasi-official" airmail flight was conducted by Fred Wiseman, who carried three letters between Petaluma and Santa Rosa, California.
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History by year
(click on the items for further information)
- 2013
- World Airways and North American Airlines parent Global Aviation Holdings files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection – again.
- Air Cargo Germany (ACG) officially files for bankruptcy.
- First Korean domestic cargo airline ‘Air Incheon’ starts operation.
- American Airlines and US Airways announce that the two companies will merge in a deal that will form the largest airline in the world.
- First flight of the Xian Y-20 (Yun-20) Kunpeng, manufactured by the Xi'an Aircraft Industrial Corporation.
- 2012
- AviancaTaca Group announces that all its subsidiaries will operate under the name of Avianca.
- Southern Air files for Chapter 11 protection.
- First flight of the Ilyushin Il-476, a further development of the Il-76MD.
- Air India Cargo ends freighter aircraft operations in early 2012, due to rising competition from local cargo airlines as well as financial issues.
- Jade Cargo International officially announces the closure of the company and the start of liquidation proceedings effective June, 04, 2012. This due to lack of demand and “extended discussions” between Jade Cargo’s owners.
- UPS wants to buy TNT Express for $6.77 billion. This deal comes a little more than a month after TNT Express rejected UPS’ initial $6.4 billion acquisition offer. The deal will be blocked by EU in jan 2013 though.
- The last departure of an official Continental Airlines flight takes place as Continental Flight 1267 departs Phoenix, Arizona, bound for Cleveland, Ohio. On 3 March, Continental Airlines disappears into United Airlines, as a result of their 2010 merger.
- In March, the TSA and the CBP announce that they’re moving forward with their joint Air Cargo Advance Screening pilot program
- Due to continuous financial trouble since 2008, all VARIGLOG operations are suspended. On 27 September 2012 VARIG Logística S.A. is declared bankrupt.
- IATA begins championing full implementation of the e-airwaybill by 2015 as the first step toward e-freight, instead of the previous all-at-once method
- On January 1, the EU ETS goes into effect, placing a cap on airline emissions on flights routed into the European Union. IATA and other industry groups push back against the new rule, asking for an ICAO-provided solution instead
- FedEx announces plans to acquire French transportation company Tatex. The announcement comes a month after FedEx agrees to purchase a Polish shipping company.
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- 2010
- TNT expends its long haul network with a five day per week air cargo service linking Moscow and its main European hub Liege as well as with a direct flight between Chongqing and Liège.
- The Cargo businesses of Avianca, TACA, and Aerogal are integrated to Tampa Cargo.
- After 89 years of service, Compañía Mexicana de Aviación, S.A. de C.V. (commonly known as Mexicana) suspends all operations.
- Arrow Cargo files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
- An An-225 carries the world's longest piece of air cargo - two new 42-meter test wind turbine blades - transported from Tianjin (China) to Denmark.
- British Airways & Iberia formally combine business operations to form International Airlines Group (IAG - 55% BA, 45% Iberia)
- IATA e-freight initiative takes form.
- 2009
- Avianca merges with TACA.
- TNT continues its expansion with the acquisition of LIT Cargo in Chili and Expresso Araçatuba in Brazil and extends its integrated road network worldwide.
- The heaviest single cargo item ever sent via air freight is loaded onto an Antonov 225.
- Cargo B Airlines ceases operations after failing to receive tenders.
- 2008
- VASP is declared bankrupt.
- The Northwest Airlines - Delta merger (under the name of Delta) is approved. Delta announces that the NWA Cargo hub will be shut down by the end of 2009.
- Aloha Air Cargo established.
- Northwest Airlines announces that it will be merging with Delta Air Lines to form the world's largest airline.
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- 2006
- TNT acquires: TG+ in Spain, Speedage in India, Mercurio in Brazil and Hoau in China.
- Northwest Airlines Cargo has become the largest U.S. cargo carrier. NWA Cargo's freighters fly from key cities in the U.S. and Asia, as well as Amsterdam, connecting with the carrier's cargo hub in Anchorage, AK, facilitating the quick transfer of cargo.
- In 2006 Air India Cargo relaunches own freighter services following the merger of Indian Airlines and its domestic subsidiary Alliance Air with Air India.
- VASP starts operating under the new Brazilian bankruptcy law.
- VARIG is split in VRG Linhas Aéreas (sold to VarigLog and later Gol Transportes Aéreos) and Viação Aérea Rio-Grandense (to become Flex Linhas Aéreas, styled as FLEX, went bankrupt on August 20, 2010) as two different judicial entities and airlines.
- Regional Cargo (Mexico) starts operations.
- BAX Global is acquired from Brink's by DB Logistics, the Transportation and Logistics Division of Deutsche Bahn, for $1.1 billion. At the time of the sale, fleet operator and owner Air Transport International (ATI) is sold to Cargo Holdings International.
- 2005
- TNT announces in 2005 the extension of its Middle East Road Network and launches its first integrated road network in Asia. In January 2005, TPG operates globally under the brand TNT for all its activities.
- VARIG LOG is purchased for US$ 48.2 million by the consortium Volo do Brasil during the split-up of the assets of VARIG.
- TNT announces a change in strategy: the company is to focus on delivery services via Mail, Express and Freight transport networks.
- VARIG applies to the Commercial Bankruptcy and Reorganization Court in Rio de Janeiro.
- 2004
- myCARGO is established to perform unscheduled air cargo services providing extra capacity to major carriers.
- Jade Cargo International is established. The company is co-owned by Shenzhen Airlines (51%), Lufthansa Cargo (25%) and DEG – Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH (24%).
- Jade Cargo International is established. The company is co-owned by Shenzhen Airlines (51%), Lufthansa Cargo (25%) and DEG – Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH, a subsidiary of German state-owned bank KfW (24%).
- TPG undertakes a major expansion of the TNT Express air hub in Liège, Belgium.
- Creation of Air France-KLM, the leading European transport group.
- Etihad’s cargo division starts its cargo services under the name “Etihad Cargo”.
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- 2002
- Avianca, the regional carrier SAM Colombia and its major rival ACES Colombia, join efforts to create Alianza Summa, and begin merged operations.
- SWISS launches its freight division under the name of Swiss WorldCargo.
- The Trade Act of 2002 is enacted on August 6, providing U.S. presidents with the authority to negotiate trade deals with other nations without Congressional amendment.
- In January, Airbus starts production on the A380 in Nantes, France
- 2001
- Polar Air Cargo is acquired by Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings (AAWW).
- LAN Airlines' new cargo terminal opens in Miami.
- In response to the September 11 attacks, President George W. Bush announced the establishment of the Office of Homeland Security (OHS) to coordinate "homeland security" efforts, leading a.o. to measures to secure airline and air cargo processes worldwide.
- Aeropostal Cargo de Mexico is founded.
- TWA assets were acquired in April 2001 by AMR Corp., the parent company of American Airlines. As part of the deal, TWA declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy (for the third time) the day after it agreed to the purchase. Dec 1st TWA ceases to exist.
- American Airlines announces that it has agreed to purchase substantially all the assets of Trans World Airlines, Inc.
- 2000
- TNT Airways, the airline of the TPG group, is founded.
- Canadian Airlines is taken over by and merged into Air Canada.
- Air France, Aeromexico, Delta Airlines and Korean Air found the SkyTeam and SkyTeam Cargo alliances.
- Kalitta Air begins service in November 2000 with three Boeing 747 aircraft.
- Varig Logística S.A., operating as VarigLog, starts operations as a wholly owned subsidiary of Varig. All Varig cargo operations are united under the new airline.
- Estafeta Carga Aérea S.A. de C.V. (Mexico) is founded.
- TAPA (Transported Asset Protection Association) is set up.
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- 1997
- Burlington Air Express changes its name to BAX Global, reflecting its expansion over all continents.
- Air Canada, United Airlines, Lufthansa, Thai Airways International and Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) establish Star Alliance – the world’s first airline alliance.
- Air Inter is absorbed in Air France.
- IATA Cargo2000 (C2K) Master Operating Plan established.
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- 1994
- Federal Express shorten their official name to FedEx.
- The International Air Cargo Forum Association is created, later to become TIACA.
- Coyne Aviation is founded as a charter broker specialising in the former Soviet states. In 1996 the company name changes to Coyne Airways.
- First flight of the Antonov An-70 medium-range transport aircraft, and the first large aircraft to be powered by propfan engines.
- Lufthansa Cargo AG is founded as an autonomous logistics company within the Lufthansa Group.
- U.S. Congress further encourages the development of the cargo and express delivery part of the airline industry by preempting state efforts to regulate intrastate air/truck freight and air express package shipments.
- The Tripartite Shippers’ Group (TSG, currently known as the Global Shippers Forum - GSF) is formed.
- 1993
- Polar Air Cargo Worldwide, Inc. is formed as a joint venture between Southern Air Transport and GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS).
- Northwest Airlines begins a strategic alliance with KLM, which is the largest airline partnership ever conceived at this time.
- Qatar Airways is founded.
- Indian airline Jet Airways begins commercial airline operations with four Boeing 737-300 airliners.
- 1992
- UTA is absorbed into Air France.
- TWA files for bankruptcy, a.o. because it ignored the dedicated air cargo market, but reemerges.
- Antonov An-124 civil certification is issued.
- Aerotransportes Mas de Carga, S.A. de C.V., operating as MasAir, is founded.
- Michael Chowdry, extending a corporate trend toward outsourcing, creates Atlas Air, an airline dedicated to leasing 747-200 freighters to airlines under long-term contracts
- The International Air Cargo Forum is reorganized outside the SAE as The International Air Cargo Association
- Federal Express sends software on computer disks to thousands of customers, allowing them to track shipments from their own workstations
- Lufthansa’s Wilhelm Althen admits that the carrier’s move to start a freight network is a reaction to the competition from integrated carriers
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- 1989
- Federal Express acquires Tiger International, Inc., the owners of Flying Tigers.
- EVA Airways Corporation is founded.
- Antonov An-225 sets 106 world & class records during 3h 30m flight carrying Buran orbiter, weight: 508,200kg (1,120,000 lb).
- Eastern Airlines files for bankruptcy It eventually ceases operations 18 Jan 1991.
- IPC (International Post Corporation) is set up.
- 1988
- UPS Airlines launches: The quickest and biggest airline startup in FAA history.
- Pacific Southwest Airlines shut down operations and is integrated to USAir (now US Airways).
- UPS receives permission from the FAA to operate its own airline (as opposed to leasing), known as UPS Airline.
- Air China Cargo commences business with Air China.
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- 1986
- Federal Express introduces the SuperTracker®, a hand-held bar code scanner system that captures detailed package information.
- Burlington Northern Air Freight, Inc. (BNAFI) changes its name to Burlington Air Express, repositioning itself as an overnight air express company.
- Western Airlines and Delta Air Lines merger agreement is approved by the United States Department of Transportation.
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- 1984
- American International Airways (AIA) starts flying in 1984 using Boeing 747, Lockheed L-1011, Douglas DC-8, Twin Beech and Learjet aircraft, for air freight, air ambulance and charter passenger operations.
- American Airlines retires its 747 cargo freighter fleet and focuses on smaller shipments carried in the bellies of its passenger aircraft.
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- 1977
- Eastern becomes the first U.S. operator of an Airbus product. To gain a toehold in the U.S. market, Airbus offers Eastern a 6 months free lease of four A300's with no obligation. The gamble pays off and Eastern orders many more.
- Founding of German Cargo Services GmbH as a wholly-owned Lufthansa subsidiary.
- U.S. Congress takes the first legislative steps toward airline economic deregulation in November of 1977, when it gives cargo carriers freedom to operate on any domestic route and charge whatever the market would bear.
- U.S. Domestic Air Mail as a separate class of service (and its rate structure) is formally eliminated by the successor to the Post Office Department, the United States Postal Service (USPS).
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- 1972
- MASkargo is established in 1972 to handle the delivery of cargo around the world via Malaysia Airlines' global network of routes.
- Malaysia-Singapore Airlines (MSA) is split into Singapore Airlines and Malaysian Airlines System (MAS).
- In October, Airbus puts its first plane in the air, the A300
- Malaysia Airline System Official Launch.
- Burlington Northern Air Freight, Inc. (BNAFI), a subsidiary of Burlington Northern Railroad, opens for business in ten cities in the United States. In 1986, BNAFI changes its name to Burlington Air Express, and in 1997 to BAX Global.
- BOAC and British European Airways merge to create British Airways.
- Biman Bangladesh Airlines is established on 4 January 1972 as Bangladesh's national airline under the Bangladesh Biman Ordinance (Presidential Order No. 126)
- On the 19th of April, 1972 a Lufthansa Boeing 747 F took off as LH 460 with more than 73,000 kilograms of cargo and almost 2,000 kilograms of mail, on its first scheduled flight from Frankfurt to New York.
- 1971
- Lufthansa orders the first 747-200 freighter, giving commercial air cargo operators their first noseloading aircraft capable of carrying industrial pallets
- Southwest Airlines is founded.
- First flight of the CASA C-212 Aviocar STOL medium transport aircraft.
- First flight of the Ilyushin Il-76.
- Boeing introduces 747-200 wide-body freighter, combi and convertible versions
- 1970
- Lockheed flies its contender in the wide-body market, the L-1011.
- Douglas builds its first wide-body, the DC-10
- Cargolux is established by Luxair, the Salen Shipping Group, Loftleiðir and various private interests in Luxembourg. It starts operations in May 1970 with one Canadair CL-44 freighter flying from Luxembourg to Hong Kong.
- The World's First Jumbo Jet the 747-100 enters commercial service.
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- 1967
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- 1966
- UTA establishes a subsidiary company named Compagnie Aéromaritime d'Affrètement to give it a foothold in the rapidly growing passenger and cargo charter markets.
- Slick Airways is shut down due to a poor financial situation, and the assets are acquired by Airlift International.
- First flight of the Douglas DC-8 Super 60
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- 1962
- Pan American World Airlines places an order for two 707-321C cargo jets, marking the first cargo jet order in the U.S.
- The Port of New York Authority, anticipating a mounting volume of air cargo, announces plans to nearly double existing cargo facilities at New York International Airport to 590,000 square feet.
- Pan American World Airlines places an order for two 707-321C cargo jets, marking the first cargo jet order in the U.S.
- KLM's activities were expanding fast, especially in freight transportation.
- The Port of New York Authority, anticipating a mounting volume of air cargo, announces plans to nearly double existing cargo facilities at New York International Airport to 590,000 square feet
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- 1960
- The international wing of Thai Airways is founded.
- Contracts with United Air Lines and Trans-Texas Airways bring the Railway Express Agency into the airfreight business.
- A committee of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) in the U.S. launches the first International Air Cargo Forum to explore the needs of the emerging air cargo industry ; later this will lead to the creation of TIACA.
- Test
- 1959
- According to James Hoffa, head of the Teamsters Union, by 1960, the airfreight industry is going to expand quickly and organization is in the offing. In July, a national committee is formed to work out a campaign to that end.
- American Airlines is the first airline to offer US coast-to-coast jet service, with the Boeing 707.
- The Armstrong Whitworth AW 650 Argosy, designed for easy enplaning of large pallets of cargo and outsized loads, makes its first flight. At this time most freight was handled in small pallets or loaded by hand.
- 1958
- Slick Airways suspends all commercial flights, saying it was forced by the government’s failure to give all-cargo carriers “the same permanency of operating rights and quality of treatment enjoyed by the subsidized airlines.”
- American Airlines creates the the Paul Bunyan Box, the first Unit Load Device.
- First flight of the Douglas DC-8, a four-engine, narrow-body plane.
- U.S. Federal Aviation Act ; the legislation created a new safety regulatory agency, the Federal Aviation Agency, later called the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
- 1957
- Private investors take over a financially ailing Seaboard, installing Richard Jackson as chief executive. With New York as a base, he guides Seaboard into a dominant position in trans- Atlantic all-cargo transport.
- The CAB recommends denial of Railway Express Agency’s applications for authority to act as an international airfreight forwarder, pointing out that REA monopolizes both domestic rail and air express traffic.
- The "SS-463L" project was developed by a U.S. Air Force committee in 1957 and awarded to the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1959. The "SS-463L Pallet Cargo Handling System" specifications for aircraft (aka "463L") included a "Master Pallet" design.
- First flight of the Boeing 707 narrow-body four-engine jet airliner.
- Olympic Airways is created by shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, from the ashes of bankrupt Hellenic state airline T.A.E.
- Lockheed Super Constellation of Flying Tiger Lines sets a payload record for a commercial aircraft of 41,749 lb (18,936 kg).
- CSA Czechoslovakian Airlines inaugurates the world's first line served purely by jets.
- 1956
- Reputed to be the biggest and most modern facility of its kind in the world, the new $5.5 million International Air Cargo Center at New York International Airport (Idlewild) is formally dedicated.
- Dutch airline KLM is the first foreign carrier to purchase American commercial jets with an order for eight DC-8s with costs exceeding $50 million.
- Northern Air Cargo (NAC) is founded.
- British independent carrier Airwork Limited suspends trans-Atlantic airfreight service because its North American cargo division was unable to forecast operations at a profit or breakeven point.
- LAN becomes the first airline to conduct a commercial flight over Antarctica
- First flight of the Douglas C-133 Cargomaster.
- 1955
- Lufthansa forms anew and makes Hamburg-New York its first resumed commercial service.
- In the Air Freight Forwarder Investigation, CAB examiner Paul Pfeiffer recommends that the forwarders be permitted to continue operations “indefinitely” despite the “poor financial showing of many of the forwarders.”
- IATA establishes dangerous goods regulations that allow thousands of goods once banned from aircraft to be shipped by air.
- Twenty-five minutes after Parke-Davis & Co. signs its license, it starts shipments of the now-historic Salk polio vaccine via Emery Air Freight, with shipments destined for 19 cities cost-to-coast delivered in 14 hours.
- Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is formed through the merger of a new government-owned carrier with Orient Airways.
- Sadia S/A – Transportes Aéreos (renamed TransBrasil in 1972) is founded.
- 1954
- Air India Cargo is set up in 1954, and starts its freighter operations with a Douglas DC-3 aircraft, giving Air India the distinction of being the first Asian airline to operate freighters.
- A new five-year agreement is signed by the Railway Express Agency and 30 domestic, scheduled air carriers and contains one important change, which involves revenue apportionment between REA and the airlines.
- Air Inter is founded.
- Two of four surviving US all-freight airlines Slick and Flying Tiger decided to merge into one airline in 1954, but labor problems at both airlines prompt them to abandon this idea.
- The Air Research Bureau is established on a permanent basis, in Brussels. The name was subsequently changed to the European Airlines Research Bureau and - in 1973 - the AEA.
- 1953
- Twelve certified airfreight forwarders, which are said to handle the majority of air cargo volumes in the U.S., form the Air Freight Forwarders Association.
- Slick Airways President Thomas Grace predicts that by 2003, “airfreight rates will be approximately one-third of what they are today in terms of today’s dollar. Airfreight may be cheaper than motor freight.”
- American pioneers nonstop transcontinental service in both directions across the United States with the Douglas DC-7 .
- UPS resumes air service, offering two-day service to major cities on the East and West coasts. Packages flew in the cargo holds of regularly scheduled airlines.
- Japan Airlines is founded.
- 1952
- The Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) is created as part of the United States's mobility resources.
- The Air Express division of Railway Express Agency marks its 25th anniversary of flying airmail and air express on regular schedules.
- Nippon Helicopter, later to become All Nippon Airways (ANA), is founded.
- US Patent 2.612.994 is issued to Norman Woodland and Bernard Silver for the first barcoding system. The application described both the linear and bullseye printing patterns, as well as the mechanical and electronic systems needed to read the code.
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- 1949
- Union Aéromaritime de Transport (UAT) is founded.
- First flight of the Douglas C-124 Globemaster II.
- In August 1949, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) finally gave permission to four all-freight airlines to operate. These were Slick, Flying Tiger, U.S. Airlines, and Airnews.
- The de Havilland DH 106 Comet 1 prototype makes its first flight and becomes the first production commercial jetliner.
- 1948
- The Civil Aeronautics Board sets up a new category of “indirect air carriers” with a common carriage license to Emery Air Freight.
- Pan Am predicts that within a decade, air cargo revenues will equal those from air passengers.
- Aircargo (now called Air Canada Cargo) officially hits the skies.
- The New York International Airport begins operations on the site of the former Idlewild Golf Course in the outskirts of New York City.
- Berlin Airlift operation.
- 1947
- American Airlines President Ralph Damon says the carrier’s greatest potential area of expansion is “the field of commoncarrier air cargo operation.”
- A civil aviation agreement is signed by the U.S. and China, under which airlines of each nation will receive reciprocal landing rights and transit rights in the other’s territory. Pan American, Trans World and Northwest will operate in China.
- Arrow Air is founded.
- Southern Air Transport (SAT) is formed. SAT is best known as a front company for the Central Intelligence Agency and became a subsidiary of the CIA's airline proprietary network, the Pacific Corporation.
- Malayan Airways is founded.
- First fully pressurized planes.
- First flight of Alitalia - Italian International Airlines- on the route Turin - Rome-Catania with a three-engined Fiat G-12.
- ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) comes into being.
- Experimental helicopter mail delivery service begins in the New York City area.
- 1946
- Transports Aériens Intercontinentaux (TAI) is founded.
- TNT is founded.
- The Airborne Flower Traffic Association of California is founded to fly fresh flowers from Hawaii to the mainland U.S.
- Cathay Pacific Airways is founded.
- Alitalia - Linee Aeree Italiane S.p.A. is established as Aerolinee Italiane Internazionali, more commonly known as Alitalia, an Italian portmanteau of the words ali (wings) and Italia (Italy). It starts operations on 5 May 1947,
- Seaboard World Airlines is founded as Seaboard & Western Airlines founded by the brothers Arthur and Ray Norden.
- SAS is formed from Det Danske Luftfartselskab A/S (DDL), Det Norske Luftfartselskap A/S (DNL) and Svensk Interkontinetal Lufttrafik AB (SILA).
- KLM is the first European airline to start scheduled services to New york after the second world war.
- Korean National Airlines is founded. The company is replaced by Korean Air Lines in 1962, and later changes its name to Korean Air in 1984.
- Slick Airways is founded as the air cargo division of the Slick Corporation by Earl F. Slick
- Emery Air Freight is founded as a freight-forwarding operation by navy veteran John Colvin Emery, Sr., who rejoined civilian life with experience in military air transport service.
- 1945
- Riddle Airlines is founded by John Paul Riddle in 1945 in Miami, Florida as a charter and freight airline. In 1965, it became Airlift International.
- First flight of the Douglas C-74 Globemaster.
- Flying Tiger Line is founded.
- As the end of World War II nears, Lufthansa ceases operations and is liquidated.
- IATA (International Air Transport Association) founded.
- 1944
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- 1943
- A DC-3 takes off from New York en route to San Francisco in October, inaugurating United Airlines’ Cargolines transcontinental service.
- "Flying the Hump" - Air supply route from India to China across the Himalayan Mountains.
- While there were numerous advances in U.S. aircraft design during the war, that enabled planes to go faster, higher, and farther than ever before, mass production was the chief goal of the United States.
- 1942
- Canadian Pacific Railway Company purchases ten bush airlines in a short time span, finishing with the purchase of Canadian Airways in 1942, to form Canadian Pacific Air Lines. It will later operate under the name CP Air.
- First edition of "Air Transportation" magazine, the world's first air cargo magazine and the forerunner of "Air Cargo World" is published in October 1942.
- American Airlines introduces the first U.S. transcontinental all-cargo air service with DC-3 freighters
- 1941
- Attack on Pearl Harbor draws United States into war creating the immediate challenge to supply several worldwide areas by sea and air.
- Definition by the British and American forces of seven secure main air supply routes over which men and supplies could be moved to the WWII battlefronts.
- The earliest "true" cargo aircraft is arguably the World War II German design, the Arado Ar 232.
- The “Big Four” airlines—United, American, TWA, and Eastern—formed Air Cargo, Inc., to deliver freight.
- 1940
- United Airlines began its own air freight delivery service just before the beginning of World War II.
- SCADTA, under ownership by United States businessmen, merges with Colombian Air Carrier SACO, (acronym of Servicio Aéreo Colombiano), forming the new Aerovías Nacionales de Colombia S.A. or Avianca.
- First flight of the Curtiss C-46 Commando transport aircraft.
- The major innovations of the wartime period occurred in Europe: radar (Great Britain) and jet engines (Germany).
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- 1937
- Canada's first airline is created: Trans-Canada Air Lines, later to become Air Canada.
- Pan American World Airways and Imperial Airways flying boats conduct joint survey flights over the Atlantic Ocean in preparation for the commencement of regular services.
- Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft at the British Thomson-Houston factory in Rugby, England.
- 1936
- The Bureau of Air Commerce begins to develop a nationwide air traffic control system in the United States.
- The British Empire's Empire Air Mail Scheme, in which Imperial Airways carries all first-class mail by air, begins its first service, flying from Alexandria, Egypt.
- Germany begins sending four transport flights to Spain per week to support the Spanish Nationalist faction, It will continue to do so for over two years.
- American Airlines is the first airline to fly the Douglas DC-3 in commercial service.
- Imperial Airways commences airmail services to West Africa.
- ATA (Air Transport Association of America, today's A4A) is founded.
- 1935
- Pan American World Airways commences the first regular transpacific airmail service, to Hawaii, flying the Martin M-130 China Clipper from San Francisco to Manila, via Honolulu, Midway Atoll, Wake Island, and Guam.
- The first company to bear the name British Airways Ltd is formed, by the merger of Hillman's Airways, Spartan Air Lines and United Airways Ltd.
- A Pan American World Airways Sikorsky S-42 makes the first airline survey flight from California to Hawaii, departing from San Francisco and arriving at Pearl Harbor. It is the start of an orderly commercial air transportation system in the Pacific Ocean.
- Eventually, the two companies REA and General Air Express, found it useful to combine their operations. Beginning in February 1935, they operated as one.
- In 1935 Pan American issued a specification for a flying boat, larger than the Martin M-130, and capable of providing regular service across the North Atlantic Ocean.
- The first air traffic control tower was established in 1935 at what is now Newark International Airport in New Jersey.
- 1934
- Western Air Express is severed from TWA again.
- Following the Air Mail Act, United Aircraft and Transport breaks into three separate companies, and United Airlines now becomes a separate company.
- Lufthansa opens the first transatlantic airmail service from Berlin to Rio de Janeiro.
- Imperial Airways extends its airmail service to Australia.
- Inter-Island Airways makes the first interisland air mail flight in the Hawaiian Islands under a United States Post Office contract.
- Aeronaves de México (Aeroméxico) is founded
- Varney Speed Lines flies for the first time between El Paso and Pueblo carrying 100 letters and no passengers. The airline will eventually become Continental Airlines.
- In the United States, the Air Mail Act of 1934 closely regulates the contracting of air mail services and prohibits aircraft manufacturers from owning airlines. The entire industry is now reorganized and refocused.
- Highland Airways commences the first regular airmail service within the United Kingdom, between Inverness and Kirkwall.
- French Couzinet 71 flying boats begin the first regular air mail service across the South Atlantic Ocean.
- American Airways becomes American Airlines, Inc.
- The United States Army Air Corps begins flying US airmail after the government cancels all existing airmail contracts due to alleged improprieties by the previous administration during the negotiations of those contracts.
- The first airmail flight between Australia and New Zealand is made by Charles Ulm in an Avro Ten, taking 14 hours 10 minutes.
- Germany begins a regular air mail service between Africa and South America, employing Dornier flying boats catapulted from depot ships.
- All-metal Douglas DC-2
- 1933
- Boeing develops model 247, an all-metal, fast twin-engine airplane and the first modern passenger airliner. Also the first airliner with retractable undercarriage.
- The Brazilian airline VASP is established.
- Air France is founded.
- Douglas developes an all metal twin engined airplane, the DC-2, and later the DC-3, to compete with the Boeing 247.
- Indian National Airways Ltd is started by Govan Bros Ltd.
- Turkish Airlines is founded under the name "State Airlines".
- KLM PH-AIP Pelikaan record breaking mailflight to Indonesia
- 1932
- Pan American World Airways announces plans to offer service to Hawaii.
- Egyptair is founded.
- Imperial Airways' weekly airmail service is extended through Africa as far as Cape Town.
- General Air Express is founded
- U.S. Department of Commerce constructs 83 radio beacons across the country, becoming fully operational in 1932, automatically transmitting directional beams, or tracks, that pilots could follow to their destination.
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- 1930
- Transcontinental Air Transport (T-A-T) and Western Air Express form Transcontinental & Western Air (T&WA or: TWA).
- Many innovations take place in the thirties to make aircraft bigger, faster and safer.
- U.S. Watres Act ; authorizes the Post Office to enter into longer-term contracts for airmail, with rates based on space or volume, rather than weight.
- The Aviation Corporation's airline subsidiaries are incorporated into American Airways.
- 1929
- Pan American-Grace Airways, better known as Panagra, is formed as a joint venture between Pan American World Airways and Grace Shipping Company.
- First official airmail to the Mackenzie District of Canada's western Arctic by bushpilot.
- The Low Frequency Radio Range system (LFR) begins to replace the visual Air Beacon system. It will become the main navigation system used by aircraft for instrument flying.
- The United Aircraft and Transport Corporation is formed. The airline interests are soon grouped under a new management company known as United Air Lines, Inc. However, the individual airlines continue to operate under their own names.
- Inter-Island Airways – the future Hawaiian Airlines – commences operations.
- United States Army Air Corps Lieutenant Jimmy Doolittle makes a completely blind take-off, flight, and landing.
- Luft Hansa uses a catapult to launch a Heinkel He 12 mail plane from the passenger liner Bremen, 400 km (248 miles; 216 nautical miles) out of New York, New York, speeding the mail on its way before the ship reaches port.
- Delta Air Lines starts commercial airline operations.
- Imperial Airways commences the first scheduled air service between England and India.
- LAN Airlines begins service as “Línea Aeropostal Santiago – Arica”.
- Another company that was an early promoter of air cargo was American Railway Express (renamed Railway Express Agency or REA in March 1929).
- Southern Air Transport is formed when businessman A. P. Barrett consolidated Texas Air Transport and several other small aviation companies. Later that year SAT came under the control of the Aviation Corp., the company that organized American Airlines.
- Polish airline LOT is founded.
- By 1929, the volume of freight had grown to 257,443 pounds (116,774 kilograms), and by 1931 to more than 1 million pounds (453,592 kilograms) per year.
- The Universal Postal Union (UPU) adopts comprehensive rules for airmail at its 1929 Postal Union Congress in London.
- 1928
- The famous German pilot Gunther Plüschow carries out the first air mail from Puntas Arenas to Ushuaia, in the southern part of Argentina.
- US Foreign Air Mail Act passed; leads to formation of Pan American, which begins by transporting mail to & from South America.
- New York City decides to build its first municipal airport.
- US Government passes a law that said that an airplane producer can not be an airline at the same time. Boeing Air Transport purchased several other smaller airlines and became United Air Transport.
- 1927
- Iberia is founded.
- Germany's lead in commercial aviation is such that during the year German airlines fly greater distances with more passengers than the airlines of France, Italy, and the United Kingdom combined.
- Pan American World Airways launches its first scheduled international air service, a 70-minute flight from Key West, Florida, to Havana, Cuba.
- Jat Airways (JAT - Jugoslovenski Aerotransport) is founded on 17 June 1927 as Aeroput.
- Sociedade Anônima Empresa de Viação Aérea Rio-Grandense – VARIG, the first national airline of Brazil, is founded.
- Pan American Airways is formed to carry airmail on the Key West-Havana route.
- Boeing Air Transport is formed, to carry airmail between Chicago and San Francisco. It eventually will become United Airlines.
- 1926
- National Air Transport, one of the companies that originally made up United Airlines, was founded on November 14, 1926, for the purpose of carrying parcels.
- Northwest Airlines is founded, under the name Northwest Airways.
- Two Luft Hansa Junkers G.24s leave Berlin to make a round-trip to Beijing. They will return on September 26.
- FIATA (International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations) is founded.
- Western Air Express begins operations with flights between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles. The company is later renamed Western Airlines.
- At 6 a.m., Varney Air Lines Chief Pilot Leon Cuddeback took off from Pasco, WA on a new mail route through Boise, ID, and eventually landing at Elko, NV. Varney Speed Lines will later become Continental Airlines.
- Deutsche Luft Hansa AG is founded by the merger of Deutscher Aero Lloyd and Junkers Luftverkehr.
- U.S. Kelly Act ; government simplifies airmail service payments.
- U.S. Air Commerce Act ; government becomes regulator of commercial aviation.
- 1925
- Western Air Express is founded, later to become Western Airlines.
- The first five airmail contracts are signed. Airlines include Colonial Air, Robertson, Varney, Western Air and National.
- First scheduled airfreight service begins in the US.
- Sabena establishes the first airline connection between Belgium and the Belgian Congo.
- French airline CIDNA is formed.
- Henry Ford's express company carried 1 million pounds of freight for the Ford Company when it started in 1925.
- U.S. Contract Air Mail Act ; government transfers airmail service to private sector.
- 1924
- A KLM Fokker F.VII makes the first flight from the Netherlands to the Dutch East Indies, taking 127 hours 16 minutes.
- Canada's first regular airmail service begins, with Laurentide Air Services linking Haileybury, Ontario, with Rouyn, Quebec.
- Regular night airmail services commence in the United States, linking Chicago, Illinois, with Cheyenne, Wyoming.
- Huff Daland Dusters, Inc. is founded, later to become Delta Airlines.
- Imperial Airways is formed, with the backing of the British government.
- Pateras Pesara flies an experimental helicopter in Paris. The machine flies 800 metres (2,640 ft) in just over 10 minutes.
- 1923
- The first electric Airway Beacons (a rotating light on a tower for visual navigation by airplane pilots along a specified airway corridor) start appearing at airfields in the United States to assist in night flying operations.
- The Czechoslovakian airline CSA commences operations.
- The Belgian airline SABENA is formed, adding new European routes to SNETA's routes in Belgian Congo that it takes over.
- Dobrolyot is formed, as the first Soviet civil aviation service. It will later become part of Aeroflot.
- Air Union is created by the merger of Compagnie des Messageries Aériennes (CMA) with Grands Express Aériens (CGEA).
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- 1921
- Compañía Mexicana de Aviación begins service.
- Australia's first airmail contract is awarded to Norman (later Sir) Brearley's Western Australian Airlines (WAA).
- The Spanish airline Compañía Española de Tráfico Aéreo is established. It will eventually form part of the airline Iberia.
- The U.S. Army deploys rotating beacons in a line between Columbus and Dayton, Ohio, a distance of about 80 miles. The beacons, visible to pilots at 10-second intervals, made it possible to fly the route at night.
- 1920
- Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Ltd (Qantas) was formed by Hudson Fysh and Paul McGinness in Winton, Queensland.
- The United States Post Office awards a contract for international air mail to Aeromarine West Indies Airways.
- The first airmail service established officially by an airline occurs in Colombia, South America, by SCADTA (the later Avianca).
- Aviator Edward Hubbard is awarded the first contract international air mail route, from Seattle, Washington, to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He will employ the Boeing B-1 flying boat on the route.
- 1919
- The Swiss airline Ad Astra Aero S.A. is founded in Zürich, Switzerland. The company will later merge with Balair and together become Swissair.
- Avianca is founded as the Sociedad Colombo-Alemana de Transporte Aéreo (SCADTA) in Barranquilla. It is the first commercial airline founded in Latin America and the second in the world.
- In 1919, American Railway Express used a converted Handley-Page bomber in an attempt to fly 1,100 pounds (500 kilograms) of freight from Washington, D.C., to Chicago.
- West Indies Airways begins service between Key West, Florida, and Havana, Cuba.
- Dutch Royal Airlines for the Netherlands and its Colonies (Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij voor Nederland en Koloniën - KLM) is founded.
- London's first airport is opened, at Hounslow Heath Aerodrome. The facilities include a permanent Customs hall.
- Captain John Alcock and Lieutenant Arthur Whitten Brown make the first successful non-stop Atlantic crossing by air, flying a Vickers Vimy from St. John's, Newfoundland, to Clifden, County Galway, Ireland in 16 hours.
- A Fairey IIIC seaplane is used for a regular newspaper run, carrying the Evening Times to towns along the Kent coast of England.
- CMA (Compagnie des Messageries Aériennes) commences a mail and freight service between Paris and Lille, using ex-military Breguet 14s.
- The first U.S. international airmail is carried between Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and Seattle, Washington, in the United States by William Boeing in a Boeing CL-4S.
- 1918
- Captain R. M. Smith, Brigadier General A. E. Borton, and Major General W. Salmond set out in a Handley Page O/400 from Heliopolis to Karachi, to survey a route for airmail to India.
- In the aftermath of the First World War the Royal Engineers (Postal Section) and the Royal Air Force pioneered a scheduled airmail service between Folkestone, Kent and Cologne, Germany.
- The Danish airline Det Danske Luftfartselskab, the oldest airline that still exists (within SAS), is founded
- The first scheduled Canadian airmail flight is made, between Montreal and Toronto.
- The first regularly scheduled airmail service in the United States is inaugurated over a route between Washington, D.C. and New York City, with an intermediate stop in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Actual first flight took place in May 15, 1918.
- The first regular international airmail service begins, with Hansa-Brandenburg C.I aircraft linking Vienna, Lviv, Proskurov, and Kiev.
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- 1916
- Ruth Law sets a new distance record for cross-country flight by flying 590 miles (950 km) non-stop from Chicago to New York State. She flies on to New York City the next day.
- William Boeing founds the Pacific Aero Products Company. In 1917 it will be renamed Boeing Airplane Company.
- Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service aircraft deliver 13 tons of stores into Kut el Amara, Mesopotamia, while it is besieged by the Turks. It is the first time aircraft are used for such a purpose.
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- 1911
- The first U.S. airmail flight is made. Earle Ovington flies 6 miles (9.7 km) from Nassau Boulevard, New York to Mineola, Long Island.
- The world's first scheduled airmail post service took place in the United Kingdom between the London suburb of Hendon, North London, and Windsor, Berkshire.
- The first ever commercial cargo is flown by Horatio Barber in his Valkyrie B tail-first monoplane. The General Electric company pays £100 to have a box of Osram electric lamps flown from Shoreham to Hove in England.
- The world's second airmail flight came when French pilot Henri Pequet carried 6,500 letters a distance of 13 km (8.1 mi) from Allahabad, to Naini, United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, India, then part of the British Empire.
- The first "quasi-official" airmail flight was conducted by Fred Wiseman, who carried three letters between Petaluma and Santa Rosa, California.
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- 2013
- World Airways and North American Airlines parent Global Aviation Holdings files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection – again.
- Air Cargo Germany (ACG) officially files for bankruptcy.
- First Korean domestic cargo airline ‘Air Incheon’ starts operation.
- American Airlines and US Airways announce that the two companies will merge in a deal that will form the largest airline in the world.
- First flight of the Xian Y-20 (Yun-20) Kunpeng, manufactured by the Xi'an Aircraft Industrial Corporation.
- 2012
- AviancaTaca Group announces that all its subsidiaries will operate under the name of Avianca.
- Southern Air files for Chapter 11 protection.
- First flight of the Ilyushin Il-476, a further development of the Il-76MD.
- Air India Cargo ends freighter aircraft operations in early 2012, due to rising competition from local cargo airlines as well as financial issues.
- Jade Cargo International officially announces the closure of the company and the start of liquidation proceedings effective June, 04, 2012. This due to lack of demand and “extended discussions” between Jade Cargo’s owners.
- UPS wants to buy TNT Express for $6.77 billion. This deal comes a little more than a month after TNT Express rejected UPS’ initial $6.4 billion acquisition offer. The deal will be blocked by EU in jan 2013 though.
- The last departure of an official Continental Airlines flight takes place as Continental Flight 1267 departs Phoenix, Arizona, bound for Cleveland, Ohio. On 3 March, Continental Airlines disappears into United Airlines, as a result of their 2010 merger.
- In March, the TSA and the CBP announce that they’re moving forward with their joint Air Cargo Advance Screening pilot program
- Due to continuous financial trouble since 2008, all VARIGLOG operations are suspended. On 27 September 2012 VARIG Logística S.A. is declared bankrupt.
- IATA begins championing full implementation of the e-airwaybill by 2015 as the first step toward e-freight, instead of the previous all-at-once method
- On January 1, the EU ETS goes into effect, placing a cap on airline emissions on flights routed into the European Union. IATA and other industry groups push back against the new rule, asking for an ICAO-provided solution instead
- FedEx announces plans to acquire French transportation company Tatex. The announcement comes a month after FedEx agrees to purchase a Polish shipping company.
- 2010
- TNT expends its long haul network with a five day per week air cargo service linking Moscow and its main European hub Liege as well as with a direct flight between Chongqing and Liège.
- The Cargo businesses of Avianca, TACA, and Aerogal are integrated to Tampa Cargo.
- After 89 years of service, Compañía Mexicana de Aviación, S.A. de C.V. (commonly known as Mexicana) suspends all operations.
- Arrow Cargo files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
- An An-225 carries the world's longest piece of air cargo - two new 42-meter test wind turbine blades - transported from Tianjin (China) to Denmark.
- British Airways & Iberia formally combine business operations to form International Airlines Group (IAG - 55% BA, 45% Iberia)
- IATA e-freight initiative takes form.
- 2009
- Avianca merges with TACA.
- TNT continues its expansion with the acquisition of LIT Cargo in Chili and Expresso Araçatuba in Brazil and extends its integrated road network worldwide.
- The heaviest single cargo item ever sent via air freight is loaded onto an Antonov 225.
- Cargo B Airlines ceases operations after failing to receive tenders.
- 2008
- VASP is declared bankrupt.
- The Northwest Airlines - Delta merger (under the name of Delta) is approved. Delta announces that the NWA Cargo hub will be shut down by the end of 2009.
- Aloha Air Cargo established.
- Northwest Airlines announces that it will be merging with Delta Air Lines to form the world's largest airline.
- 2006
- TNT acquires: TG+ in Spain, Speedage in India, Mercurio in Brazil and Hoau in China.
- Northwest Airlines Cargo has become the largest U.S. cargo carrier. NWA Cargo's freighters fly from key cities in the U.S. and Asia, as well as Amsterdam, connecting with the carrier's cargo hub in Anchorage, AK, facilitating the quick transfer of cargo.
- In 2006 Air India Cargo relaunches own freighter services following the merger of Indian Airlines and its domestic subsidiary Alliance Air with Air India.
- VASP starts operating under the new Brazilian bankruptcy law.
- VARIG is split in VRG Linhas Aéreas (sold to VarigLog and later Gol Transportes Aéreos) and Viação Aérea Rio-Grandense (to become Flex Linhas Aéreas, styled as FLEX, went bankrupt on August 20, 2010) as two different judicial entities and airlines.
- Regional Cargo (Mexico) starts operations.
- BAX Global is acquired from Brink's by DB Logistics, the Transportation and Logistics Division of Deutsche Bahn, for $1.1 billion. At the time of the sale, fleet operator and owner Air Transport International (ATI) is sold to Cargo Holdings International.
- 2005
- TNT announces in 2005 the extension of its Middle East Road Network and launches its first integrated road network in Asia. In January 2005, TPG operates globally under the brand TNT for all its activities.
- VARIG LOG is purchased for US$ 48.2 million by the consortium Volo do Brasil during the split-up of the assets of VARIG.
- TNT announces a change in strategy: the company is to focus on delivery services via Mail, Express and Freight transport networks.
- VARIG applies to the Commercial Bankruptcy and Reorganization Court in Rio de Janeiro.
- 2004
- myCARGO is established to perform unscheduled air cargo services providing extra capacity to major carriers.
- Jade Cargo International is established. The company is co-owned by Shenzhen Airlines (51%), Lufthansa Cargo (25%) and DEG – Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH (24%).
- Jade Cargo International is established. The company is co-owned by Shenzhen Airlines (51%), Lufthansa Cargo (25%) and DEG – Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH, a subsidiary of German state-owned bank KfW (24%).
- TPG undertakes a major expansion of the TNT Express air hub in Liège, Belgium.
- Creation of Air France-KLM, the leading European transport group.
- Etihad’s cargo division starts its cargo services under the name “Etihad Cargo”.
- 2002
- Avianca, the regional carrier SAM Colombia and its major rival ACES Colombia, join efforts to create Alianza Summa, and begin merged operations.
- SWISS launches its freight division under the name of Swiss WorldCargo.
- The Trade Act of 2002 is enacted on August 6, providing U.S. presidents with the authority to negotiate trade deals with other nations without Congressional amendment.
- In January, Airbus starts production on the A380 in Nantes, France
- 2001
- Polar Air Cargo is acquired by Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings (AAWW).
- LAN Airlines' new cargo terminal opens in Miami.
- In response to the September 11 attacks, President George W. Bush announced the establishment of the Office of Homeland Security (OHS) to coordinate "homeland security" efforts, leading a.o. to measures to secure airline and air cargo processes worldwide.
- Aeropostal Cargo de Mexico is founded.
- TWA assets were acquired in April 2001 by AMR Corp., the parent company of American Airlines. As part of the deal, TWA declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy (for the third time) the day after it agreed to the purchase. Dec 1st TWA ceases to exist.
- American Airlines announces that it has agreed to purchase substantially all the assets of Trans World Airlines, Inc.
- 2000
- TNT Airways, the airline of the TPG group, is founded.
- Canadian Airlines is taken over by and merged into Air Canada.
- Air France, Aeromexico, Delta Airlines and Korean Air found the SkyTeam and SkyTeam Cargo alliances.
- Kalitta Air begins service in November 2000 with three Boeing 747 aircraft.
- Varig Logística S.A., operating as VarigLog, starts operations as a wholly owned subsidiary of Varig. All Varig cargo operations are united under the new airline.
- Estafeta Carga Aérea S.A. de C.V. (Mexico) is founded.
- TAPA (Transported Asset Protection Association) is set up.
- 1997
- Burlington Air Express changes its name to BAX Global, reflecting its expansion over all continents.
- Air Canada, United Airlines, Lufthansa, Thai Airways International and Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) establish Star Alliance – the world’s first airline alliance.
- Air Inter is absorbed in Air France.
- IATA Cargo2000 (C2K) Master Operating Plan established.
- 1994
- Federal Express shorten their official name to FedEx.
- The International Air Cargo Forum Association is created, later to become TIACA.
- Coyne Aviation is founded as a charter broker specialising in the former Soviet states. In 1996 the company name changes to Coyne Airways.
- First flight of the Antonov An-70 medium-range transport aircraft, and the first large aircraft to be powered by propfan engines.
- Lufthansa Cargo AG is founded as an autonomous logistics company within the Lufthansa Group.
- U.S. Congress further encourages the development of the cargo and express delivery part of the airline industry by preempting state efforts to regulate intrastate air/truck freight and air express package shipments.
- The Tripartite Shippers’ Group (TSG, currently known as the Global Shippers Forum - GSF) is formed.
- 1993
- Polar Air Cargo Worldwide, Inc. is formed as a joint venture between Southern Air Transport and GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS).
- Northwest Airlines begins a strategic alliance with KLM, which is the largest airline partnership ever conceived at this time.
- Qatar Airways is founded.
- Indian airline Jet Airways begins commercial airline operations with four Boeing 737-300 airliners.
- 1992
- UTA is absorbed into Air France.
- TWA files for bankruptcy, a.o. because it ignored the dedicated air cargo market, but reemerges.
- Antonov An-124 civil certification is issued.
- Aerotransportes Mas de Carga, S.A. de C.V., operating as MasAir, is founded.
- Michael Chowdry, extending a corporate trend toward outsourcing, creates Atlas Air, an airline dedicated to leasing 747-200 freighters to airlines under long-term contracts
- The International Air Cargo Forum is reorganized outside the SAE as The International Air Cargo Association
- Federal Express sends software on computer disks to thousands of customers, allowing them to track shipments from their own workstations
- Lufthansa’s Wilhelm Althen admits that the carrier’s move to start a freight network is a reaction to the competition from integrated carriers
- 1989
- Federal Express acquires Tiger International, Inc., the owners of Flying Tigers.
- EVA Airways Corporation is founded.
- Antonov An-225 sets 106 world & class records during 3h 30m flight carrying Buran orbiter, weight: 508,200kg (1,120,000 lb).
- Eastern Airlines files for bankruptcy It eventually ceases operations 18 Jan 1991.
- IPC (International Post Corporation) is set up.
- 1988
- UPS Airlines launches: The quickest and biggest airline startup in FAA history.
- Pacific Southwest Airlines shut down operations and is integrated to USAir (now US Airways).
- UPS receives permission from the FAA to operate its own airline (as opposed to leasing), known as UPS Airline.
- Air China Cargo commences business with Air China.
- 1986
- Federal Express introduces the SuperTracker®, a hand-held bar code scanner system that captures detailed package information.
- Burlington Northern Air Freight, Inc. (BNAFI) changes its name to Burlington Air Express, repositioning itself as an overnight air express company.
- Western Airlines and Delta Air Lines merger agreement is approved by the United States Department of Transportation.
- 1984
- American International Airways (AIA) starts flying in 1984 using Boeing 747, Lockheed L-1011, Douglas DC-8, Twin Beech and Learjet aircraft, for air freight, air ambulance and charter passenger operations.
- American Airlines retires its 747 cargo freighter fleet and focuses on smaller shipments carried in the bellies of its passenger aircraft.
- 1977
- Eastern becomes the first U.S. operator of an Airbus product. To gain a toehold in the U.S. market, Airbus offers Eastern a 6 months free lease of four A300's with no obligation. The gamble pays off and Eastern orders many more.
- Founding of German Cargo Services GmbH as a wholly-owned Lufthansa subsidiary.
- U.S. Congress takes the first legislative steps toward airline economic deregulation in November of 1977, when it gives cargo carriers freedom to operate on any domestic route and charge whatever the market would bear.
- U.S. Domestic Air Mail as a separate class of service (and its rate structure) is formally eliminated by the successor to the Post Office Department, the United States Postal Service (USPS).
- 1972
- MASkargo is established in 1972 to handle the delivery of cargo around the world via Malaysia Airlines' global network of routes.
- Malaysia-Singapore Airlines (MSA) is split into Singapore Airlines and Malaysian Airlines System (MAS).
- In October, Airbus puts its first plane in the air, the A300
- Malaysia Airline System Official Launch.
- Burlington Northern Air Freight, Inc. (BNAFI), a subsidiary of Burlington Northern Railroad, opens for business in ten cities in the United States. In 1986, BNAFI changes its name to Burlington Air Express, and in 1997 to BAX Global.
- BOAC and British European Airways merge to create British Airways.
- Biman Bangladesh Airlines is established on 4 January 1972 as Bangladesh's national airline under the Bangladesh Biman Ordinance (Presidential Order No. 126)
- On the 19th of April, 1972 a Lufthansa Boeing 747 F took off as LH 460 with more than 73,000 kilograms of cargo and almost 2,000 kilograms of mail, on its first scheduled flight from Frankfurt to New York.
- 1971
- Lufthansa orders the first 747-200 freighter, giving commercial air cargo operators their first noseloading aircraft capable of carrying industrial pallets
- Southwest Airlines is founded.
- First flight of the CASA C-212 Aviocar STOL medium transport aircraft.
- First flight of the Ilyushin Il-76.
- Boeing introduces 747-200 wide-body freighter, combi and convertible versions
- 1970
- Lockheed flies its contender in the wide-body market, the L-1011.
- Douglas builds its first wide-body, the DC-10
- Cargolux is established by Luxair, the Salen Shipping Group, Loftleiðir and various private interests in Luxembourg. It starts operations in May 1970 with one Canadair CL-44 freighter flying from Luxembourg to Hong Kong.
- The World's First Jumbo Jet the 747-100 enters commercial service.
- 1967
- 1966
- UTA establishes a subsidiary company named Compagnie Aéromaritime d'Affrètement to give it a foothold in the rapidly growing passenger and cargo charter markets.
- Slick Airways is shut down due to a poor financial situation, and the assets are acquired by Airlift International.
- First flight of the Douglas DC-8 Super 60
- 1962
- Pan American World Airlines places an order for two 707-321C cargo jets, marking the first cargo jet order in the U.S.
- The Port of New York Authority, anticipating a mounting volume of air cargo, announces plans to nearly double existing cargo facilities at New York International Airport to 590,000 square feet.
- Pan American World Airlines places an order for two 707-321C cargo jets, marking the first cargo jet order in the U.S.
- KLM's activities were expanding fast, especially in freight transportation.
- The Port of New York Authority, anticipating a mounting volume of air cargo, announces plans to nearly double existing cargo facilities at New York International Airport to 590,000 square feet
- 1960
- The international wing of Thai Airways is founded.
- Contracts with United Air Lines and Trans-Texas Airways bring the Railway Express Agency into the airfreight business.
- A committee of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) in the U.S. launches the first International Air Cargo Forum to explore the needs of the emerging air cargo industry ; later this will lead to the creation of TIACA.
- Test
- 1959
- According to James Hoffa, head of the Teamsters Union, by 1960, the airfreight industry is going to expand quickly and organization is in the offing. In July, a national committee is formed to work out a campaign to that end.
- American Airlines is the first airline to offer US coast-to-coast jet service, with the Boeing 707.
- The Armstrong Whitworth AW 650 Argosy, designed for easy enplaning of large pallets of cargo and outsized loads, makes its first flight. At this time most freight was handled in small pallets or loaded by hand.
- 1958
- Slick Airways suspends all commercial flights, saying it was forced by the government’s failure to give all-cargo carriers “the same permanency of operating rights and quality of treatment enjoyed by the subsidized airlines.”
- American Airlines creates the the Paul Bunyan Box, the first Unit Load Device.
- First flight of the Douglas DC-8, a four-engine, narrow-body plane.
- U.S. Federal Aviation Act ; the legislation created a new safety regulatory agency, the Federal Aviation Agency, later called the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
- 1957
- Private investors take over a financially ailing Seaboard, installing Richard Jackson as chief executive. With New York as a base, he guides Seaboard into a dominant position in trans- Atlantic all-cargo transport.
- The CAB recommends denial of Railway Express Agency’s applications for authority to act as an international airfreight forwarder, pointing out that REA monopolizes both domestic rail and air express traffic.
- The "SS-463L" project was developed by a U.S. Air Force committee in 1957 and awarded to the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1959. The "SS-463L Pallet Cargo Handling System" specifications for aircraft (aka "463L") included a "Master Pallet" design.
- First flight of the Boeing 707 narrow-body four-engine jet airliner.
- Olympic Airways is created by shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, from the ashes of bankrupt Hellenic state airline T.A.E.
- Lockheed Super Constellation of Flying Tiger Lines sets a payload record for a commercial aircraft of 41,749 lb (18,936 kg).
- CSA Czechoslovakian Airlines inaugurates the world's first line served purely by jets.
- 1956
- Reputed to be the biggest and most modern facility of its kind in the world, the new $5.5 million International Air Cargo Center at New York International Airport (Idlewild) is formally dedicated.
- Dutch airline KLM is the first foreign carrier to purchase American commercial jets with an order for eight DC-8s with costs exceeding $50 million.
- Northern Air Cargo (NAC) is founded.
- British independent carrier Airwork Limited suspends trans-Atlantic airfreight service because its North American cargo division was unable to forecast operations at a profit or breakeven point.
- LAN becomes the first airline to conduct a commercial flight over Antarctica
- First flight of the Douglas C-133 Cargomaster.
- 1955
- Lufthansa forms anew and makes Hamburg-New York its first resumed commercial service.
- In the Air Freight Forwarder Investigation, CAB examiner Paul Pfeiffer recommends that the forwarders be permitted to continue operations “indefinitely” despite the “poor financial showing of many of the forwarders.”
- IATA establishes dangerous goods regulations that allow thousands of goods once banned from aircraft to be shipped by air.
- Twenty-five minutes after Parke-Davis & Co. signs its license, it starts shipments of the now-historic Salk polio vaccine via Emery Air Freight, with shipments destined for 19 cities cost-to-coast delivered in 14 hours.
- Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is formed through the merger of a new government-owned carrier with Orient Airways.
- Sadia S/A – Transportes Aéreos (renamed TransBrasil in 1972) is founded.
- 1954
- Air India Cargo is set up in 1954, and starts its freighter operations with a Douglas DC-3 aircraft, giving Air India the distinction of being the first Asian airline to operate freighters.
- A new five-year agreement is signed by the Railway Express Agency and 30 domestic, scheduled air carriers and contains one important change, which involves revenue apportionment between REA and the airlines.
- Air Inter is founded.
- Two of four surviving US all-freight airlines Slick and Flying Tiger decided to merge into one airline in 1954, but labor problems at both airlines prompt them to abandon this idea.
- The Air Research Bureau is established on a permanent basis, in Brussels. The name was subsequently changed to the European Airlines Research Bureau and - in 1973 - the AEA.
- 1953
- Twelve certified airfreight forwarders, which are said to handle the majority of air cargo volumes in the U.S., form the Air Freight Forwarders Association.
- Slick Airways President Thomas Grace predicts that by 2003, “airfreight rates will be approximately one-third of what they are today in terms of today’s dollar. Airfreight may be cheaper than motor freight.”
- American pioneers nonstop transcontinental service in both directions across the United States with the Douglas DC-7 .
- UPS resumes air service, offering two-day service to major cities on the East and West coasts. Packages flew in the cargo holds of regularly scheduled airlines.
- Japan Airlines is founded.
- 1952
- The Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) is created as part of the United States's mobility resources.
- The Air Express division of Railway Express Agency marks its 25th anniversary of flying airmail and air express on regular schedules.
- Nippon Helicopter, later to become All Nippon Airways (ANA), is founded.
- US Patent 2.612.994 is issued to Norman Woodland and Bernard Silver for the first barcoding system. The application described both the linear and bullseye printing patterns, as well as the mechanical and electronic systems needed to read the code.
- 1949
- Union Aéromaritime de Transport (UAT) is founded.
- First flight of the Douglas C-124 Globemaster II.
- In August 1949, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) finally gave permission to four all-freight airlines to operate. These were Slick, Flying Tiger, U.S. Airlines, and Airnews.
- The de Havilland DH 106 Comet 1 prototype makes its first flight and becomes the first production commercial jetliner.
- 1948
- The Civil Aeronautics Board sets up a new category of “indirect air carriers” with a common carriage license to Emery Air Freight.
- Pan Am predicts that within a decade, air cargo revenues will equal those from air passengers.
- Aircargo (now called Air Canada Cargo) officially hits the skies.
- The New York International Airport begins operations on the site of the former Idlewild Golf Course in the outskirts of New York City.
- Berlin Airlift operation.
- 1947
- American Airlines President Ralph Damon says the carrier’s greatest potential area of expansion is “the field of commoncarrier air cargo operation.”
- A civil aviation agreement is signed by the U.S. and China, under which airlines of each nation will receive reciprocal landing rights and transit rights in the other’s territory. Pan American, Trans World and Northwest will operate in China.
- Arrow Air is founded.
- Southern Air Transport (SAT) is formed. SAT is best known as a front company for the Central Intelligence Agency and became a subsidiary of the CIA's airline proprietary network, the Pacific Corporation.
- Malayan Airways is founded.
- First fully pressurized planes.
- First flight of Alitalia - Italian International Airlines- on the route Turin - Rome-Catania with a three-engined Fiat G-12.
- ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) comes into being.
- Experimental helicopter mail delivery service begins in the New York City area.
- 1946
- Transports Aériens Intercontinentaux (TAI) is founded.
- TNT is founded.
- The Airborne Flower Traffic Association of California is founded to fly fresh flowers from Hawaii to the mainland U.S.
- Cathay Pacific Airways is founded.
- Alitalia - Linee Aeree Italiane S.p.A. is established as Aerolinee Italiane Internazionali, more commonly known as Alitalia, an Italian portmanteau of the words ali (wings) and Italia (Italy). It starts operations on 5 May 1947,
- Seaboard World Airlines is founded as Seaboard & Western Airlines founded by the brothers Arthur and Ray Norden.
- SAS is formed from Det Danske Luftfartselskab A/S (DDL), Det Norske Luftfartselskap A/S (DNL) and Svensk Interkontinetal Lufttrafik AB (SILA).
- KLM is the first European airline to start scheduled services to New york after the second world war.
- Korean National Airlines is founded. The company is replaced by Korean Air Lines in 1962, and later changes its name to Korean Air in 1984.
- Slick Airways is founded as the air cargo division of the Slick Corporation by Earl F. Slick
- Emery Air Freight is founded as a freight-forwarding operation by navy veteran John Colvin Emery, Sr., who rejoined civilian life with experience in military air transport service.
- 1945
- Riddle Airlines is founded by John Paul Riddle in 1945 in Miami, Florida as a charter and freight airline. In 1965, it became Airlift International.
- First flight of the Douglas C-74 Globemaster.
- Flying Tiger Line is founded.
- As the end of World War II nears, Lufthansa ceases operations and is liquidated.
- IATA (International Air Transport Association) founded.
- 1944
- 1943
- A DC-3 takes off from New York en route to San Francisco in October, inaugurating United Airlines’ Cargolines transcontinental service.
- "Flying the Hump" - Air supply route from India to China across the Himalayan Mountains.
- While there were numerous advances in U.S. aircraft design during the war, that enabled planes to go faster, higher, and farther than ever before, mass production was the chief goal of the United States.
- 1942
- Canadian Pacific Railway Company purchases ten bush airlines in a short time span, finishing with the purchase of Canadian Airways in 1942, to form Canadian Pacific Air Lines. It will later operate under the name CP Air.
- First edition of "Air Transportation" magazine, the world's first air cargo magazine and the forerunner of "Air Cargo World" is published in October 1942.
- American Airlines introduces the first U.S. transcontinental all-cargo air service with DC-3 freighters
- 1941
- Attack on Pearl Harbor draws United States into war creating the immediate challenge to supply several worldwide areas by sea and air.
- Definition by the British and American forces of seven secure main air supply routes over which men and supplies could be moved to the WWII battlefronts.
- The earliest "true" cargo aircraft is arguably the World War II German design, the Arado Ar 232.
- The “Big Four” airlines—United, American, TWA, and Eastern—formed Air Cargo, Inc., to deliver freight.
- 1940
- United Airlines began its own air freight delivery service just before the beginning of World War II.
- SCADTA, under ownership by United States businessmen, merges with Colombian Air Carrier SACO, (acronym of Servicio Aéreo Colombiano), forming the new Aerovías Nacionales de Colombia S.A. or Avianca.
- First flight of the Curtiss C-46 Commando transport aircraft.
- The major innovations of the wartime period occurred in Europe: radar (Great Britain) and jet engines (Germany).
- 1937
- Canada's first airline is created: Trans-Canada Air Lines, later to become Air Canada.
- Pan American World Airways and Imperial Airways flying boats conduct joint survey flights over the Atlantic Ocean in preparation for the commencement of regular services.
- Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft at the British Thomson-Houston factory in Rugby, England.
- 1936
- The Bureau of Air Commerce begins to develop a nationwide air traffic control system in the United States.
- The British Empire's Empire Air Mail Scheme, in which Imperial Airways carries all first-class mail by air, begins its first service, flying from Alexandria, Egypt.
- Germany begins sending four transport flights to Spain per week to support the Spanish Nationalist faction, It will continue to do so for over two years.
- American Airlines is the first airline to fly the Douglas DC-3 in commercial service.
- Imperial Airways commences airmail services to West Africa.
- ATA (Air Transport Association of America, today's A4A) is founded.
- 1935
- Pan American World Airways commences the first regular transpacific airmail service, to Hawaii, flying the Martin M-130 China Clipper from San Francisco to Manila, via Honolulu, Midway Atoll, Wake Island, and Guam.
- The first company to bear the name British Airways Ltd is formed, by the merger of Hillman's Airways, Spartan Air Lines and United Airways Ltd.
- A Pan American World Airways Sikorsky S-42 makes the first airline survey flight from California to Hawaii, departing from San Francisco and arriving at Pearl Harbor. It is the start of an orderly commercial air transportation system in the Pacific Ocean.
- Eventually, the two companies REA and General Air Express, found it useful to combine their operations. Beginning in February 1935, they operated as one.
- In 1935 Pan American issued a specification for a flying boat, larger than the Martin M-130, and capable of providing regular service across the North Atlantic Ocean.
- The first air traffic control tower was established in 1935 at what is now Newark International Airport in New Jersey.
- 1934
- Western Air Express is severed from TWA again.
- Following the Air Mail Act, United Aircraft and Transport breaks into three separate companies, and United Airlines now becomes a separate company.
- Lufthansa opens the first transatlantic airmail service from Berlin to Rio de Janeiro.
- Imperial Airways extends its airmail service to Australia.
- Inter-Island Airways makes the first interisland air mail flight in the Hawaiian Islands under a United States Post Office contract.
- Aeronaves de México (Aeroméxico) is founded
- Varney Speed Lines flies for the first time between El Paso and Pueblo carrying 100 letters and no passengers. The airline will eventually become Continental Airlines.
- In the United States, the Air Mail Act of 1934 closely regulates the contracting of air mail services and prohibits aircraft manufacturers from owning airlines. The entire industry is now reorganized and refocused.
- Highland Airways commences the first regular airmail service within the United Kingdom, between Inverness and Kirkwall.
- French Couzinet 71 flying boats begin the first regular air mail service across the South Atlantic Ocean.
- American Airways becomes American Airlines, Inc.
- The United States Army Air Corps begins flying US airmail after the government cancels all existing airmail contracts due to alleged improprieties by the previous administration during the negotiations of those contracts.
- The first airmail flight between Australia and New Zealand is made by Charles Ulm in an Avro Ten, taking 14 hours 10 minutes.
- Germany begins a regular air mail service between Africa and South America, employing Dornier flying boats catapulted from depot ships.
- All-metal Douglas DC-2
- 1933
- Boeing develops model 247, an all-metal, fast twin-engine airplane and the first modern passenger airliner. Also the first airliner with retractable undercarriage.
- The Brazilian airline VASP is established.
- Air France is founded.
- Douglas developes an all metal twin engined airplane, the DC-2, and later the DC-3, to compete with the Boeing 247.
- Indian National Airways Ltd is started by Govan Bros Ltd.
- Turkish Airlines is founded under the name "State Airlines".
- KLM PH-AIP Pelikaan record breaking mailflight to Indonesia
- 1932
- Pan American World Airways announces plans to offer service to Hawaii.
- Egyptair is founded.
- Imperial Airways' weekly airmail service is extended through Africa as far as Cape Town.
- General Air Express is founded
- U.S. Department of Commerce constructs 83 radio beacons across the country, becoming fully operational in 1932, automatically transmitting directional beams, or tracks, that pilots could follow to their destination.
- 1930
- Transcontinental Air Transport (T-A-T) and Western Air Express form Transcontinental & Western Air (T&WA or: TWA).
- Many innovations take place in the thirties to make aircraft bigger, faster and safer.
- U.S. Watres Act ; authorizes the Post Office to enter into longer-term contracts for airmail, with rates based on space or volume, rather than weight.
- The Aviation Corporation's airline subsidiaries are incorporated into American Airways.
- 1929
- Pan American-Grace Airways, better known as Panagra, is formed as a joint venture between Pan American World Airways and Grace Shipping Company.
- First official airmail to the Mackenzie District of Canada's western Arctic by bushpilot.
- The Low Frequency Radio Range system (LFR) begins to replace the visual Air Beacon system. It will become the main navigation system used by aircraft for instrument flying.
- The United Aircraft and Transport Corporation is formed. The airline interests are soon grouped under a new management company known as United Air Lines, Inc. However, the individual airlines continue to operate under their own names.
- Inter-Island Airways – the future Hawaiian Airlines – commences operations.
- United States Army Air Corps Lieutenant Jimmy Doolittle makes a completely blind take-off, flight, and landing.
- Luft Hansa uses a catapult to launch a Heinkel He 12 mail plane from the passenger liner Bremen, 400 km (248 miles; 216 nautical miles) out of New York, New York, speeding the mail on its way before the ship reaches port.
- Delta Air Lines starts commercial airline operations.
- Imperial Airways commences the first scheduled air service between England and India.
- LAN Airlines begins service as “Línea Aeropostal Santiago – Arica”.
- Another company that was an early promoter of air cargo was American Railway Express (renamed Railway Express Agency or REA in March 1929).
- Southern Air Transport is formed when businessman A. P. Barrett consolidated Texas Air Transport and several other small aviation companies. Later that year SAT came under the control of the Aviation Corp., the company that organized American Airlines.
- Polish airline LOT is founded.
- By 1929, the volume of freight had grown to 257,443 pounds (116,774 kilograms), and by 1931 to more than 1 million pounds (453,592 kilograms) per year.
- The Universal Postal Union (UPU) adopts comprehensive rules for airmail at its 1929 Postal Union Congress in London.
- 1928
- The famous German pilot Gunther Plüschow carries out the first air mail from Puntas Arenas to Ushuaia, in the southern part of Argentina.
- US Foreign Air Mail Act passed; leads to formation of Pan American, which begins by transporting mail to & from South America.
- New York City decides to build its first municipal airport.
- US Government passes a law that said that an airplane producer can not be an airline at the same time. Boeing Air Transport purchased several other smaller airlines and became United Air Transport.
- 1927
- Iberia is founded.
- Germany's lead in commercial aviation is such that during the year German airlines fly greater distances with more passengers than the airlines of France, Italy, and the United Kingdom combined.
- Pan American World Airways launches its first scheduled international air service, a 70-minute flight from Key West, Florida, to Havana, Cuba.
- Jat Airways (JAT - Jugoslovenski Aerotransport) is founded on 17 June 1927 as Aeroput.
- Sociedade Anônima Empresa de Viação Aérea Rio-Grandense – VARIG, the first national airline of Brazil, is founded.
- Pan American Airways is formed to carry airmail on the Key West-Havana route.
- Boeing Air Transport is formed, to carry airmail between Chicago and San Francisco. It eventually will become United Airlines.
- 1926
- National Air Transport, one of the companies that originally made up United Airlines, was founded on November 14, 1926, for the purpose of carrying parcels.
- Northwest Airlines is founded, under the name Northwest Airways.
- Two Luft Hansa Junkers G.24s leave Berlin to make a round-trip to Beijing. They will return on September 26.
- FIATA (International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations) is founded.
- Western Air Express begins operations with flights between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles. The company is later renamed Western Airlines.
- At 6 a.m., Varney Air Lines Chief Pilot Leon Cuddeback took off from Pasco, WA on a new mail route through Boise, ID, and eventually landing at Elko, NV. Varney Speed Lines will later become Continental Airlines.
- Deutsche Luft Hansa AG is founded by the merger of Deutscher Aero Lloyd and Junkers Luftverkehr.
- U.S. Kelly Act ; government simplifies airmail service payments.
- U.S. Air Commerce Act ; government becomes regulator of commercial aviation.
- 1925
- Western Air Express is founded, later to become Western Airlines.
- The first five airmail contracts are signed. Airlines include Colonial Air, Robertson, Varney, Western Air and National.
- First scheduled airfreight service begins in the US.
- Sabena establishes the first airline connection between Belgium and the Belgian Congo.
- French airline CIDNA is formed.
- Henry Ford's express company carried 1 million pounds of freight for the Ford Company when it started in 1925.
- U.S. Contract Air Mail Act ; government transfers airmail service to private sector.
- 1924
- A KLM Fokker F.VII makes the first flight from the Netherlands to the Dutch East Indies, taking 127 hours 16 minutes.
- Canada's first regular airmail service begins, with Laurentide Air Services linking Haileybury, Ontario, with Rouyn, Quebec.
- Regular night airmail services commence in the United States, linking Chicago, Illinois, with Cheyenne, Wyoming.
- Huff Daland Dusters, Inc. is founded, later to become Delta Airlines.
- Imperial Airways is formed, with the backing of the British government.
- Pateras Pesara flies an experimental helicopter in Paris. The machine flies 800 metres (2,640 ft) in just over 10 minutes.
- 1923
- The first electric Airway Beacons (a rotating light on a tower for visual navigation by airplane pilots along a specified airway corridor) start appearing at airfields in the United States to assist in night flying operations.
- The Czechoslovakian airline CSA commences operations.
- The Belgian airline SABENA is formed, adding new European routes to SNETA's routes in Belgian Congo that it takes over.
- Dobrolyot is formed, as the first Soviet civil aviation service. It will later become part of Aeroflot.
- Air Union is created by the merger of Compagnie des Messageries Aériennes (CMA) with Grands Express Aériens (CGEA).
- 1921
- Compañía Mexicana de Aviación begins service.
- Australia's first airmail contract is awarded to Norman (later Sir) Brearley's Western Australian Airlines (WAA).
- The Spanish airline Compañía Española de Tráfico Aéreo is established. It will eventually form part of the airline Iberia.
- The U.S. Army deploys rotating beacons in a line between Columbus and Dayton, Ohio, a distance of about 80 miles. The beacons, visible to pilots at 10-second intervals, made it possible to fly the route at night.
- 1920
- Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Ltd (Qantas) was formed by Hudson Fysh and Paul McGinness in Winton, Queensland.
- The United States Post Office awards a contract for international air mail to Aeromarine West Indies Airways.
- The first airmail service established officially by an airline occurs in Colombia, South America, by SCADTA (the later Avianca).
- Aviator Edward Hubbard is awarded the first contract international air mail route, from Seattle, Washington, to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He will employ the Boeing B-1 flying boat on the route.
- 1919
- The Swiss airline Ad Astra Aero S.A. is founded in Zürich, Switzerland. The company will later merge with Balair and together become Swissair.
- Avianca is founded as the Sociedad Colombo-Alemana de Transporte Aéreo (SCADTA) in Barranquilla. It is the first commercial airline founded in Latin America and the second in the world.
- In 1919, American Railway Express used a converted Handley-Page bomber in an attempt to fly 1,100 pounds (500 kilograms) of freight from Washington, D.C., to Chicago.
- West Indies Airways begins service between Key West, Florida, and Havana, Cuba.
- Dutch Royal Airlines for the Netherlands and its Colonies (Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij voor Nederland en Koloniën - KLM) is founded.
- London's first airport is opened, at Hounslow Heath Aerodrome. The facilities include a permanent Customs hall.
- Captain John Alcock and Lieutenant Arthur Whitten Brown make the first successful non-stop Atlantic crossing by air, flying a Vickers Vimy from St. John's, Newfoundland, to Clifden, County Galway, Ireland in 16 hours.
- A Fairey IIIC seaplane is used for a regular newspaper run, carrying the Evening Times to towns along the Kent coast of England.
- CMA (Compagnie des Messageries Aériennes) commences a mail and freight service between Paris and Lille, using ex-military Breguet 14s.
- The first U.S. international airmail is carried between Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and Seattle, Washington, in the United States by William Boeing in a Boeing CL-4S.
- 1918
- Captain R. M. Smith, Brigadier General A. E. Borton, and Major General W. Salmond set out in a Handley Page O/400 from Heliopolis to Karachi, to survey a route for airmail to India.
- In the aftermath of the First World War the Royal Engineers (Postal Section) and the Royal Air Force pioneered a scheduled airmail service between Folkestone, Kent and Cologne, Germany.
- The Danish airline Det Danske Luftfartselskab, the oldest airline that still exists (within SAS), is founded
- The first scheduled Canadian airmail flight is made, between Montreal and Toronto.
- The first regularly scheduled airmail service in the United States is inaugurated over a route between Washington, D.C. and New York City, with an intermediate stop in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Actual first flight took place in May 15, 1918.
- The first regular international airmail service begins, with Hansa-Brandenburg C.I aircraft linking Vienna, Lviv, Proskurov, and Kiev.
- 1916
- Ruth Law sets a new distance record for cross-country flight by flying 590 miles (950 km) non-stop from Chicago to New York State. She flies on to New York City the next day.
- William Boeing founds the Pacific Aero Products Company. In 1917 it will be renamed Boeing Airplane Company.
- Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service aircraft deliver 13 tons of stores into Kut el Amara, Mesopotamia, while it is besieged by the Turks. It is the first time aircraft are used for such a purpose.
- 1911
- The first U.S. airmail flight is made. Earle Ovington flies 6 miles (9.7 km) from Nassau Boulevard, New York to Mineola, Long Island.
- The world's first scheduled airmail post service took place in the United Kingdom between the London suburb of Hendon, North London, and Windsor, Berkshire.
- The first ever commercial cargo is flown by Horatio Barber in his Valkyrie B tail-first monoplane. The General Electric company pays £100 to have a box of Osram electric lamps flown from Shoreham to Hove in England.
- The world's second airmail flight came when French pilot Henri Pequet carried 6,500 letters a distance of 13 km (8.1 mi) from Allahabad, to Naini, United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, India, then part of the British Empire.
- The first "quasi-official" airmail flight was conducted by Fred Wiseman, who carried three letters between Petaluma and Santa Rosa, California.
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- Air France - A century of Air Cargo
- Delta museum (including the history of Delta, Chicago & Southern Airlines, Northeast Airlines, Western Airlines, Pan Am, Northwest Airlines)
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Thank you
Hi, you can always find the latest air cargo industry views and developments on my Twitter site https://twitter.com/LandingsNL -> check "favorites". If you need more information plse let me know at landingsbv@ymail.com ...
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