January 11914

The first commercial flight in history

Milestone112 years ago

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16historical events

60occurrences in earlier years

1914–2025years covered

Fact of the day

A Benoist XIV flying boat opens the St. Petersburg–Tampa line in Florida: 23 minutes in the air and one passenger, mayor Abram Pheil. Scheduled commercial aviation is born.

Also on this day · 15

1923Airline Air Union is born

The French carriers Messageries Aériennes and Grands Express Aériens merge into Air Union, which will link Paris with London and Marseille and become one of the roots of Air France.

1925Airline CIDNA is born

The Compagnie Franco-Roumaine, the line linking Paris with Bucharest and Constantinople, becomes the Compagnie Internationale de Navigation Aérienne (CIDNA).

1929Airline LOT is born

The Polish government creates LOT Polskie Linie Lotnicze as a state-owned company, today one of the oldest airlines still flying.

1930Milestone The Avro 618 Ten enters service

Australian National Airways puts the Avro 618 Ten, a British airliner, into service.

1946Milestone Heathrow’s first civil flight

British South American Airways opens civil operations at the new London Heathrow airport with a Lancastrian bound for Buenos Aires.

1950Airline BSAA merges into BOAC

British South American Airways, the carrier of the South American routes and of the vanished Tudors, ceases to exist as it is absorbed by BOAC.

1965Airline Trans-Canada Air Lines becomes Air Canada

Canada’s state airline adopts a bilingual name: Trans-Canada Air Lines becomes Air Canada.

1974Airline Gulf Aviation becomes Gulf Air

The company founded in Bahrain in 1950 passes to four Gulf states and takes the name Gulf Air.

1976Accident A bomb brings down Middle East Airlines Flight 438

An MEA 720 explodes in flight over Qaisumah, Saudi Arabia, after a bomb detonates in the hold: all 81 people on board die.

1978Accident Air India 855 falls into the Arabian Sea

A 747 plunges into the sea shortly after take-off from Bombay after an instrument failure and crew disorientation: all 213 people on board die.

1983Milestone The 757 enters service

Eastern Air Lines introduces the Boeing 757, the single-aisle twin with which Boeing replaced the 727 on medium routes.

1985Accident Eastern 980 hits Mount Illimani

An Eastern 727 crashes into Mount Illimani, Bolivia, on approach to La Paz: all 29 on board die. The wreckage, above 6,000 metres, took decades to reach.

1993Airline Cruzeiro do Sul disappears into Varig

Serviços Aéreos Cruzeiro do Sul, heir to the Syndicato Condor of 1927, is absorbed by Varig and stops flying under its own name.

2007Accident Adam Air 574 vanishes over the Makassar Strait

An Adam Air 737 falls into the sea off Sulawesi, Indonesia, with 102 people on board; investigators pointed to navigation failures and a loss of control.

2023Milestone Pokhara International Airport opens

Nepal inaugurates the new Pokhara International Airport, at the foot of the Annapurna range, built with Chinese financing.

This day in earlier years · 60

Occurrences recorded on January 1 in earlier years across the fleet we document; this year’s are in News. Each one opens the record of the aircraft involved.