The first commercial airline operating in the US?

Answer 1

Tony Jannus conducted the United States' first scheduled commercial airline flight on 1 January 1914 for the St. Petersburg-routes, which would, through time and mergers, evolve into Delta Air Lines, Braniff Airways, American Airlines, United Airlines (originally a division of Boeing), Trans World Airlines, Northwest Airlines, and Eastern Air Lines, to name a few. US airline route structure before World War II

Passenger service during the early 1920s was sporadic: most airlines at the time were focused on carrying bags of mail. In 1925, however, the Ford Motor Company bought out the Stout Aircraft Company and began construction of the all-metal Ford Trimotor, which became the first successful American airliner. With a 12-passenger capacity, the Trimotor made passenger service potentially profitable. Air service was seen as a supplement to rail service in the American transportation network. At the same time, Juan Trippe began a crusade to create an air network that would link America to the world, and he achieved this goal through his airline, Pan American World Airways, with a fleet of flying boats that linked Los Angeles to Shanghai and Boston to London. Pan Am was the only U.S. airline to go international before the 1940s. With the introduction of the Boeing 247 and Douglas DC-3 in the 1930s, the U.S. airline industry was generally profitable, even during the Great Depression. This trend continued until the beginning of World War II.

Check out the link below for more info ==Additional info...== The oldest certificated passenger air carrier in the US still in existence is Hawaiian Airlines with Air Carrier Operating Certificate #005. Numbers 001-004 (Pan Am, etc.) have since ceased operations. The oldest certificated freight carrier in the US is also Hawaiian Airlines with Cargo Operating Certificate #001. Inter-Island Airways, changing its name to Hawaiian in 1941, began operations as a passenger and freight service in 1929 and is the oldest carrier in the US still operating as the original company. (A number of present day carriers trace their origins, through Mergers and Acquisitions, back to early crop dusting and mail operators.) Among the "original" airlines, Hawaiian also shares the "world safety record" with QANTAS for never having had a fatal accident.