1908
First passenger flight: Wilbur Wright takes an employee along for a ride
1909
Army Airfield established at College Park, Md., by Wilbur Wright, making it the longest continuously operating airport in the world today
1910
Orville Wright opens the first commercial flight school in Montgomery, Ala.
1911
Burgess Co. becomes the first licensed commercial aircraft manufacturer
1913
Silas Christofferson carries passengers by hydroplane between San Francisco and Oakland harbors
1918
National Air Mail service inaugurated
1919
KLM begins operation, making it the oldest carrier in the world still operating under its original name
1920
Sydney Airport opens for commercial service
1920
Minneapolis-St.Paul International Airport opens for commercial service
1920
International air service is offered by Aeromarine West Indies Airways between Key West, Fla., and Havana, Cuba
1922
First permanent airport and commercial terminal used solely for commercial flights opens at Flughafen Devau near Konigsberg, East Prussia
1922
Aeromarine Airways of Cleveland, Ohio, is established as the first airline ticketing agency
1923
First transcontinental non-stop flight
1926
Congress adopts the Air Commerce Act of 1926, which authorized the Secretary of Commerce to designate air routes, develop air navigation systems, and license pilots and aircraft
1926
Deutsche Luft Hansa (now known as Lufthansa) begins scheduled service in Germany
1926
First flight lands at Candler Field, today's busiest U.S. airport - Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport
1929
Pan American Airlines inaugurates its first passenger flight from Miami to San Juan by way of Belize and Managua
1930
First female flight attendant, Ellen Church, is hired by Boeing Air Transport (now United Airlines)
1933
United Airlines begins flying coast to coast with a Boeing 247 flight lasting nearly 20 hours
1935
Boeing designs the 307 Stratoliner, the first commercial aircraft with a pressurized cabin
1935
Amelia Earhart dedicates the Newark Airport Administration Building, North America's first commercial airline terminal
1936
Pan American inaugurates passenger flights across the Pacific Ocean
1939
Pan American begins transatlantic passenger service
1939
New York Municipal Airport opens, later renamed LaGuardia Airport after New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, who refused to deplane at Newark, N.J., because his ticket read "New York"
1940s
Many commercial airlines and airports go offline to commercial traffic to support World War II military efforts
1950
Transatlantic route is the world's most traveled air route
1952
De Havilland Comet becomes the world's first commercial jet airliner
1958
Pan American initiates its New York to London route with the Boeing 707
1958
Today's second busiest airport internationally, Beijing Capital International Airport, opens
1959
American Airlines offers first domestic jetliner flights with routes from New York to Los Angeles
1962
Attorney General Robert Kennedy swears in the first FAA peace officers, who act as air marshals on requested flights
1967
The modern-day FAA is established as part of the U.S. Department of Transportation
1973
The first female airline pilot, Emily Warner, flies as second officer for Frontier Airlines
1976
Concorde jet flies first supersonic passenger flight
1978
Airline Deregulation Act is signed into law, removing government control over fares, routes and market entry
1979
First frequent flier program introduced
1980
Almost half of total flights worldwide took place in the U.S.
1981
11,400 air traffic controllers are fired by President Reagan after walking off the job on strike when labor negotiations fail
1993
First ticketless travel becomes available
1995
Boeing produces twin-engine 777, the first aircraft produced via computer-aided design and engineering
1995
First airline tickets are sold via the Internet
1998
Smoking is banned on all domestic flights
1999
First web-based passenger check-in and online boarding passes
2001
Transportation Security Administration established in response to September 11 attacks
2007
Airbus A380 enters commercial service capable of carrying 850 passengers
2009
Transportation Security Administration formally accepts airport scanners as the primary method of pre-flight screening
2009
Branson Airport opens; designed by Burns & McDonnell, it is the only privately owned and operated commercial service airport in the U.S.
2011
Airbus announces signing of the largest aircraft deal in history based on aircraft ordered: 200 planes ordered by AirAsia
