Airline Industry Time Line
U.S. Airline Industry Time Line
Date Overview
1903 Wright brothers' first successful flight…The beginning of the aviation industry
1910 High demand for aircraft with WWI
1917 U.S. Congress experiments with airmail
1925 Kelly Act (Contract Air Mail Act) passed
1927 Charles Lindbergh successfully completed a solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean
1929 Congress passes The Air Commerce Act, which allowed Federal regulation of air traffic rules
1945 Major airline providers flew 3.3 million revenue passengers
1959 Planes are becoming modernized, which allows for faster cross-country travel
1970's Dramatic increase in costs, particularly fuel
1976 A major change occurs in the industry when the Civil Aeronautics Board asked Congress to allow the airlines to operate under market forces. Deregulation of the industry is about to begin!
1978 Congress passes the Airline Deregulation Act
1981 U.S. professional air traffic controllers go on strike
1988 The number of revenue passengers rose to 330 million, after a decade of deregulation.
1989 The Gulf crisis and economic recession causes airlines to lose billions in profits
1990 A record of 466 million revenue passengers are flying
1991 Many airlines struggle as the fuel prices rise due to Persian Gulf Crisis
1996 UK and US hold talks about possible "Open Skies" arrangement
2000 "Last good financial year for the airline industry" -"What's Wrong with the Airline Industry"
2001 Downturn in traffic due to recession in March and then aftermath of the terrorist attacks
2003-Current Big loses to industry with increasing jet fuel prices
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