Alberto Santos-Dumont performs the first heavier-than-air flight on the European continent in France.

German entrepreneurs create airship service as its first airline-DELAG-using airships built by Count Zeppelin.

Ohio department store ships silk by air, possibly the first air freight delivery

Henri Fabre designs, builds, and flies the first seaplane over Berre Lake near Marseilles, France

Silas Christofferson carries early passengers by hydroplane in California

St. Petersberg-Tampa Airboat line carries passengers between Tampa and St. Petersburg, Florida

British Aircraft Transport and Travel (AT&T) is founded as an offshoot of Geoffrey de Havilland's Aircraft Manufacturing Company

French industrialist Pierre Latecoere begins assembling aircraft to be used in World War I

The new Soviet government begins to study the problem of civilian air transport

Lignes Aeriennes Latecoere (the Line) initiates commercial air service between Toulouse, France, and Barcelona, Spain

A group of French businessmen begin flying air routes across the English Channel between Paris and London

American Railway Express attempts to fly 1100 pounds of freight from Washington, D.C. to Chicago

Alfred W. Lawson builds the first multiengine plane designed to carry passengers, the C-2

Farman Company offers daily service across the English Channel for as many as 14 passengers

British Aircraft Transport and Travel company flies first regular daily international scheduled flight from London to Paris

Group of Dutch investors form the Royal Dutch Airlines, known as KLM

Franco-Roumaine airline is established as a joint project between Romania and France

KLM begins service with an Amsterdam-London route

Franco-Roumaine begins its first regular route with a Paris-Strasbourg flight

Latecoere airline begins daily service between France and Morocco and between Alicante in Spain and Algeria

Inglis Uppercu offers the first U.S. international passenger flights

Soviet Union begins flying air routes

All British commercial air service ends due to a financial crisis

British government aid allows limited commercial service to resume

Joint German-Russian company named Deruluft formally begins service between Konigsberg, Germany and Moscow

Latecoere begins air service within North Africa

British government sets up the Civil Air Transport Subsidies Committee to review British civil air policy

Japan Air Transport Institute begins flying passengers between Sakai and Tokushima, Japan

Soviet government creates a joint stock company named Dobrolet, the country's first major civil air organization

Dobrolet begins regular air service between Moscow and Nizhnii Novgorod

Aero Expresso Italiana, the first Italian airline, is founded

British Imperial Airways is formed

Latecoere begins flights in South America, between Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires

Imperial Airways begins flying over far reaches of the British Empire

Franco-Roumaine airline changes its name to CIDGA (Compagnie Internationale de Navigation Aerienne)

Embry-Riddle Company, an airmail service company, is founded

Kelly Air Mail Act is passed

Henry Ford forms the Ford Air Transport Service

Western Air Express is formed

President Calvin Coolidge appoints a board to develop a national aviation policy with Dwight Morrow as chairman

German government combines the Deutsche Aero Lloyd and Junkers into the Deutsche Luft Hansa (DLH) airline company

German airline company DLH flies first regularly scheduled service

Robertson Aircraft Corporation, a predecessor to American Airlines, begins flying regular airmail flights

Aero Expresso Italiana begins offering air service in Italy

National Air Transport is founded for purpose of carrying freight

Embry-Riddle wins contract to fly the mail from Cincinnati to Chicago

Marcel Bouilloux-Lafont takes control of Latecoere and renames it Aeropostale, reflecting its strong involvement in airmail' Pierre Latecoere returns to manufacturing aircraft

Aeropostale begins a weekly air service from Rio de Janeiro to Natal and to Buenos Aires

Henry Hap Arnold forms Pan American Airways

The Aviation Corporation of America is formed to offer air service into the Caribbean

National Air Transport delivers the first air cargo in the United States

Last government Post Office airmail flight takes place

Pitcairn Aviation is formed

Atlantic, Gulf, and Caribbean Airways is formed, headed by Richard Hoyt

Pan Am flies its first flight by delivering mail from Key West, Florida, to Havana

Embry-Riddle begins flying mail

Kelly Foreign Air Mail Act is passed to regulate international airmail

Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT) is formed

Atlantic, Gulf, and Caribbean Airways, Pan American, and the Aviation Corporation merge, forming the new Aviation Corporation of the Americas

Japanese government helps set up a national flag air carrier-Japan Air Transport Corporation (JAT)

Dutch establish the Royal Dutch Indies Airlines for passenger service to east Asia and Australia

Ford Trimotor 5 AT is introduced

Herbert Hoover is elected president

Pan Am inaugurates its first passenger flight

Pan Am and Grace shipping company form Pan American-Grace Airways (PANAGRA)

Fairchild Aircraft Corporation organizes the Aviation Corporation (AVCO)

Imperial Airways flies first flight from Britain to India

173,000 passengers travel by air in the U.S.

Japan Air Transport Corporation begins first regular passenger service

Annual volume of air freight in the U.S. reaches 257,443 pounds

Clement Keys purchases Pitcairn Aviation, Inc.

James Doolittle flies by instruments alone

McNary Watres Act is passed

Volume of air freight in the U.S. passes 1 million pounds

Pitcairn Aviation changes its name to Eastern Air Transport

AVCO forms American Airways

Lufthansa and the Chinese Transport Ministry sign a 10-year agreement to operate an airline called Eurasia connecting Germany and China

French pilot Jean Mermoz flies a Latecoere 29 flying boat across the South Atlantic, from Dakar to Natal in slightly less than 20 hours

Western Air Express and Transcontinental Air Transport merge to form Transcontinental and Western Air (TWA)

Pan Am buys assets of New York, Rio, and Buenos Aires Line (NYRBA), becoming the most important player in the Latin American air market

TWA begins flying coast-to-coast flights

Soviet government combines Dobrolet with the government Main Administration of the Civil Air Fleet into one organization

Pan Am's Juan Trippe names the Sikorsky S-40, the first big luxury airliner, the American Clipper

Aeropostale goes bankrupt

United Aircraft and Transport Corporation officially establishes an operating division called United Air Lines

Tokyo's first airport, Henada Airport, opens

Juan Trippe begins to establish international mail and passenger service to the Caribbean and South America using S-40 flying boats

The Soviet Civil Air Fleet is renamed Aeroflot

Japanese government creates Manchurian Airways

Aerospostale pilot Jean Mermoz flies from Dakar to Natal in less than 15 hours

German airline company DLH is renamed Lufthansa

French airlines CIDNA, Air Orient, Air Union, and SGTA merge into SGELA (Societe General pour l'Exploitation des Lignes Aeriennes)

United Airlines establishes a coast-to-coast flight lasting just under 20 hours

France repurchases the Aeropostale airline and creates Air France

U.S. Senate sets up a special committee to investigate allegations of favoritism and excessive government subsidies for airmail carriers

Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected president

Lufthansa opens the first transatlantic scheduled airmail service over the South Atlantic

President Roosevelt cancels airmail contracts

American Airways renames itself American Airlines

Pan Am begins S-42 passenger service in South America

Three Italian airlines-Societa Aera Mediterranea, Societa Area Navigazione Aerea, and Societa Italiana Servizi Aerei-merge to form a single national carrier, Ala Littoria

KLM wins the MacRobertson England-Australia Air Race using a Douglas DC-2 airplane

Pan Am builds airfields in Midway, Wake, and Guam and flies test flights across the Pacific using the S-42 flying boat

Pan Am begins mail service across the Pacific using the Martin M-130 China Clipper

Japanese army forms Huitong Airways to prepare for Japan's invasion of north China

Japanese Air Transport Corporation begins using the Douglas DC-2 on routes between Japan and Manchuria

British Imperial Airways and Pan American Airways begin working toward experimental transatlantic flights

American Airlines takes delivery of the first Douglas Sleeper Transport

American Airlines uses a DC-3 to inaugurate its American Mercury coast-to-coast service

Pan Am inaugurates first passenger flights across the Pacific

KLM begins flying Douglas DC-3 airplanes

Samoan Clipper crashes; all are killed

Pan Am begins flying regular passenger service to New Zealand

Pan American invites bids from U.S. plane manufacturers to build a flying boat

North American Aviation sells Eastern Air Lines

Japanese army forms China Airways

TWA president William Frye orders the Boeing 307 Stratoliner, the first commercial plane with a pressurized passenger cabin

Japan Air Transport Corporation carries nearly 70,000 passengers, representing 2.6 percent of the world's passenger traffic

Hawaii Clipper crashes; all are killed

Japan signs a licensing agreement with the Douglas Aircraft Company to build domestic versions of the DC-3, called the L2D or Tabby

KLM offers eight-day service between Amsterdam and Sydney, Australia

Japanese government calls for the establishment of a single national airline-Greater Japan Airways

Pan Am replaces the Martin M-130 with the Boeing B-314 flying boat on the Northern Pacific route

The Yankee Clipper is dedicated

Howard Hughes becomes principal stockholder of TWA

Pan Am begins regular mail service with the B-314 flying boat

Eastern Air Lines begins helicopter service in Philadelphia

Pan Am begins first transatlantic passenger service

KLM halts European flights except to Scandinavia, Belgium, and London

Aeroflot passes the United States in terms of volume of air freight

American Airlines flies the most passenger-miles of any U.S. airline