Air France shuts down when the Nazis conquer France

KLM halts all European operations when the Netherlands is occupied but continues to operate in eastern Asia

United Airlines inaugurates possibly the first all-cargo air service

Eastern Air Lines DC-2 is first plane to land at Washington, D.C.'s new National Airport

Japan suspends all commercial operations of Greater Japan Airways

Eastern Air Lines begins military support flights

United Airlines begins service to Alaska and across the Pacific Ocean

Lufthansa discontinues all services and is liquidated as a company

KLM resumes regular air operations with loan of Douglas C-54 transports

Civil Aeronautics Board grants permission to three airlines to operate service across the North Atlantic

Flying Tiger Line is founded by Robert Prescott

Flying Tiger pilots begin flying coast-to-coast carrying freight

American Overseas Airlines begins DC-4 service across the North Atlantic

Smaller French airlines that were formed during World War II unite again under the name Air France

Slick Airways founded by Earl F. Slick

Pan Am its B-314 for the last time on the Atlantic routes

United Airlines begins transcontinental service

TWA puts the Lockheed Constellation into service from New York to Los Angeles

American Airlines begins using the DC-4 cross country

British European Airways (BEA) is officially established by merging several smaller airlines

United Airlines begins its 10-hour coast-to-coast flights

American Airlines is first airline to offer pressurized cabin service on transcontinental flights

United begins service on New York-Chicago-Los Angles route after Western Airlines sells its route

Pan Am begins regularly scheduled non-stop flights between New York and London

El Al, the Israeli airline, is established

De Havilland Comet 1 flies for the first time

El Al begins regularly scheduled flights to London

Civil Aeronautics Board grants permission to four all-freight airlines to operate

Transatlantic route becomes the world's number one air route in terms of air traffic

Eastern Air Lines orders 10 new Super Constellation airplanes

El Al begins regularly scheduled transatlantic air service

Japan resumes civilian air transport, forming Japan Air Lines

Air France is larger than any other non-American and non-Soviet airline

BOAC begins the world's first commercial jet service with the De Havilland Comet 1

TWA becomes the first airline to offer regular nonstop transcontinental service between Los Angles and New York

German investors and the government combine to form a new air company called Luftag

German air company Luftag takes name Deutsche Lufthansa, more commonly known as Lufthansa

First German postwar passenger service begins

Pan Am's Juan Trippe signs contract to buy both Boeing 707 and DC-8 jetliners

Eastern Airlines acquires the Canadian company, Colonial Airlines, allowing service to Canada to begin

Aeroflot offers the world's first regularly scheduled and sustained passenger jet service

Eastern Airlines begins service into Mexico City

Alitalia, the Italian national airline, is formed

Boeing rolls out the first operational 707

El Al begins flying the new Bristol Britannia turboprop aircraft for nonstop transatlantic service

Pan Am inaugurates its New York-London route with the Boeing 707

American Airlines offers the first U.S. domestic jet service with a coast-to-coast flight

Pan Am introduces intercontinental jet service

United Airlines begins jet service

Pan Am inaugurates round-the-world jet service

TWA introduces regularly scheduled international jet service

Lufthansa enters the jet age with the Boeing 707

Alitalia introduces the DC-8 and Caravelle jet airplanes into service

KLM enters the jet age with the Douglas DC-8

Howard Hughes is forced to surrender control of TWA after being sued

Aeroflot introduces the huge Tupolev Tu-114 high-speed turboprop aircraft on nonstop flights from Moscow to Tokyo and North America

TWA is first airline to show in-flight movies

United Airlines begins using the French Caravelle on its New York-Chicago route

President John Kennedy calls for development of a commercially successful supersonic transport (SST)

Eastern Airlines begins using the Boeing 727

United Airlines becomes the first U.S. airline to offer nonstop transcontinental all-cargo service

Juan Tripp orders 23 passenger 747s for Pan Am

Aeroflot flies the most passenger miles in the world

TWA overtakes Pan Am as the world's number one transatlantic airline

Boeing delivers its first flight model 747

Boeing 727 becomes the fastest-selling commercial jet plane in the world

First Boeing 747 takes off from New York, flying for Pan Am

TWA inaugurates a New York-Los Angles route flying the 747

El Al begins using the Boeing 747 jumbo jet

Congress kills U.S. SST program

American Airlines uses the DC-10 for the first time on its Los Angles-Chicago route

Eastern Airlines is the first user of the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar

Fred Smith begins Federal Express

BOAC and BEA merge into British Airways

British Airways launches the world's first regularly scheduled supersonic service with the Concorde

Concorde makes first flights into Washington, D.C.'s Dulles Airport

Freddie Laker creates the low-cost Skytrain service

Two jumbo jets collide at Tenerife in the Canary Islands, killing 575 people, the worst air disaster in history to date

Congress formerly deregulates air cargo

Eastern Air Lines agrees to buy 23 Airbus A-300 jets, a breakthrough for Airbus into the American market

Congress passes the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978

U.S. airlines total operating revenues reach their highest point

An unprecedented 317 million passengers fly in American skies

Pan Am sells the Pan Am Building in New York in an effort to raise cash

Pan Am acquires National Airlines

Strike of Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO)

Frank Lorenzo orchestrates takeover of Continental Airlines under the Texas Air Corporation

Civil Aeronautics Board is abolished

TWA accepts bid from Carl Icahn, who buys most of TWA's stock

Frank Lorenzo engineers takeover of Eastern Airlines

British Airways is privatized

Federal Express becomes the world's largest full-service all-cargo airline

Frank Lorenzo files bankruptcy for Eastern Airlines

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Lufthansa resumes air service to Berlin, 45 years after the end of World War II

Pan Am sells its London hub and routes to United Airlines

Frank Lorenzo sells shares in Continental Airlines

Fall of Soviet Union signals Aeroflot's demise; many small independent airlines are formed

Eastern Airlines runs out of cash and suspends all operations

Pan Am collapses in bankruptcy

New Aeroflot airline is formed in Russia

TWA files for bankruptcy

El Al Boeing 747 crashes in Amsterdam carrying a harmful chemical

Federal Express changes its name to FedEx

United Airlines is first airline to introduce Boeing's new 777 airliner

Alitalia founds Alitalia Express, a regional low-cost airline

KLM signs a 10-year agreement with U.S. airline, Northwest Airlines, to operate jointly

United Airlines creates international Star Alliance with worldwide carriers

TWA orders 125 new aircraft, its largest acquisition ever

KLM celebrates 80 years of operation, claiming to be the oldest continuously existing airline

Concorde flights are grounded after a fatal air crash

Concorde resumes flights

American Airlines purchases TWA's assets

TWA flies its last official flight

The largest commercial airline plane ever built to date was debuted in Toulouse, France. The A380 Airbus seats 555 people but can carry as many as 853. The commercial jet is manufactured by Airbus SAS.