Ever since the Wright brothers completed the first controlled, sustained flight in a heavier-than-air aircraft in 1903, the world of aviation has come along leaps and bounds. Growing from a luxury only available to the wealthy to the essential and widely used mode of transport it is today, flying has changed enormously. But which are the oldest airlines still dominating the skies today?
Click through this gallery to see the world's most historic airlines still flying...
Established in 1932, Air India was initially named Air Tata after its founder, industrialist and pilot JRD Tata. It started life as a mail service, transporting letters, parcels and goods between India’s major cities, but quickly grew into a fully-fledged commercial passenger airline. By the late 1940s it was offering international flights to cities including London, Cairo and Nairobi.
It came under national ownership in 1953, after India declared independence in 1947. In the early 1960s, Air India began purchasing the Boeing 707-420 planes that were kickstarting the jet age and became the first airline to operate an all-jet fleet in 1962. Today, Air India serves more than 100 international and domestic destinations, and is renowned for its high level of customer service.
Clearly 1929 was a busy time for the aviation industry, as Cubana was another airline founded in that year. Cubana de Aviación was established as the national airline of Cuba, and needless to say it was closely linked with the country’s political situation throughout the 20th century.
That might explain why it has such an unconventional fleet, with an eclectic mix of French (ATR 72s), Ukrainian (An-158s) and Russian planes (Il-96s and Tu-204s). Perhaps unsurprisingly, you won’t find any American aircraft operated by Cubana. Today, the airline has a limited offering, running a handful of routes to destinations across the Americas and Europe.
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Although LATAM as we know it was formed from the merger of two companies, LAN and TAM, in 2012, its history goes back much further than that. LAN or Línea Aérea Nacional de Chile was founded in 1929 as Chile’s flag carrier by army commodore Arturo Merino Benítez. The airline flew its first international flight in 1946, between Santiago and Buenos Aires. Through the next few decades it steadily increased its offering to other destinations in North and South America, then began flying to Europe in 1970.
Meanwhile, TAM was founded in 1961 and started life as an air taxi company based in Brazil. The two airlines merged in 2012, and LATAM racked up more than 70 million passengers in 2023. The airline has also built a great track record for punctuality – OAG ranked LATAM third in the world in its Punctuality League 2023 with 85.03% of flights arriving on time, behind two airlines from Japan. Today, it's the largest airline in Latin America.
When Hawaiian Airlines started up in 1929, it was an island-hopping domestic service known as Inter-Island Airways, with the first flight running between Honolulu and Hilo. But in the early 1940s it began to expand its horizons, offering flights between the islands and the US mainland and changing its name to Hawaiian Airlines. It was also the first certified air cargo service in America.
Today, Hawaiian is a small yet reliable carrier flying to every major island in Hawaii, as well as North America, Asia and the South Pacific. It handles more than 10 million passengers each year and was ranked in the top five in the US for on-time flights in 2022, according to the US Department of Transportation. It also boasts a whole host of awards from national and international organisations and media.
Created by the Polish government in 1928, LOT was the successor to existing domestic carriers Aero and Aerolot. For much of the post-war period it flew exclusively Soviet aircraft, but the company was able to buy Western planes again in 1988 amidst the breakup of the Soviet Union. It started by buying a small fleet of Boeing 767s, which allowed LOT to fly longer-haul flights between North America and Europe. Seen here are passengers disembarking a pre-war LOT Douglas DC-2 aircraft.
Today, LOT flies to around a hundred destinations across four continents and it’s scooped up some great achievements during its 90-plus years in operation. It was the first airline to fly between Warsaw and Los Angeles, it was the first carrier in Central and Eastern Europe to purchase a Boeing plane, and it claims to have the largest loyalty programme of any European airline.
The Spanish flag carrier and world leader on flights between Latin America and Europe, Iberia started life in 1927. But it was a turbulent beginning: Iberia was founded when Spain was ruled by military dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera, who insisted that it must be put under state ownership. So it wasn’t until 1937 that Iberia relaunched under its current name, when it began flying planes as part of the nationalist effort during the Spanish Civil War. In 1944, the airline was nationalised by the Franco regime.
At first Iberia offered exclusively domestic flights, but from 1946 onwards it began flying to London and Latin America, with expansion continuing through the latter half of the 20th century. It remained in government hands for a long time and was finally privatised in 2001. Today, Iberia’s a good bet if you want your flight to leave on time: it was named the most punctual low-cost airline for five consecutive years (2014-2018) by consultancy company FlightGlobal.
In 1927, Aeroput (which would eventually be renamed Air Serbia) was founded as the national airline of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Its first regular route, between Belgrade, Serbia and Zagreb, Croatia was established the following year. Like many other operators, it stalled during World War II but resumed routes – largely in then-Yugoslavia – in the post-war years, although a route linking Belgrade, Prague and Warsaw allowed it to spread its wings to the rest of Europe.
Up until 2013, Air Serbia was operating under the name Yugoslav Airlines (JAT). Following some financial difficulties, the airline partnered with Etihad and the government of Serbia to relaunch under the name Air Serbia, which it has held ever since. Today, the operator flies to more than 70 destinations in Europe, the Middle East and North America, and has an overall 3-star rating from Skytrax.
US juggernaut American Airlines started life on 15 April 1926, when famous aviator Charles Lindbergh flew mail from St Louis, Missouri to Chicago, Illinois. But the airline soon switched from delivering mail to delivering passengers, offering routes from New York City and Boston to San Diego and Los Angeles. In 1936, American was the first operator to use DC-3 aircrafts (pictured here), which were considered the world’s first successful commercial planes and were also used in combat during World War II.
Today, American is acknowledged as the world’s largest airline by fleet size, and is responsible for one in five plane tickets bought in the US. So how did it get so successful? One of the biggest reasons is its AAdvantage loyalty programme, which launched in 1981 and generated a jaw-dropping £5.18 billion ($6.53bn) for the business in 2023. But it’s had many other firsts in its long history, from being the first US airline to hire an African-American pilot to being one of the first to roll out Boeing 707s.
You might be surprised to learn that Delta actually had its roots in the farming industry: the airline’s first planes were used for aerial crop-dusting (spraying powdered fertiliser on crops from the air). Under the name of Huff Daland Dusters, the company was founded in Macon, Georgia in 1925. Delta gained its current moniker in 1928 – after the Mississippi Delta region it initially served – and began flying passengers a year later. Pictured here are vintage advertisements from 1965.
Check out these jaw-dropping facts about the world's leading airlines
Despite its humble beginnings, the airline has had some impressive firsts. It was the first operator to offer a direct flight between Chicago and Miami (1946), the first to use Convair 880 jets (1960) and the first US carrier to put moving maps into cabins showing passengers the plane’s route (1992). In the latter half of the 20th century, Delta acquired Western Air Lines, Pan Am, Atlantic Southeast and Comair. Today, it's the largest airline in the world by total revenue.
Based at Helsinki Airport, Nordic airline Finnair was founded in November 1923 under the name Aero. It may not be one of the biggest players in the global aviation industry but it's always been ahead of the curve: it was the first small airline to introduce Caravelle passenger planes in 1960, which catapulted Finnair into the jet age.
In 1999 it became the first airline to receive a delivery of the brand new Airbus A320, and today its fleet is largely made up of Airbuses. The airline is continuing to stay ahead of the times thanks to its world-class sustainability plan, which includes commitments to be completely carbon neutral by 2050. It is also part of the Nordic Initiative for Electric Aviation and has a scheme allowing customers to offset their flights or put money towards biofuel, which is used on Finnair flights.
Founded in November 1920 by a pair of World War I veterans, the initial goal of Qantas was to provide quicker journeys between remote parts of Australia. After some ad-hoc leisure flights, it began running mail flights in 1922 and domestic passenger flights two years later. In 1934, Qantas partnered with British airline Imperial Airways to form Qantas Empire Airways Limited. Pictured is one of the group’s De Havilland DH86 airliners at Croydon Airport in London.
While many commercial airlines ground to a halt during World War II, Qantas continued flying between Australia and Singapore until 1942. What’s more, it was the only airline operating services between East Asia and Australia throughout the war. Qantas also claims it invented business class cabins – and while the truth is a little less clear-cut, the Aussie airline was the first to roll out larger and more comfortable seats, for which it charged a 15% premium. Today, Qantas is a good bet for nervous flyers: it’s frequently listed as the world’s safest airline by airlineratings.com and has never had a fatal accident.
Depending who you ask, British Airways was either founded in 1919 or 1974. Its predecessor, AT&T, flew its first scheduled flight on 25 August 1919, which linked London and Paris. It was continuity from this airline that allowed BA to celebrate its 100-year anniversary back in 2019. However, BA as we know it today was created in April 1974, with the merger of four British companies: British Overseas Airways Corporation, British European Airways, Cambrian Airways and Northeast Airlines. This image shows an AT&T Airco DH4A biplane, about to leave London for Paris in September 1919.
Technicalities aside, there’s no doubt that BA is one of the biggest and most influential airlines on the planet. One of the surprising feats it has accomplished is flying the world’s fastest subsonic flight in 2020, which saw the journey between New York and London take just four hours and 56 minutes. Perhaps less surprisingly, BA is also the biggest tea consumer in the skies, with a whopping 35 million cups served each year.
The national airline of Colombia, Avianca was founded in December 1919, although back then it was known as SCADTA (Sociedad Colombo-Alemana de Transporte Aereo). It initially began by offering domestic flights before launching international routes – to the US and Venezuela – in the 1920s. It has notched some impressive achievements over the years: it owned the largest and fastest plane in 1951 (the Lockheed Super Constellation) and it was the first Latin American airline to own a Boeing-747.
This hasn’t made Avianca immune to hard times. In 2003, following the deregulation of Colombia’s aviation industry and competition from international airlines, it filed for bankruptcy. As part of its financial plan, it merged with El Salvadorian carrier TACA in 2009. The coronavirus pandemic forced Avianca to file for bankruptcy for a second time, in 2020, but after restructuring the company says it’s become "more efficient and financially stronger".
Aviation buffs will know that KLM, which is now part of the Air France KLM group, is the oldest airline on the planet. Established on 7 October 1919, the Dutch operator – whose name stands for Koninklijke Luchtvaartmaatschappij (we can see why they abbreviated it) – had its first official flight between London and Amsterdam in May 1920. The airline began to introduce routes connecting major European cities, including Brussels, London, Paris and Amsterdam, before introducing its first-ever transatlantic service in 1934. Pictured here are passengers ready to board a flight in 1928.
The industry has had many ups and downs since KLM’s inception, including suspended flights due to World War II and the jet plane boom between the 1960s and 1980s. But KLM has managed to weather the storms. In 2004 it was acquired by Air France to create the Air France KLM Group. With a fleet of more than 550 aircraft and nearly 100 million annual passengers, the group takes up a larger chunk of Europe’s air traffic than any other.
Now discover how air travel has changed in every decade from the 1920s to today