The world's first and only solar-powered aircraft are the Solar Impulse and Solar Impulse 2 — both made in Switzerland. The aircraft were part of a project led by Swiss engineer and businessman André Borschberg and Swiss psychiatrist and balloonist Bertrand Piccard. In 2016, the Solar Impulse completed a round-the-world trip, clocking in 26,000 miles over a period of 505 days without any jet fuel.

The first person to receive their boarding pass on the Internet instead of at the traditional airline check-in counter was traveling on an Alaska Airlines flight from San Jose, California, to Seattle in 1999. This wasn’t the first innovation for the Seattle-based carrier — four years prior to that, in 1995, Alaska Airlines was the first to sell tickets on the internet, and other airlines quickly followed suit.

After the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, which opened up the market to free competition, every carrier was looking for an edge to win over customers and keep them loyal. Texas International Airlines created the first frequent flyer program in 1979, and Western Air followed suit the next year. Those airlines are no longer in business, making American’s AAdvantage, introduced in 1981, the oldest frequent flyer program still in use.

From 1965 to 1996, United appealed to passengers through its friendly service. The “Fly the Friendly Skies” slogan replaced the airline’s original slogan, “The Main Line Airway.” After introducing new slogans in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the “friendly skies” tagline returned in 2013. In 2022, the airline introduced its new slogan, “Good leads the way.”

Opened in 1914, Bangkok’s Don Mueang Airport was actually the second airport opened in Thailand — the first, Sa Pathum, is now a horse-racing course. If you’re flying into Bangkok from the U.S. today, you will likely be arriving at Suvarnabhumi Airport instead. That airport opened in 2006 to become Bangkok’s main international airport; Don Mueang now primarily only serves domestic flights.

On December 14, 1986, the Voyager — an experimental plane made of a lightweight composite material — took off for the world’s first nonstop flight around the world. Piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, the plane carried about 7,012 pounds of fuel in 17 tanks. Despite some damage to wingtips along the way, the Voyager successfully completed its journey nine days later.

One of the earliest low-cost, no-frills carriers, Southwest declared itself the peanut airline: Fly for peanuts,” and enjoy some peanuts during the ride. Skipping the hassle of in-flight meals meant more savings for the customer. In 2018, Southwest halted their peanut pleasantries to limit potentially deadly allergy interactions, but devotees were able to purchase the nuts from their online store.

A flight from New York City to London today takes about seven hours, but for nearly three decades, there was a supersonic option that shaved that flight time in half. The Concorde entered service in 1976, but only two airlines ever ordered the aircraft: Air France, who flew it from Paris to New York, and British Airways, who flew it from London to New York. It was retired in 2003.

On October 14, 1947, Charles Elwood Yeager did something that no human being had done before: He traveled faster than the speed of sound. Yeager, an Air Force captain and the most famous test pilot of his time, pulled off the feat in an experimental X-1 rocket plane nicknamed the “Glamorous Glennis” in honor of his wife, Glennis Yeager.

American Airlines’ journey started in April 1926, when acclaimed aviator Charles Lindbergh piloted a postal service route between St. Louis, Missouri, and Chicago, Illinois. The airline introduced passenger services in 1934, and in 1936, the airline was the first to fly the revolutionary Douglas DC-3 aircraft, with service from New York to Chicago. American also pioneered the first nonstop transcontinental jet flight across the U.S. aboard a Boeing 707 in 1959.

British Airways Overseas Corporation (BOAC), a predecessor of British Airways, helped launch the jet age, becoming the first airline to introduce regular passenger service on a jet. On May 2, 1952, a de Havilland Comet jet took off from London to Johannesburg, South Africa, with 36 passengers. The 18-hour, 40-minute trip included stops in Rome, Beirut, Khartoum, Entebbe, and Livingston.

Airlines began serving food onboard as early as 1919, when British airline Handley Page sold pre-packaged lunches for three shillings (around $10 today). Technical innovation eventually allowed United Airlines to install kitchens aboard their planes, giving passengers access to hot meals in the sky. The airline’s early airborne diners got to choose between fried chicken and scrambled eggs.

Although the world’s first scheduled passenger airline service began in 1914, it would take nearly two decades for airlines to hire what were then known as flight stewardesses. United Airlines (then called Boeing Air Transport) was the first airline to take flight with female flight attendants in May 1930. The very first flight attendant was Ellen Church, who was also a registered nurse and licensed pilot.

In May 1918, the U.S. Postal Service initiated regular air mail service, but by 1925, they were contracting the job to the earliest private airlines. Early routes paid little, and the Post Office would subsidize airline losses. By 1930, the Postmaster General began paying airlines on carrying capacity instead of actual mail moved. This drove innovation for larger and larger planes, which eventually allowed for passenger service.

Delta Air Lines was founded in Macon, Georgia, in 1924, and was originally called Huff Daland Dusters. It was the first agriculture dusting service in the world, and it eventually became a passenger airline in 1929. Through several mergers — including with Northeast Airlines, Western Airlines, and Northwest Airlines — Delta has grown to become one of the largest airlines in the world.

Opened in 1909 as a training field by the Wright Brothers, College Park Airport in Maryland was used to train military personnel as well as handle commercial flights. It was the site of the world’s first female passenger in 1909 and the first airplane to make a mile-high flight. Today, the commuter airport serves travelers to Prince George’s County, Maryland, and nearby Washington, D.C.

One of the wealthiest people in American history, Howard Hughes had a passion for planes. He purchased a majority stake in Trans World Airlines (TWA) in 1939 and later worked with aircraft manufacturer Lockheed during the creation of the Constellation, whose innovative pressurized cabin allowed much faster flights at higher altitudes. He demanded Lockheed sell TWA 35 Constellations before selling any to his rivals.

Named after 19th-century sailing vessels, Pan Am’s flying boats were used to conquer long-distance travel to hard-to-reach places. Essentially flying hotels, the luxurious clippers were designed so their massive buoyant hulls were beneath their wings. This allowed the planes to act like a large pontoon, facilitating water landings and take-offs, which was essential to opening travel to remote destinations without proper runways.

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines was founded in the Netherlands in October 1919, making it the world’s oldest airline. In its first year of operation, the airline transported 440 people — just a tiny fraction of the 34.2 million people who flew on KLM in 2018. In 1924, the Dutch airline offered flights from Amsterdam to Batavia (now Jakarta, Indonesia), which was the longest flight ever at the time.

The world’s first regular international passenger service took to the skies on August 25, 1919. Air Transport & Travel Ltd. (AT&T) operated the route between England’s capital and the French capital, offering daily service that carried passengers as well as mail and packages. The company was one of the precursors to British Airways.

Covering a distance of just 21 miles, the flight from St. Petersburg to Tampa, Florida, was the world’s first regularly scheduled commercial flight, inaugurated on January 1, 1914. The same journey that took two hours by steamship just a year prior now took only 23 minutes on a “flying boat” — and the fare was just $5.

Bessie Coleman overcame gender and racial discrimination and soared into history as the world’s first Black female pilot in 1921. Born in Texas, Coleman was banned from U.S. flight schools, so she learned French and headed to France, where she earned her pilot’s license — two years before fellow famous female aviator Amelia Earhart.

One of the most famous aviators in history, Charles Lindbergh took off on May 20, 1927, for the first successful nonstop crossing of the Atlantic Ocean without a co-pilot or navigator. Flying from New York to Paris, the flight took about 34 hours in a single-engine plane named the Spirit of St. Louis.

After the Wright Brothers took flight for the first time in 1903, it took just 16 years until two English aviators — William Alcock and Arthur Brown — completed the first successful transatlantic crossing by airplane in 1919. The aviators took off from Newfoundland for the harrowing 16-hour journey in an open-cockpit biplane and landed in a bog in Galway in western Ireland.

On December 17, 1903, the Wright brothers made history at Kill Devil Hills, four miles south of the now-famous North Carolina town of Kitty Hawk. The first-ever powered flight in human history — piloted by Orville Wright on the Wright Flyer — lasted 12 seconds, covered 120 feet, and reached a maximum speed of 6.8 mph.