As flight technology became increasingly reliable, the potential for profit became apparent. Surely enough, people took advantage of it.

The first passenger airline was DELAG (Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-Aktiengesellschaft), which used airships to create a robust network of global air transport. The airline was started in 1909 offering flights within Germany. It was also the first airline to fly passengers across the atlantic. Flights were luxurious and expensive, with a flight from Frankfurt to New York costing $400 (now worth about $6,000). Unfortunately, the Hindenburg disaster instantly wiped out the airship industry.

The first heavier-than-air airline was short lived, only offering service for about three months in 1914. The St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat line provided regularly scheduled cargo and passenger flights from St. Petersburg to Tampa, Florida using Benoist XIV flying boats. The geographic advantages of this particular route may have been the sole reason it lasted as long as it did. A twenty-three minute flight was all it took to jump over the Tampa Bay, but the same route would have taken eleven hours by rail. The airline ceased operations lacking the funds to continue.

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1. The LZ-7 Deutschland, the Dirigible operated by DELAG which operated the first ever commercial passenger flight in 1910. Image via Library of Congress. 2. The Benoist XIV; the aircraft that operated the first regularly scheduled heavier-than-air commercial flight for the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line. Image via Florida Photographic Collection. 3. Current satellite view of St. Petersburg and Tampa, FL. The direct distance between the two cities is significantly shorter than a route overland. Rendering by Google Earth. Image data from Landsat/Copernicus.

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1. Earle Ovington and his wife standing in front of his Bleriot monoplane, which he used to make the first authorized airmail flight in the US. Image via Library of Congress. 2. A Curtiss JN-4H "Jenny", the aircraft type first used for scheduled airmail services. Image via Library of Congress.

However, the first heavier-than-air commercial flights began with airmail. Aviation had become increasingly prominent in America, and people saw the potential for faster, more efficient transportation of mail. On September 23rd, 1911, Earle Ovington piloted the first authorized US Airmail flight from Garden City Estates, NY to Mineola, NY. He was followed by 7 other pilots. Although this was a one-time event, it served as a major proof of concept, securing faith in reliable transportation of mail by aircraft.

In May of 1918, Army Air Service pilots began the first scheduled airmail flights, which operated once daily from New York City to Washington, D.C. via Philadelphia. Service began using the Curtiss JN-4H "Jenny," which was originally used to train pilots during World War I. After three months, the Post Office took over airmail services and used civilian pilots and aircraft made by the Standard Aircraft Corporation.

As airmail became more and more effective, new routes were added, forming a network connecting mail rapidly across the country. Transcontinental airmail routes also brought about the first regularly scheduled night flights. New infrastructure also came about in the form of airfields and navigational light towers.