Airlines of Australia and Oceania

Airlines of Australia and Oceania
Aeropelican
Air New Zealand
Air Niugini
Air Pacific
Air Paradise
Air Rarotonga
Air Tahiti-Nui
Air Vanuatu
Macair Airlines
Norfolk Air
Polynesian Airlines and also here
Qantas
Skywest Airlines
Solomon Airlines
Vanair
Virgin Blue

Airlines of Asia

Adam Air Indonesia
Air China
Air Kazakhstan
All Nippon (ANA)
Asiana
Bouraq
Cathay Pacific
China Air
China Eastern
China Southern Airlines
Druk Air (Royal Bhutan Airlines)
EVA Air
Eznis Airways
Garuda Indonesia
Georgia National Airlines
Georgian Airways
GoAir
Indian Airlines
Japan Airlines
Jet Airways
Kingfisher Airlines
Korean Air
Lion Air
Malaysia
Oasis Hong Kong
Pacific Airlines (Vietnam)
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA)
Philippine Airlines
Phuket Air
Royal Air Cambodge
Royal Brunei
Sempati Air
Singapore Airlines
Skynet Asia Airlines
Sri Lankan
Thai Airways International

Airlines of the Middle East

Airlines of the Middle East

El Al
Emirates
Gryphon
Gulf Air
Kuwait Airways
MEA - Middle East Airlines
Palestinian Airlines
Qatar Airways
Royal Jordanian
Royal Wings
Saudi Arabian Airlines
Syrian Arab Airlines
Turkish Airlines
Yemenia (Yemen Airways)

Airlines of Europe

Airlines of Europe

AB Airlines
Adria Airways
AerArann
Aer Lingus
Aeroflot - Russian International Airlines
AeroSvit
Air France
Air Gozo
Air Malta
Air One
Air Polonia
Air Scotland
Air UK
Alitalia
Atlasjet
Aurigny
Austrian
Belavia
Braathens SAFE
British Airways
bmi British Midland
bmiBaby
Brussels Airlines
Cargolux
Centralwings
Corsair
Croatia Airlines
Crossair
easyJet
Eurofly
Finnair
Finncomm Airlines
Flybe
FlyGlobespan
FreshAer
Futura
German Wings
Hapag-Lloyd Express
Iberia
Icelandair
Iceland Express
Jet2
KLM
Lauda Air
LOT Polish Airlines
LTU
Lufthansa
Luxair
Macedonian Airlines
MK Airlines
MyTravel Lite
Olympic
OpenSkies
Portugália
Ryanair
Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS)
Sky Europe
SN Brussels Airlines
ScotAirways
Spanair
ScotAirways
Swiss
Swissair
Swiss Skies
Tatarstan Airlines
Thomsonfly
Transwede
Virgin Atlantic
Virgin Express
Vueling
Wizz Air
Zoom Airlines

Airlines of Africa

Airlines of Africa

ADC Airlines
Air Mauritius
Air Seychelles
EgyptAir
Ethiopian Airlines
Hewa Bora Airways
Kenya Airways
Kulula.com
Mango
MK Airlines
Nationwide Airlines
South African Airways
Suday Airways
Yemenia

Airlines of Central America and the Caribbean

ALM Antillean Airlines
Bahamasair
Caribbean Sun Airlines
Cape Air
Cayman Airways
COPA Panama
Cubana
Island Air (Cayman Islands)
TACA
Travelair (Costa Rica)

LatinPass
Airlines of Mexico

AIR LINES OF SOUTH AMERICA

Aeropostal de Venezuela
Arg (formerly LAPA)
Azul
Brasmex
Gol
LAN Chile
LAPA - see Arg
TAM Airlines
TAME
TransBrasil
TRIP Linhas Aereas
Varig
VASP
West Caribbean Airways

LatinPass
Airlines of Central America

AIR LINES OF NORTH AMERICA

Airlines of North America

Canada
México
United States - major, other passenger, cargo, misc, fallen

Airlines of Canada

Air Canada
en Français
Air Inuit
Air Labrador
Air Transat
CanJet
Harmony Airways
Provincial Airlines
Skyservice
Sunwing
Tango
West Coast Air
WestJet
Zip
Zoom Airlines

Airlines of México

Aerolitoral
AeroMexico
Alma de México
Avolar
Mexicana


Airlines of The United States of America

Major Airlines

Alaska
America West
Desert Sun
Mountain West
American Airlines
AMR Corp.
Continental Airlines
Delta Air Lines
Delta Connection
Atlantic Southeast Airlines,
Comair
Frontier
jetBlue
Northwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines
United Airlines
en Français, auf Deutsche
Air Wisconsin
Atlantic Coast Airlines
Great Lakes Aviation
Flight Center (training)
Star Alliance
USAir
Air Midwest
Florida Gulf
Liberty Express

Majors - Cargo

DHL
FedEx
United Parcel Service

Other Passenger Airlines
AirTran
Allegiant Air
Aloha
American Trans Air
Atlantic Southeast Airlines
Baltia Air Lines
BigSky Airlines
Comair
Eos
FlyHawaii
Go!
Great Lakes Airlines
Gulfstream International
Hawaiian
Hooters Air
Independence Air
Interstate Jet
MAXjet
Mesa Air
Midwest Express
Mokulele Airlines
North American Airlines
Pen Air (Peninsula Airways)
Primaris Airlines
Shoreline Aviation
Shuttle America
Skybus
SkyValue
Southeast Airlines
Spirit Airlines
Sun Country
Ted
TransMeridian Airlines
USA 3000 Airlines
US Helicopter
Virgin America
World Airways


Cargo Airlines

Air Transport International (ATI)
Airborne Express
Amerijet International
Associated Air Freight
ASTAR Air Cargo
DHL
Emery Worldwide
Evergreen International
FedEx
Gemini Air Cargo
Kalitta Air
United Parcel Service

Miscellaneous Airlines

Air Cruise America
Eagle Canyon Airlines
Fat Albert Airlines
Ryan International
Swiss Skies

Regulatory considerations

National
Many countries have national airlines that the government owns and operates. Fully private airlines are subject to a great deal of government regulation for economic, political, and safety concerns. For instance, the government often intervenes to halt airline labor actions in order to protect the free flow of people, communications, and goods between different regions without compromising safety.
The United States, Australia, and to a lesser extent Brazil, Mexico, the United Kingdom and Japan have "deregulated" their airlines. In the past, these governments dictated airfares, route networks, and other operational requirements for each airline. Since deregulation, airlines have been largely free to negotiate their own operating arrangements with different airports, enter and exit routes easily, and to levy airfares and supply flights according to market demand.
The entry barriers for new airlines are lower in a deregulated market, and so the U.S. has seen hundreds of airlines start up (sometimes for only a brief operating period). This has produced far greater competition than before deregulation in most markets, and average fares tend to drop 20% or more. The added competition, together with pricing freedom, means that new entrants often take market share with highly reduced rates that, to a limited degree, full service airlines must match. This is a major constraint on profitability for established carriers, which tend to have a higher cost base.
As a result, profitability in a deregulated market is uneven for most airlines. These forces have caused some major airlines to go out of business, in addition to most of the poorly established new entrants.

International
Singapore Airlines Boeing 747-412 taking off from London Heathrow Airport. The Boeing 747-412 was the flagship of the SIA fleet since its first delivery on March 18, 1989 until the delivery of the Airbus A380 in 2008.
Groups such as the International Civil Aviation Organization establish worldwide standards for safety and other vital concerns. Most international air traffic is regulated by bilateral agreements between countries, which designate specific carriers to operate on specific routes. The model of such an agreement was the Bermuda Agreement between the US and UK following World War II, which designated airports to be used for transatlantic flights and gave each government the authority to nominate carriers to operate routes.
Bilateral agreements are based on the "freedoms of the air," a group of generalized traffic rights ranging from the freedom to overfly a country to the freedom to provide domestic flights within a country (a very rarely granted right known as cabotage). Most agreements permit airlines to fly from their home country to designated airports in the other country: some also extend the freedom to provide continuing service to a third country, or to another destination in the other country while carrying passengers from overseas.
In the 1990s, "open skies" agreements became more common. These agreements take many of these regulatory powers from state governments and open up international routes to further competition. Open skies agreements have met some criticism, particularly within the European Union, whose airlines would be at a comparative disadvantage with the United States' because of cabotage restrictions.

History of Asian Airline Industry

Some of the first countries in Asia to embrace air transport were India, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia , Pakistan and the Philippines.

One of the first countries in Asia to embrace air transport was the Philippines. Philippine Airlines was founded on February 26, 1941, making it Asia's oldest carrier and the oldest operating under its current name. The airline was started by a group of businessmen led by Andres Soriano, hailed as one of the Philippines' leading industrialists at the time. The airline’s first flight was made on March 15, 1941 with a single Beech Model 18 NPC-54 aircraft, which started its daily services between Manila (from Nielson Field) and Baguio, later to expand with larger aircraft such as the DC-3 and Vickers Viscount. Notably Philippine Airlines leased Japan Airlines their first aircraft, a DC-3 named "Kinsei". On July 31, 1946, a chartered Philippine Airlines DC-4 ferried 40 American servicemen to Oakland,California from Nielson Airport in Makati City with stops in Guam, Wake Island, Johnston Atoll and Honolulu, Hawaii, making PAL the first Asian airline to cross the Pacific Ocean. A regular service between Manila and San Francisco was started in December. It was during this year that the airline was designated as the Philippines flag carrier.

Another airline company to begin early operations was Air India, which had its beginning as Tata Airlines in 1932, a division of Tata Sons Ltd. (now Tata Group) by India's leading industrialist JRD Tata. On October 15, 1932, J. R. D. Tata himself flew a single engined De Havilland Puss Moth carrying air mail (postal mail of Imperial Airways) from Karachi to Bombay via Ahmedabad. The aircraft continued to Madras via Bellary piloted by Royal Air Force pilot Nevill Vincent.

With the outbreak of World War Two, the airline presence in Asia came to a relative halt, with many new flag carriers donating their aircraft for military aid and other uses.

Following the end of World War II, regular commercial service was restored in India and Tata Airlines became a public limited company on July 29, 1946 under the name Air India. After the Independence of India, 49% of the airline was acquired by the Government of India. In return, the airline was granted status to operate international services from India as the designated flag carrier under the name Air India International.

Neighboring countries also soon embraced air transport, notably with the beginning of a new nation, Pakistan began Orient Airways Ltd (Pakistan International Airlines), Cathay Pacific founded in 1946, Singapore Airlines and Malaysian Airlines in 1947 (as Malayan Airways), Garuda Indonesia in 1949, Japan Airlines in 1951, and Korean Air in 1962.

History of Latin American Airline Industry

Along the first countries to have regular airlines in Latin America were Colombia with Avianca, Chile with LAN Chile (today LAN Airlines), Mexico with Mexicana de Aviación, Brazil with Varig, and TACA as a bound of several airlines of Central American countries (Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Nicaragua). All the previous airlines started regular operations before World War II.

Aeromexico is also in service since 1934, but was initially called Aeronaves de México. The same situation happened with other regional airlines, such as Aerolineas Argentinas. All of these airlines are still in service.

The air travel market has evolved rapidly over recent years in Latin America. Some industry estimations over 2000 new aircraft will begin service over the next five years in this region.

These airlines serve domestic flights within their countries, as well as connections within Latin America and also overseas flights to North America, Europe, Australia, Africa and Asia.
Just one airline, LAN (Latin American Networks) has international subsidiaries: Chile as the central operation along with Peru, Ecuador, Argentina and some operations in the Dominican Republic.

The main hubs in Latin America are Sao Paulo in Brazil, Bogota in Colombia,Caracas in Venezuela, Guayaquil in Ecuador, Lima in Peru, Mexico City in Mexico, Buenos Aires in Argentina, and Santiago in Chile.

History of European Airline Industry

The first countries in Europe to embrace air transport were Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

KLM, the oldest carrier still operating under its original name, was founded in 1919. The first flight (operated on behalf of KLM by Aircraft Transport and Travel) transported two English passengers to Schiphol, Amsterdam from London in 1920. Like other major European airlines of the time (see France and the UK below), KLM's early growth depended heavily on the needs to service links with far-flung colonial possessions (Dutch Indies). It is only after the loss of the Dutch Empire that KLM found itself based at a small country with few potential passengers, depending heavily on transfer traffic, and was one of the first to introduce the hub-system to facilitate easy connections.

France began an air mail service to Morocco in 1919 that was bought out in 1927, renamed Aéropostale, and injected with capital to become a major international carrier. In 1933, Aéropostale went bankrupt, was nationalized and merged with several other airlines into what became Air France.

In Finland, the charter establishing Aero O/Y (now Finnair, one of the oldest still-operating airlines in the world) was signed in the city of Helsinki on September 12, 1923. Junkers F 13 D-335 became the first aircraft of the company, when Aero took delivery of it on March 14, 1924. The first flight was between Helsinki and Tallinn, capital of Estonia, and it took place on March 20, 1924, one week later.

Germany's Lufthansa began in 1926. Lufthansa, unlike most other airlines at the time, became a major investor in airlines outside of Europe, providing capital to Varig and Avianca. German airliners built by Junkers, Dornier, and Fokker were the most advanced in the world at the time. The peak of German air travel came in the mid-1930s, when Nazi propaganda ministers approved the start of commercial zeppelin service: the big airships were a symbol of industrial might, but the fact that they used flammable hydrogen gas raised safety concerns that culminated with the Hindenburg disaster of 1937. The reason they used hydrogen instead of the not-flammable helium gas was a United States military embargo on helium.

The British company Aircraft Transport and Travel commenced a London to Paris service on August 25, 1919, this was the world's first regular international flight. The United Kingdom's flag carrier during this period was Imperial Airways, which became BOAC (British Overseas Airways Co.) in 1939. Imperial Airways used huge Handley-Page biplanes for routes between London, the Middle East, and India: images of Imperial aircraft in the middle of the Rub'al Khali, being maintained by Bedouins, are among the most famous pictures from the heyday of the British Empire.

Deregulation
Deregulation of the European Union airspace in the early 1990s has had substantial effect on structure of the industry there. The shift towards 'budget' airlines on shorter routes has been significant. Airlines such as Easyjet and Ryanair have grown at the expense of the traditional national airlines.

There has also been a trend for these national airlines themselves to be privatised such as has occurred for Aer Lingus (Ireland) and British Airways. Other national airlines, including Italy's Alitalia, have suffered - particularly with the rapid increase of oil prices in early 2008.

HISTORY OF U.S. AIRLINE INDUSTRY

Early Development
Tony Jannus conducted the United States' scheduled commercial airline flight on 1 January 1914 for the Saint Petersburg-routes, Braniff Airways, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines (originally a division of Boeing), Trans World Airlines, Northwest Airlines, and Eastern Air Lines, to name a few.

Passenger service during the early 1920s was sporadic: most airlines at the time were focused on carrying bags of mail. In 1925, however, the Ford Motor Company bought out the Stout Aircraft Company and began construction of the all-metal Ford Trimotor, which became the first successful American airliner. With a 12-passenger capacity, the Trimotor made passenger service potentially profitable. Air service was seen as a supplement to rail service in the American transportation network.

At the same time, Juan Trippe began a crusade to create an air network that would link America to the world, and he achieved this goal through his airline, Pan American World Airways, with a fleet of flying boats that linked Los Angeles to Shanghai and Boston to London. Pan Am and Northwest Airways (which began flights to Canada in the 1920s) were the only U.S. airlines to go international before the 1940s.

With the introduction of the Boeing 247 and Douglas DC-3 in the 1930s, the U.S. airline industry was generally profitable, even during the Great Depression. This trend continued until the beginning of World War II.

Development since 1945

As governments met to set the standards and scope for an emergent civil air industry toward the end of the war, it was no surprise that the U.S. took a position of maximum operating freedom. After all, U.S. airline companies were not as hard-hit as European and the few Asian ones had been. This preference for "open skies" operating regimes continues, within limitations, to this day.

World War II, like World War I, brought new life to the airline industry. Many airlines in the Allied countries were flush from lease contracts to the military, and foresaw a future explosive demand for civil air transport, for both passengers and cargo. They were eager to invest in the newly emerging flagships of air travel such as the Boeing Stratocruiser, Lockheed Constellation, and Douglas DC-6. Most of these new aircraft were based on American bombers such as the B-29, which had spearheaded research into new technologies such as pressurization. Most offered increased efficiency from both added speed and greater payload.

In the 1950s, the De Havilland Comet, Boeing 707, Douglas DC-8, and Sud Aviation Caravelle became the first flagships of the Jet Age in the West, while the Soviet Union bloc had Tupolev Tu-104 and Tupolev Tu-124 in the fleets of state-owned carriers such as Aeroflot and Interflug. The Vickers Viscount and Lockheed L-188 Electra inaugurated turboprop transport.

The next big boost for the airlines would come in the 1970s, when the Boeing 747, McDonnell Douglas DC-10, and Lockheed L-1011 inaugurated widebody ("jumbo jet") service, which is still the standard in international travel. The Tupolev Tu-144 and its Western counterpart, Concorde, made supersonic travel a reality. Concorde first flew in 1969 and operated through 2003. In 1972, Airbus began producing Europe's most commercially successful line of airliners to date. The added efficiencies for these aircraft were often not in speed, but in passenger capacity, payload, and range. Airbus also features modern electronic cockpits that were common across their aircraft to enable pilots to fly multiple models with minimal cross-training.

1978's U.S. airline industry deregulation lowered barriers for new airlines. In this period, new start-ups entered during downturns in the normal 8-10 year business cycle. At that time, they find aircraft and funding, contract hangar and maintenance services, train new employees, and recruit laid off staff from other airlines.

As the business cycle returned to normalcy, major airlines dominated their routes through aggressive pricing and additional capacity offerings, often swamping new startups. Only America West Airlines (which has since merged with US Airways) remained a significant survivor from this new entrant era, as dozens, even hundreds, have gone under.

In many ways, the biggest winner in the deregulated environment was the air passenger. Indeed, the U.S. witnessed an explosive growth in demand for air travel, as many millions who had never or rarely flown before became regular fliers, even joining frequent flyer loyalty programs and receiving free flights and other benefits from their flying. New services and higher frequencies meant that business fliers could fly to another city, do business, and return the same day, for almost any point in the country. Air travel's advantages put intercity bus lines under pressure, and most have withered away.

By the 1980s, almost half of the total flying in the world took place in the U.S., and today the domestic industry operates over 10,000 daily departures nationwide.

Toward the end of the century, a new style of low cost airline emerged, offering a no-frills product at a lower price. Southwest Airlines, JetBlue, AirTran Airways, Skybus Airlines and other low-cost carriers began to represent a serious challenge to the so-called "legacy airlines", as did their low-cost counterparts in many other countries. Their commercial viability represented a serious competitive threat to the legacy carriers. However, of these, ATA and Skybus have since ceased operations.

Thus the last 50 years of the airline industry have varied from reasonably profitable, to devastatingly depressed. As the first major market to deregulate the industry in 1978, U.S. airlines have experienced more turbulence than almost any other country or region. Today, American Airlines is the only U.S. legacy carrier to survive bankruptcy-free

HISTORY OF AIRLINES

The first airlines

DELAG, Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-Aktiengesellschaft was the world's first airline.[citation needed] It was founded on November 16, 1909 with government assistance, and operated airships manufactured by The Zeppelin Corporation. Its headquarters were in Frankfurt. (Note: Americans, such as Rufus Porter and Frederick Marriott, attempted to start airlines in the mid-19th century, focusing on the New York-California route. Those attempts foundered due to such mishaps as the aircraft catching fire and the aircraft being ripped apart by spectators.) The five oldest non-dirigible airlines that still exist are Australia's Qantas, Netherland's KLM, Colombia's Avianca, Czech Republic's Czech Airlines and Mexico's Mexicana. KLM first flew in May 1920 while Qantas (for the Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited) was founded in Queensland, Australia in late 1920.