100 years of commercial flights: Changes in the air
Jan 05, 2014, 04.01 AM IST
Text: Binoy Prabhakar, ET Bureau
On January 1, 1914, the first commercial flight took off, taking just 23 minutes to cross Florida's Tampa Bay. The flight marked the beginning of an air service—the St Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line — by St Petersburg officials who wanted to draw winter tourists to their city.
Commercial aviation has changed quite dramatically since that flight. Wednesday marked the 100th anniversary of the momentous event. ET chronicles the evolution.