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January 1, 2014, marks exactly 100 years since the birth of commercial aviation. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has unfurled a year long celebration series on the 100th anniversary.
On January 1, 1914, a team of four visionaries combined efforts in the first scheduled commercial airline flight. While Percival Fansler organised the funding for the St Petersburg Tampa Airboat Line which provided the first scheduled air service across Tampa Bay, Florida, Abram Pheil, then mayor of St Petersburg, paid $400 at an auction for the 23-minute flight.
Though the industry began with only one passenger on one route on January 1,1914, today, the global aviation industry provides unprecedented connectivity and impacts, both directly and indirectly, people everywhere.
Global airline industry turnover is expected to be $743 billion in 2014, with an average industry net profit margin of 2.6 per cent.
Incidentally, IATA is one of the sponsors of Flight 2014, which is planning to re-enact the first commercial passenger flight using a Hoffman X-4 ‘Mullet Skiff’ amphibious flying boat, similar in many respects to the original Benoist airboat which performed the first flight. The Hoffman will take off from St Petersburg, Florida, and fly across the bay to Tampa at 10:00 am US Eastern Standard Time, re-tracing the exact path taken by Jannus and Pheil 100 years ago.
Some startling statistics show that on an average, every day more than 8 million people fly. In 2013, total passenger numbers were 3.1 billion, surpassing the 3 billion mark for the first time ever. That number is expected to grow to 3.3 billion in 2014, which is equivalent to 44 per cent of the world’s population.
About 50 million tonnes of cargo is transported by air each year, which is about 140,000 tonnes daily. The annual value of these goods is some $6.4 trillion, or 35 per cent of the value of goods traded internationally.
Aviation supports over 57 million jobs and generates $2.2 trillion in economic activity. The industry’s direct economic contribution is around $540 billion.
amritanair.ghaswalla@thehindu.co.in
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