Published By: Gurpreet Kaur

7 oldest airlines that still operate around the world

Check out the list here

One might not be aware but commercial air travel has been around for more than a century. Interestingly, there have been some airlines that were pioneers in the field and luckily, are still operating around the world. Here’s a look at them:

  1. KLM
Royal Dutch Airlines, popularly known as KLM, is certainly the oldest airline in the world. Established in 1919, Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij had its first flight in 1920 and in 1924, they then began the farthest air route: Amsterdam to Jakarta. In 1946, KLM was the only European airline to have regular flights to New York. In 2004, KLM was merged with Air France.
  1. Avianca
Avianca is the world’s second-oldest airline and it is based in Bogotá, Colombia. Before World War II, it was called SCADTA (Sociedad Colombo Alemana de Transportes Aéreos) and during the war, thousands of Germans fled to Colombia using them. However, the airlines’ ties with Germany was a cause of concern for the company so in 1940, the airline decided to let go of all its German employees and abandon the name too.
  1. Qantas
Qantas or Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services is based in Sydney and was established in 1920. By 1935, it was offering a lot of international flights and by 1944, it was famous for being called “The Flying Kangaroo.”
  1. Aeroflot
Aeroflot means air fleet in Russian and its flight took off in 1923. It is one of the largest airlines in the world and it was the best way to travel across Soviet Union’s vast territory. Moscow is home to Aeroflot’s headquarters.
  1. Finnair
“The Official Carrier of Santa Claus”, Finnair operates regular flights over the North Pole. However, in 1952, when the Olympic Games were held in Helsinki and Finland got its own airport, the airline got 100,000 more passengers and became super famous.
  1. Delta
This old airline is still operating within the United States apart from being one of the largest airliners in the world. Founded in Georgia in 1924, it was also the first airliner to offer complimentary meals in coach, to ban smoking, and produce its own jet fuel in an attempt to become eco-friendly.

So which of these oldest airlines in the world have you travelled to?

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