100 years ago: The first regular international passenger flight took off

On August 25, 1919, the first scheduled international passenger flight flew between London and Paris.

This pioneering flight, operated by Air Transport & Travel Ltd (AT&T), a precursor to British Airways (BA), departed from Hounslow Heath, near what is now Heathrow Airport, which handled nearly 80 million passengers in 2018.

Clearly, the world of international air travel has evolved significantly in the past century. Let’s take a look back at its origins.

Aviation milestones

1919 was a landmark year for aviation milestones; on June 15, British aviators John Alcock and Arthur Brown made history with the first nonstop transatlantic flight, setting the stage for today’s popular London to New York route.

Back then, aviation was mostly reserved for daring adventurers and skilled pilots. The daily London to Paris flight, which also carried mail and parcels, marked the dawn of a new era in commercial air travel.

AT&T’s promotional poster featured iconic landmarks from both cities: London’s St Paul’s Cathedral and Paris’ newly built Eiffel Tower.

The glamorous advertisement also highlighted the new service’s daily frequency, which seemed extraordinary at the time.

Paul Jarvis, the late curator of the BA Heritage Collection, who discussed his book “British Airways: 100 Years of Aviation Posters” with Dinogo Travel in 2018, emphasized the importance of marketing the initial passenger air services.

“In the early days, it was primarily about convincing people to fly at all,” says Jarvis. “Many thought flying was just a passing trend.”

After all, the first non-stop flight from London to Paris occurred just seven years earlier, and the first powered flight was made only 16 years before that.

Aviation was still a relatively new frontier.

The early days of aviation

The De Havilland DH4A G-EAJC aircraft, originally designed for combat during World War I and later converted for civilian use, crossed the English Channel in a relatively quick two and a half hours, powered by a single Rolls Royce Eagle piston engine.

If you’re picturing a plane filled with Brits heading to Paris for baguettes and cheese, think again—it was a compact aircraft with limited, but interesting, cargo.

The flight, piloted by RAF veteran Lt. E. H. “Bill” Lawford in an open-air cockpit, carried one passenger, George Stevenson-Reece, a journalist from London’s “Evening Standard,” along with a shipment of leather, two grouse, and several jars of Devonshire cream.

Stevenson-Reece paid 20 guineas for the trip (£21).

Although the weather was reportedly less than ideal, the aircraft was met with excitement by reporters and photographers when it landed at Le Bourget.

In later flights, the service could accommodate up to 14 passengers.

In 1920, Dutch airline KLM followed closely behind, launching flights between London and Amsterdam, marking a steady but gradual growth in commercial aviation over the following decades.

It wasn't until after World War II, as Rolls Royce historian Peter Collins shares with Dinogo Travel, that a shift in mindset occurred, leading people to accept flying as a regular means of transportation.

“While scheduled flights existed and aviation was advancing, it wasn’t yet widespread […] It was still mostly accessible to the affluent,” he remarked.

Correction: This article has been updated to reflect that the Alcock-Brown flight took place in 1919.