Germany’s Deutsche Luft-Reederei established the world’s first passenger airline in February 1919. The next month, the French started a route from Paris to Brussels. In the same year, a British company, Air Transport and Travel, started the first daily international service linking London and Paris.
Britain had five, Germany had seven and France has eight airlines by the end of a decade after the introduction of passenger aircraft. Earlier, converted bombers were used as passenger aircraft. The first purpose-built airliner was the British de Havilland DH 16 in 1919. The first jet airliner was the de Havilland Comet introduced in 1952.
In 1958, Boeing 707 became the first long-haul airliner. It had 179 seats and a cruising speed of about 910 km/h. Jumbo jets such as Boeing 747 were introduced later in 1970.
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