The famous Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur, made the first successful experimental flight on 17 December 1903, in which their aeroplane took off and landed with a man on board. In the first of three flights that day, their aeroplane flew to an altitude of 10 feet, travelled 120 feet, and landed 12 seconds after take-off.
During the first half of the 20th Century, innovations in flight and plane design blossomed, achieving another key landmark with the development of the jet engine in the late 1930s by two engineers: Frank Whittle of the UK and Hans von Ohain of Germany. In the second half of the 20th Century, it was the passengers and the tourist industry that began to reap the rewards of modern flight.
In 1969, the Boeing 747 was unveiled and in the same year the Aerospatiale-BAC Concorde supersonic passenger airliner made its maiden flight. The Boeing 747 was the largest commercial passenger aircraft ever to fly. It still carries millions of passengers each year, but it has now been overtaken in size by the Airbus A380. A double-decker, wide-body, four-engine jet airliner, the Airbus A380 is the world’s biggest passenger airliner. Many airports have had to upgrade their facilities to accommodate it because of
its size.
Tourism is now an essential activity for many economies and the business travel audience also accounts for a significant percentage of travel, as we become an increasingly global economy. In 2011, there were over 1,322 million international tourist arrivals worldwide and numbers are set to rise. No previous generations have been able to travel so freely and so widely.
Contribution to Retail History
Air travel opened shoppers’ eyes to wider retail horizons; package holidays took them to new places and soon the relative speed and ease of flight prompted people to cross continents just to shop. For the supply and distribution chain, aeroplanes opened up a world of opportunity – literally. The ability to airfreight fresh goods and have them arrive at their destination in hours transformed the supermarket shelves, the concept of seasonality, and the shopping habits of consumers