Though the Wright brothers invented the world’s first plane in the early 1900s, it would take a few more years before the first scheduled passenger airline took flight. On 1 January 1914, the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line spread its wings and started running a ‘flying boat’ service between the Floridian cities of St. Petersburg and Tampa for the first time.

The flight took just 23 minutes, far quicker than the same journey by steamship (two hours) and rail (up to 12 hours). The airline flew the route twice daily, six days a week, for nearly four months and is credited with paving the way for commercial aviation.

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