United Kingdom

Europe

28Airlines

12Profiled Airports

27With ICAO

25With Callsign

Aviation History

The United Kingdom played a pioneering role in early commercial aviation, launching the world's first scheduled international passenger service between London and Paris in 1919. The state-backed Imperial Airways operated long-haul routes across the British Empire from the 1920s, later reorganized into the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) and, after WWII, the shorter-haul British European Airways (BEA). Britain led early jet airliner development with the de Havilland Comet in 1952 and co-developed the supersonic Concorde with France in the 1970s. BOAC and BEA merged in 1974 to form the modern British Airways, and the UK later saw the rise of low-cost carriers such as easyJet in the mid-1990s.

✦In June 1919, British aviators John Alcock and Arthur Brown completed the first nonstop transatlantic flight, from Newfoundland to Ireland.

✦Structural fatigue failures in early Comet jets during the mid-1950s led to major advances in aviation safety engineering worldwide.

✦London Heathrow is among the busiest international airports in the world.

1919

First scheduled international passenger flight

Aircraft Transport and Travel operated the world's first scheduled international passenger service, flying between London and Paris.

1924

Imperial Airways founded

Imperial Airways was formed as Britain's state-backed long-haul carrier, operating routes across the British Empire.

1939

BOAC formed from Imperial Airways merger

Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd were merged into the state-owned British Overseas Airways Corporation on the eve of World War II.

1952

de Havilland Comet enters jet airliner service

BOAC introduced the de Havilland Comet, the world's first commercial jet airliner to enter scheduled service.

1972

Civil Aviation Authority established

The UK Civil Aviation Authority began operating as an independent regulator following the Civil Aviation Act 1971.

1974

British Airways formed from BOAC-BEA merger

BOAC and British European Airways merged to create modern British Airways as the UK's flag carrier.

1976

Concorde enters supersonic passenger service

The Anglo-French Concorde began commercial supersonic service with British Airways and Air France, flying until its retirement in 2003.

1995

easyJet founded, expanding low-cost travel

easyJet launched as a UK low-cost carrier, helping popularize budget air travel across Europe.

Notable Carriers

British Airways · easyJet · Virgin Atlantic · BOAC / BEA / Imperial Airways (historic)

General aviation history sources; airport traffic rankings and current airline ownership may shift over time.

Aviation Firsts

Oldest Airport

Shoreham Airport (Brighton City Airport) — Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex (1910): First flight 1910, officially opened 20 June 1911. Self-described as the oldest airport in the UK and the oldest purpose-built commercial airport in the world still operating — a claim repeated widely but self-asserted rather than independently adjudicated. · Bitesized Britain ↗

Oldest Airline — contested

Aircraft Transport and Travel (AT&T) (1916): Founded 5 October 1916 by George Holt Thomas (Airco subsidiary); called the first British airline. Ceased operating 1920; assets sold to Daimler, eventually folding into Imperial Airways (1924) → BOAC → British Airways (1974). · Wikipedia ↗

British Airways (successor lineage) (1974): Formed 1974 by the merger of BOAC and BEA. British Airways' own 2019 centenary marketing dated its lineage to 1919, not AT&T's 1916 founding — the company's own branding disagrees with the historical founding date. · BA ↗ · Wikipedia ↗

The founding-date winner (AT&T, 1916) is defunct; its lineage continues through Imperial Airways/BOAC into British Airways, which itself re-dated its own centenary to 1919 rather than 1916.

First Foreign Ground Handler

Swissport (Switzerland), 1997: Swissport's corporate history records that in 1997 Swissport "began ground services at London Heathrow", shortly after Swissport's 1996 spin-off from Swissair. This predates dnata's 2009/2010 UK market entry (acquisition of Plane Handling/Aviance from Go-Ahead Group, described as dnata's entry into the UK airport handling business), a later, better-documented foreign entrant. No source explicitly calls Swissport the first foreign UK handler, so this remains tentative, but it is the earliest dated foreign entrant found. (best-documented candidate found — not source-confirmed as literally first.) · Reference for Business ↗