Contents. Introduction

 
 
 

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Chapter I. Features and basic aspects of airlines and airports.
1.1. Development history of airports and air transportation
. 
The this chapter deals with the history of airlines and airports. Differences, 
advantages and disadvantages of air transport from other means of transport. It also 
discusses the world’s largest companies and their contribution to the world economy.
Aviation is the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. Aircraft 
includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morph able wings, wing-less lifting bodies, 
as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air balloons and airships.
Aviation began in the 18th century with the development of the hot air balloon, an 
apparatus capable of atmospheric displacement through buoyancy. Some of the most 
significant advancements in aviation technology came with the controlled gliding flying 
of Otto Lilienthal in 1896, then a large step in significance came with the construction of 
the first powered airplane by the Wright brothers in the early 1900s. Since that time, 
aviation has been technologically revolutionized by the introduction of the jet which 
permitted a major form of transport throughout the world. There are early legends of 
human flight such as the stories of Icarus in Greek myth, Jams hid and Shah Kay Kāvus 
in Persian myth, and the flying automaton of Archytas of Tarentum. Later, somewhat 
more credible claims of short-distance human flights appear, such as the winged flights 
of Abbas ibn Firnas , Eilmer of Malmesbury , and the hot-air Passarola of Bartholomeu
Lourenço de Gusmão .The modern age of aviation began with the first untethered human 
lighter-than-air flight on November 21, 1783, of a hot air balloon designed by the 
Montgolfier brothers. The practicality of balloons was limited because they could only 
travel downwind. It was immediately recognized that a steerable, or dirigible, balloon was 
required. Jean-Pierre Blanchard flew the first human-powered dirigible in 1784 and 
crossed the English Channel in one in 1785.Rigid airships became the first aircraft to 
transport passengers and cargo over great distances. The best known aircraft of this type 
were manufactured by the German Zeppelin company. The most successful Zeppelin was 
the Graf Zeppelin. It flew over one million miles, including an around-the-world flight in 

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August 1929. However, the dominance of the Zeppelins over the airplanes of that period, 
which had a range of only a few hundred miles, was diminishing as airplane design 
advanced. The “Golden Age
2
” of the airships ended on May 6, 1937, when the 
Hindenburg caught fire, killing 36 people. The cause of the Hindenburg accident was 
initially blamed on the use of hydrogen instead of helium as the lift gas. An internal 
investigation by the manufacturer revealed that the coating used in the material covering 
the frame was highly flammable and allowed static electricity to build up in the airship. 
Changes to the coating formulation reduced the risk of further Hindenburg type accidents.
In 1799, Sir George Cayley set forth the concept of the modern airplane as a fixed-wing 
flying machine with separate systems for lift, propulsion, and control. Early dirigible 
developments included machine-powered propulsion rigid frames and improved speed 
and maneuverability.
There are many competing claims for the earliest powered, heavier-than-air flight. The 
first recorded powered flight was carried out by Clément Ader on October 9, 1890, in his 
bat-winged, fully self-propelled fixed-wing aircraft, the Ader Éole. It was reportedly the 
first manned, powered, heavier-than-air flight of a significant distance but insignificant 
altitude from level ground. Seven years later, on 14 October 1897, Ader's Avion III 
3
was 
tested without success in front of two officials from the French War ministry. The report 
on the trials was not publicized until 1910, as they had been a military secret. In November 
1906, Ader claimed to have made a successful flight on 14 October 1897, achieving an 
"uninterrupted flight" of around 300 meters. Although widely believed at the time, these 
claims were later discredited.
The Wright brothers made the first successful powered, controlled and sustained airplane 
flight on December 17, 1903, a feat made possible by their invention of three-axis control. 
Only a decade later, at the start of World War I, heavier-than-air powered aircraft had 
become practical for reconnaissance, artillery spotting, and even attacks against ground 
positions.
2
http://en.m.wikipedia.org 
3
http://www.britannica.com 

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Aircraft began to transport people and cargo as designs grew larger and more reliable. 
The Wright brothers took aloft the first passenger, Charles Furnas, one of their mechanics, 
on May 14, 1908.
During the 1920s and 1930s great progress was made in the field of aviation, including 
the first transatlantic flight of Alcock and Brown in 1919, Charles Lindbergh's solo 
transatlantic flight in 1927, and Charles Kingsford Smith's transpacific flight the 
following year. One of the most successful designs of this period was the Douglas DC-3, 
which became the first airliner to be profitable carrying passengers exclusively, starting 
the modern era of passenger airline service. By the beginning of World War II, many 
towns and cities had built airports, and there were numerous qualified pilots available. 
The war brought many innovations to aviation, including the first jet aircraft and the first 
liquid-fueled rockets.
After World War II, especially in North America, there was a boom in general aviation, 
both private and commercial, as thousands of pilots were released from military service 
and many inexpensive war-surplus transport and training aircraft became available. 
Manufacturers such as Cessna, Piper, and Beechcraft expanded production to provide 
light aircraft for the new middle-class market.
By the 1950s, the development of civil jets grew, beginning with the de Havilland Comet, 
though the first widely used passenger jet was the Boeing 707, because it was much more 
economical than other aircraft at that time. At the same time, turboprop propulsion began 
to appear for smaller commuter planes, making it possible to serve small-volume routes 
in a much wider range of weather conditions.
Since the 1960s composite material airframes and quieter, more efficient engines have 
become available, and Concorde provided supersonic passenger service for more than 
two decades, but the most important lasting innovations have taken place in 
instrumentation and control. The arrival of solid-state electronics, the Global Positioning 

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System, satellite communications, and increasingly small and powerful computers and 
LED displays, have dramatically changed the cockpits of airliners and, increasingly, of 
smaller aircraft as well. Pilots can navigate much more accurately and view terrain, 
obstructions, and other nearby aircraft on a map or through synthetic vision, even at night 
or in low visibility.
Although there have been periodic initiatives to revive their use, airships have seen only 
niche application since that time. On June 21, 2004, Spaceship One became the first 
privately funded aircraft to make a spaceflight, opening the possibility of an aviation 
market capable of leaving the Earth’s atmosphere. Meanwhile, flying prototypes of 
aircraft powered by alternative fuels, such as ethanol, electricity, and even solar energy, 
are becoming more common.