Aviation History

On this day in 1939, Pan American Airways began the world’s first regularly scheduled transatlantic passenger service when its Dixie Clipper pontoon plane took off from Port Washington on New York’s Long Island, bound for the Azores, Lisbon, and Marseilles. Ticket price: $375 (one way), more than $8,000 in today’s money. The 22 passengers got six-course dinners and a scheduled flight time of a mere 22 hours.