Humans have been flying since the Wright Brothers took to the air in 1903. Of course, airlines started later – with the first scheduled passenger flights in 1914 (across Tampa Bay, Florida). Surprisingly for an industry known for its volatility and financial instability, quite a few airlines from those heroic early years of aviation are still surviving in their original form. While it may seem like a thoroughly modern enterprise, commercial air travel has been around for more than a century.
Here are 10 of the oldest airlines in the world still in operation.
| Rank | Airline | Year founded |
| 1. | KLM | October, 1919 |
| 2. | Avianca | December, 1919 |
| 3. | Qantas | November, 1920 |
| 4. | Aerflot | July, 1923 |
| 5. | Czech Airlines | October, 1923 |
| 6. | Finnair | November, 1923 |
| 7. | Tajik Air | September, 1924 |
| 8. | Delta Air Lines | March, 1925 |
| 9. | America Airlines | April, 1926 |
| 10. | Air Serbia | June, 1927 |
