100 years of air transport
The creation of the legal basis and the organization of supervision over civil aviation made it possible, after the end of the First World War, to use the surplus military aircraft for private and commercial purposes.
The year 1919 brought Switzerland not only the first scheduled mail flights between Dübendorf and Bern, started by the military aviation department in early January and later extended to Lausanne and Geneva, but also the foundation of the first three private aviation companies, which used former military aircraft to perform sightseeing, show and tourist flights for remuneration.
In view of the centennial of air transport, the Swiss aviation magazine SkyNews.ch has been publishing – in loose order since the end of 2018 – my contributions on the history of the first airlines in Switzerland, reproduced here with the consent of the publisher.
List of my contributions (in German):
- Genossenschaft Aero in Luzern
- Société suisse de navigation aérienne
- Schweizerische Fliegerabteilung
- Aero-Gesellschaft
- Gesellschaft für Luftverkehr der Ostschweiz
- Fluggesellschaft Interlaken AG
- Avion-Tourisme S. A.
- Frick & Co. Luftverkehrs-Gesellschaft Ad Astra
- Luftamt und Luftrecht
- Aéro-Transport Minier Durafour
- Badische Luftverkehrsgesellschaft (Balug)
- Ad Astra-Aero – Flying Boats
- Alfred Comte Luftverkehr – Air Mail service Munich
- Trans-Aero – first passenger airliners
- Compagnie des Grands Express Aériens
- Ad Astra-Aero – First international air mail service
- Ecole Aéro Lausanne – First Swiss FBO
- Handley Page Transport Ltd. – First regular service London-Switzerland
Contributions on other Centennial Jubilees in Switzerland:
- 2011 – Wege und Geschichte – ViaStoria
- 1914 – Bern-Beundenfeld – OK AIR 14 d/f
- 1919 – Erste regelmässige Luftverkehrsverbindung – MMM-2014
- 1919 – 100 Jahre Schweizer Luftverkehr – MFV
- 1919 – Bern-Oberlindach – Lindacher Nachrichten
- 1920-2020 – 100 Jahre BAZL im Zeitraffer – BAZL
- 1920-2020 – Fliegende Aufsichtsbehörde – SkyStory
- 1920-2020 – Aéroport de Genève-Cointrin – SkyStory
Last modification 2023.10.30. – DR