The story of commercial air travel begins before the 1920s, in 1914, when the world’s first scheduled passenger service set off between Tampa and St Petersburg, piloted by Tony Jannus. Though commercial aviation did not take off quickly, more and more companies tried to build on this milestone through the 1920s, with varying degrees of success. Here, passengers wait at Croydon Airport, UK to board a Handley Page W.9 aircraft, a model used by early airlines Imperial Airways and Sabena.

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, it became common for mail to be transported by air, and many airmail aircraft would also carry passengers. One such airline was Western Air Express, which merged with Delta in 1987. The airline carried its first load of mail in April 1926 and was welcoming passengers by May of the same year – this first route was Salt Lake City to Los Angeles via Las Vegas. A Fokker F-10 Western Air Express plane is pictured here in 1928.

Other notable early commercial airlines included the now defunct Pan American Airways and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, which is still in operation. KLM reached destinations all over Europe, including Copenhagen, London and Paris. This photo shows Lady Heath, an early British female pilot, in a KLM-owned Fokker aircraft.

Life onboard a 1920s aircraft was very different from that of the modern day. Flights were a lavish affair reserved only for the richest members of society. Passengers had their every need attended to and were waited on with fine food and drink. However, the ride itself wouldn’t have been so comfortable. Planes travelled at a much lower altitude, so passengers were subjected to lots of noise, turbulence and long journey times.

In-flight entertainment systems looked rather different too. Today aeroplane entertainment is a solitary, hi-tech affair but, in the early days of flight, passengers would typically gather around a single screen if they wanted to catch a movie. One of the earliest films to be shown up high was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World in 1925 with Imperial Airways. Here, passengers on a German airliner also enjoy a movie in the year 1925.

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The early 1930s continued in a similar fashion to the 1920s, with airlines offering airmail delivery services and also carrying passengers. Flying was still extremely expensive and fairly uncomfortable but, according to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, the number of airline passengers grew from 6,000 in 1930 to 450,000 in 1934. Here, a woman passes on her mail to the crew of a Fokker F-10 monoplane operated by Western Air Express.

In-flight entertainment technology continued to improve too. This snap, taken in 1931, shows passengers listening to a live radio broadcast of the annual London boat race between Oxford and Cambridge universities.

Another commercial aviation milestone was reached in 1935, when Qantas operated its first international passenger flight. The service travelled from Brisbane to Singapore, where it was picked up by British-owned Imperial Airways. This journey would set the foundations for travel between Australia and the UK in the coming decades, and was a precursor to the iconic “Kangaroo Route”.

In the 1920s and into the early 1930s, the role of flight attendant was one mostly reserved for men, who were usually referred to as “cabin boys”. This was soon flipped on its head, though. The first female flight attendant, a nurse named Ellen Church, was employed in 1930 and by the middle of the decade most of these jobs went to women. The women were often trained nurses and there were also strict rules as to their age, height and weight. Before this change, this photo shows an all-male team of air stewards posing before an Eastern Air Lines plane in the early 1930s.

Commercial airlines did everything they could to make passengers feel comfortable. Alongside the help of attentive staff, 1930s passengers would be able to enjoy plush aircraft cabins worlds away from the no-frills set-up of the modern day. This Imperial Airways cabin, captured circa 1935, boasted pillowy floral seats, patterned walls and curtains with decorative trim. This particular plane was generally used on a Paris–London route throughout this decade.

One 1930s invention would seriously revolutionise commercial air travel. The Douglas DC-3 had its first flight in 1935 and raised the bar when it came to commercial airliners. It was larger, faster and more comfortable than any model that had preceded it and it was soon snapped up by industry heavyweights such as Delta, TWA, American and United. A United Douglas DC-3 aircraft is pictured here cruising through the air.

The 1930s also saw some of the earliest commercial flights across the Atlantic. Pan American Airways was one of the forerunners, transporting passengers over the Atlantic by 1939. The Yankee Clipper aircraft or “flying boat”, which was used to undertake this journey, is pictured here in Calshot, Southampton, UK after a flight.

The onset of the Second World War meant developments in commercial aviation were put on the back burner, and all resources were plunged into the war effort. However, by the end of the decade, the industry was recovering, especially since the war had given rise to new runways and military aircraft were able to be converted and put to commercial use. This 1949 shot shows Pan Am’s ‘Flying Cloud’ clipper, the first of a group of planes to begin a service between New York and London in the 1940s.

Pan Am began operating its fleet of Boeing 307 aircraft in the 1940s. The Boeing 307 was another model that propelled commercial aviation forwards, since it was the first to boast a pressurised cabin. This meant passengers (as pictured onboard here circa 1945) could enjoy a comfortable ride at around 20,000 feet. The model was also flown by TWA.