Industry Celebrates Dawn of Commercial Aviation's Second Century
A Hoffman X-4 “Mullet Skiff” airboat takes off from the North Yacht Basin in St. Petersburg, Florida, en route to Tampa, on January 1, re-creating the first scheduled airline flight that occurred exactly 100 years earlier. (Photo: Brian Blanco/AP Images for IATA)
A Hoffman X-4 “Mullet Skiff” airboat takes off from the North Yacht Basin in St. Petersburg, Florida, en route to Tampa, on January 1, re-creating the first scheduled airline flight that occurred exactly 100 years earlier. (Photo: Brian Blanco/AP Images for IATA)

Commercial aviation has entered its second century, New Year’s Day having marked the 100th anniversary of the first flight with a fare-paying passenger. To celebrate, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has established 2014 as a year to reflect on the “contribution of aviation to modern life.” St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line flew the 23-minute first service across Florida’s Tampa Bay, using a Benoist Model XIV airboat with St. Petersburg mayor Abram Pheil in the only passenger seat. To mark the centennial, a Hoffman X-4 Mullet Skiff airboat retraced the route on January 1.