World's Oldest Airlines

Which are the oldest airlines in the world still in operation?

10th: Iberia, Spain - 1927
Spain’s flag carrier started out with three German-built Rohrbach Roland monoplanes.

9th: Air Serbia, Serbia - 1927
Originally founded as ‘Aeroput’, Air Serbia now flies to Europe, the Middle East and Australia.

8th: Tajik Air, Tajikistan - 1924
Formerly part of the Soviet Union, Tajikistan’s national airline now uses Russian and American aircraft.

7th: Delta Air Lines, USA - 1924
The world’s biggest airline started out as ‘Huff Daland Dusters’, a crop dusting service in Georgia, USA.

6th: Finnair, Finland - 1923
This airline commenced operations with a Junkers F.13 flight from Helsinki to Tallinn in north Finland.

5th: Czech Airlines, Czech Republic - 1923
Originally named ‘Czechoslovak State Airlines’, this airline currently operates one Airbus A330, six A320s, nine A319s, three ATR72s and four ATR42s.

4th: Aeroflot, Russia - 1923
For a brief period, Russia’s largest airline operated the Tupolev Tu-144 supersonic transport aircraft. It currently operates a mixture of American, European and Russian aircraft types.

3rd: Qantas, Australia - 1920
Qantas, originally an acronym for ‘Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services’, is the oldest continuously operating airline in the world. Its first aircraft was an Avro 504 biplane.

2nd: Avianca, Colombia - 1919
Founded by Germans and Colombians, Avianca started out as SCADTA (Colombian-German Air Transport Society), operating Junkers F.13s. Avianca currently has more than 80 aircraft in its fleet.

Oldest: KLM - Royal Dutch Airlines, Netherlands - 1919
The oldest airline still operating under its original name currently flies to more than 130 destinations. The first aircraft used by KLM was a leased Airco De Havilland DH.16, capable of carrying four passengers.