American Airlines celebrates 100 years today, Wednesday, April 15, 2026 and joins a growing select group of other airlines which are now part of the elite century club of continuously being in business.
American Airlines Celebrates 100 Years Today.
According to the official Internet web site of the centennial of American Airlines, “The first regularly scheduled flight for American Airlines included a bag of U.S. mail in a DH-4 biplane from Chicago to St. Louis, Missouri.”
Robertson Aircraft Corporation and greater than 80 other small airline companies were consolidated in 1929 and 1930 into the Aviation Corporation, which eventually formed American Airways in 1930, which was the immediate forerunner of American Airlines today.
American Airlines joins the growing list of companies which have celebrated 100 years in business:
- United Airlines
- Lufthansa
- Delta Air Lines
- Finnair
- Qantas Airways
- KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
- Hilton
- The Hertz Corporation
- The Boeing Company
- British Airways
- Commercial aviation itself
- Nathan’s Famous frankfurters
- Grand Central Terminal in New York
- The Canarsie Courier in Brooklyn
- The National Park Service of the United States…
…and even though it is not a company, let us not forget 100 years of the “Mile High Club”.
Final Boarding Call
Additional information pertaining to the history of American Airlines over the past 100 years is found at this special Internet web site which commemorates the anniversary.
Congratulations to American Airlines for being in business over the past 100 years. May your next 100 years be even more successful…
…and I do not believe that American Airlines will be acquired by United Airlines anytime soon — if at all…
All photographs ©2007, ©2009, and ©2014 by Brian Cohen.
