Explain the development of the US Airline Industry and what role did Essay

Explain the development of the US Airline Industry and what role did the government play from 1910-1950 - Essay Example It was the world’s first commercial flight which travelled from St. Petersburg to Tampa Bay. The earliest initiative to promote the US airline industry was the formation of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in 1915(NACA). This body was funded by the government to research into aircraft design and it was able to create the first supersonic aircraft. NACA was later integrated with NASA. With high speed aircrafts, airplanes began to be seen as an alternative to trains and roads. The major reason behind the evolution of this industry was the United States Postal Service. The USPS used army services during the early 1920 but since the army was involved in the World War, it could not render much time to the postal service (US Air). In 1925, government passed the Air mail act which allowed the private airlines to carry postal mails. The government took this step because it believed that it would promote the airline industry in the country and also provide economical sup port to the country (Harry, 2004). This served as a great initiative and the number of flights rose to a considerably large level. The private airlines expanded under this act and soon a large number of airlines were operating which not only for delivered postal mails but also offered passenger services. However with the increased number of flights and no monitoring and regulatory body, the accidents were very common.