Singapore Airlines
- Modern commercial air travel is far from glamorous. For most people, it simply a means to get from point A to point B.
- It pales in comparison to the pampered flying experience of during the 1960s.
- However, the luxury of the Golden Age of air travel is still alive and well in the first class cabins of the world’s leading airlines.
- Brands like Pan Am have given way to Singapore, Emirates, and Etihad.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Flying these days can be a slog.
For most of us, it’s something we tolerate as a means to get from point A to point B. It’s no longer a special occasion. For the traveling masses, commercial flying has been reduced down to the essence of what it is, public transportation.
Things didn’t use to be this way. We’ve all been regaled with tales of the Golden Age of air travel — of the 1960s jet-set that were lavished spacious seats, cosseting service, fine wines, and gourmet meals.
It puts into sharp relief our quotidian flying experience.
However, the glamor of the Golden Age has not completely gone away. It’s still very much alive and well in the first class cabins of the world’s leading airlines. In fact, I would argue that the first class experience today is vastly superior to that of decades past.
First off, flying, in general, is significantly more safe and reliable. According to data from the Flight Safety Foundation, the rate of fatal airliner accidents decreased from 4.2 per 1 million flight in 1977 to around 0.2 per million flights in 2017.
And then there’s the inflight experience. Modern first class cabins offer a greater degree of privacy, comfort, technology, and personalization than the jet set could have ever imagined. With prices that could top $40,000 for a round-trip, these tickets are far from affordable. Then again, neither was first class during the Golden Age of Flight.
Here’s a closer look at how first-class air travel has changed over the past 70 years.
The age of jet-powered scheduled passenger air travel kicked off in 1952 with the DeHavilland Comet 1. However, a series of fatal crashes between 1952 and 1954 forced the plane to be grounded for modifications. Even though later versions of the jet such as the Comet 3 seen here would go on to serve successfully in airline fleets around the world, it was no longer at the forefront of the industry.
Museum of Flight/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images
While the Comet was dealing with its troubles, it was overtaken by the Boeing 707 and…
AP
… the Douglas DC-8 as the jet-powered workhorses of the airline industry. The jetliners of the era, while not quite as refined as today’s aircraft, were faster and smoother than their propeller-powered contemporaries.
AP
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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Source: Business Insider – bzhang@businessinsider.com (Benjamin Zhang)