Editing Airline (section)

====Since 1945====
[[File:Stratocruiser op Schiphol, Bestanddeelnr 903-5913.jpg|thumb|[[Boeing 377]] of [[American Export Airlines]], the first airline to offer landplane flights across the North Atlantic in October 1945.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.centennialofflight.net/essay/Commercial_Aviation/atlantic_route/Tran4.htm |title=Air Transportation: The Beginnings of Commercial Transatlantic Service |publisher=centennialofflight.net |access-date=22 August 2010}}</ref>]]

World War II, like World War I, brought new life to the airline industry. Many airlines in the Allied countries were flush from lease contracts to the military, and foresaw a future explosive demand for civil air transport, for both passengers and cargo. They were eager to invest in the newly emerging flagships of air travel such as the [[Boeing Stratocruiser]], [[Lockheed Constellation]], and [[Douglas DC-6]]. Most of these new aircraft were based on American bombers such as the [[B-29]], which had spearheaded research into new technologies such as [[pressurization]]. Most offered increased efficiency from both added speed and greater payload.<ref>{{Cite web|title=history of airliners 1950 to 1959|url=http://www.century-of-flight.net/Aviation%20history/airliners/2nd%20upload/timeline%2050s1.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517084004/http://www.century-of-flight.net/Aviation%20history/airliners/2nd%20upload/timeline%2050s1.htm|archive-date=17 May 2008|access-date=14 October 2017|website=www.century-of-flight.net}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jal.com/en/history/aircraft/60s/pick_61-70_01.html|title=History of JAL {{!}} DC-8-32|website=www.jal.com|access-date=14 October 2017}}</ref>

In the 1950s, the [[De Havilland Comet]], [[Boeing 707]], [[Douglas DC-8]], and [[Sud Aviation Caravelle]] became the first flagships of the Jet Age in the West, while the Eastern bloc had [[Tupolev Tu-104]] and [[Tupolev Tu-124]] in the fleets of state-owned carriers such as Czechoslovak [[Czech Airlines|ČSA]], Soviet [[Aeroflot]] and East-German [[Interflug]]. The [[Vickers Viscount]] and [[Lockheed L-188 Electra]] inaugurated turboprop transport.

On 4 October 1958, [[British Overseas Airways Corporation]] started [[transatlantic flight]]s between [[Heathrow Airport|London Heathrow]] and [[New York-Idlewild Airport|New York Idlewild]] with a Comet 4, and [[Pan Am]] followed on 26 October with a Boeing 707 service between New York and Paris.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/analysis-how-the-jet-travel-era-began-in-earnest-449222/ |title= How the jet travel era began in earnest – 60 years ago |date= 4 October 2018 |author= Max Kingsley Jones |work= Flightglobal}}</ref>

The next big boost for the airlines would come in the 1970s, when the [[Boeing 747]], [[McDonnell Douglas DC-10]], and [[Lockheed L-1011]] inaugurated [[widebody]] ("jumbo jet") service, which is still the standard in international travel.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-747-first-flight-47years-ago-2016-2|title=The Boeing 747 jumbo jet changed air travel with this momentous event 47 years ago|work=Business Insider|access-date=14 October 2017|language=en}}</ref> The [[Tupolev Tu-144]] and its Western counterpart, [[Concorde]], made supersonic travel a reality.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.history.com/news/the-cold-war-race-to-build-the-concorde|title=The Cold War Race to Build the Concorde|work=HISTORY.com|access-date=14 October 2017}}</ref> Concorde first flew in 1969 and operated through 2003. In 1972, [[Airbus]] began producing Europe's most commercially successful line of airliners to date. The added efficiencies for these aircraft were often not in speed, but in passenger capacity, payload, and range. Airbus also features modern electronic cockpits that were common across their aircraft to enable pilots to fly multiple models with minimal cross-training.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/america-by-air/online/jetage/jetage17.cfm|title = The Computer Revolution in the Cockpit &#124; America by Air}}</ref>