This is a list of air cargo, airmail and airlift related events as well as a summary for the decade 1920–1929.
Overview Civil developments Early airlines appeared worldwide, often with airmail as a main driver for the business and routes. Many new routes were tried and scheduled. Landmark long-distance and overseas flights were performed, demonstrating the potential of air travel, airmail and air cargo, while also raising public awareness of aviation's possibilities.
In Europe, the foundations of modern air cargo and airmail were established, driven by surplus aircraft and personnel from World War I. Former military bombers such as the Farman F.60 Goliath were converted for civilian use, carrying both passengers and freight.
In the United States, airmail as well as commercial air freight services expanded over the continent. The Kelly Act (1925) triggered a spate of airline foundations and reorganizations in the U.S. because private companies could now bid for airmail routes. Commercial air cargo volumes in the United States saw explosive, near-exponential growth in the late 1920s.
Aircraft reliability improved in the 1920s, enabling longer scheduled services and even overwater flights, but capacity for cargo remained limited. The focus was largely on light, high-value items such as letters, newspapers, diplomatic documents, medical supplies, and luxury goods. Cargo handling was rudimentary: there were no standard containers or mechanised loading systems, and many airports were simple ex-military airfields. The introduction of visual airway beacons and the start of the transition to radio-based navigation (low-frequency radio ranges, NDB/RDF developments) within the same decade, were developments that gave a crucial advance making night and all-weather airmail / air cargo operations more reliable.
By the end of the 1920s, although air transport was still far from replacing rail or sea freight, it had proven itself as a rapid conduit for crucial goods. The decade laid critical groundwork: operational models combining cargo and passenger services, nascent air-freight networks, and more mature aircraft technology. These developments set the stage for the expansion of international air cargo in the decades that followed.
Military developments Military air transport roles continued to shape early civil routes, often to colonial destinations: military squadrons and aircraft (e.g., RAF aircraft and later larger types such as the Vickers Vernon) were used for early airmail routes (for example Cairo–Baghdad service), and some military-style aircraft were repurposed for civilian mail/cargo duties.
Beginning with Italy in 1927, several countries experimented with using parachutes to drop armed soldiers behind enemy lines, a first step towards later military airborne/airlift operational capabilities.
Events
1920
Undated – (Cuba) First airmail flight in Cuba by Cuban aviator Jaime González. Undated – (United Kingdom – France) Instone Air Line transports newspapers to the French Riviera during the railway strike of 1920. May 17 – (England – Netherlands) First airmail from England to the Netherlands – the first KLM flight (carrying airmail) arrives at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands from London, with a rented De Havilland DH-16. Jerry Shaw was the first pilot on this route. This route is still operational today. July 5 – (Netherlands – England) First airmail from the Netherlands to England by KLM pilot Hinchcliffe with the Airco DH.9 G-EAMX. KLM signed an agreement with the Dutch Royal Mail (signed on March 29, 1920) thus securing the transportation of airmail between the two cities. May – (United states) The United States Post Offices transcontinental airmail service (opened between New York and Chicago in September 1919) reached Omaha, Nebraska. September 8 – (United states) The United States Post Offices transcontinental airmail service final leg is added, across the Rocky Mountains from Omaha, Nebraska to Sacramento, California. Because flying at night is dangerous, the mail is carried along the route by train during the hours of darkness. The route significantly reduced coast-to-coast mail transit time compared to rail: A train alone needed 108 hours to cross the continental United States coast to coast, but this mix of air and rail decreased the time to 78 hours.Jensen, Richard, "The Suicide Club", Aviation History, May 2017, p. 52. October 15 – (United states) First U.S. contract international air mail route, from Seattle, Washington, to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada is awarded to Aviator Edward Hubbard. He will employ the Boeing B-1 flying boat on the route.Daniel, Clifton, Chronicle of the 20th Century, Mount Kisco, New York: Chronicle Publications, 1987, , p. 272. November 1 – (United states) The United States Post Office awards a contract for international air mail to Aeromarine West Indies Airways.
1921
Undated – (United Kingdom) The world's first cargo handling warehouse opens at Croydon airport in South London, facilitating the handling and storage of national and international goods transported by air via the airport. Undated – (United States) First U.S. airmail night flights. Concerned that the transcontinental U.S. Air Mail service established in September 1920 had turned out to be little faster – although much more expensive – than train-only service because the United States lacks a system of lighted navigation beacons, meaning that air mail pilots could not fly safely at night and trains had to carry air mail along the route during the hours of darkness, Assistant Postmaster General of the United States Otto Praeger stages four experimental day-and-night air mail flights as a publicity stunt before incoming President Warren G. Harding can take office on March 4 and appoint his successor. The flights consist of two eastbound and two westbound trips between New York City and San Francisco, California. The two westbound flights become stranded in Dubois, Pennsylvania, and Chicago, Illinois. The first eastbound flight ends in tragedy when the de Havilland DH-4B carrying the mail stalls and crashes after takeoff from Elko, Nevada. The only real success is by the second eastbound flight, whose pilot manages to fly at night from North Platte, Nebraska, to Chicago.Jensen, Richard, "The Suicide Club," Aviation History, May 2017, p. 64. Undated – (United Kingdom) The world's first airline to transport a racehorse is said to be Instone Air Line in this year. Instone is probably also the world's first airline to transport live animals because of another transport: a grouse from Scotland to London; undated but between 1919 and 1924). June 23 – (Egypt – Iraq) An air mail service between Cairo and Baghdad begins with an Airco DH.9 and Airco DH.10 Amiens aircraft of the Royal Air Force's No. 216 Squadron. Because more seats and cargo room were needed, the Vickers Vernon took over the service, due to its larger fuselage, which included an enclosed cabin for the comfort of up to six passengers and for protecting the mail. December 5 – (Australia) First regular scheduled (airmail + passengers) air service in Australia by Western Australian Airways (Norman Brearley). Western Australian Airways (established Dec 1921) won a subsidised airmail/passenger contract and inaugurated services that same month.
1922
November 2 – (Australia) Qantas started scheduled service between Charleville and Cloncurry after the first major air contract was landed in November 1922, its first regular airmail/passenger route. November 15 – (Japan) First scheduled passenger / cargo airline services in Japan, linking Sakai, Osaka, and Tokushima. It was the Sakai-Takamatsu route, established by Inoue Choichi's Japan Air Transport Research Institute. It operated three round-trip flights per week, handling both passengers and cargo, with a one-way fare of 40 yen.
1923
April – (United Kingdom / Iraq) Aircraft of the British Royal Air Force's Iraq Command flew 280 Sikh troops from Kingarban to Kirkuk in the first British air trooping airlift operation. May 2–3 – (United States) First U.S. nonstop transcontinental flight – Lts. Oakley G. Kelly and John A. Macready flew a Fokker T-2 nonstop across the U.S. (Roosevelt Field → San Diego area), showing the potential for long-range point-to-point air transport (implications for transcontinental mail/cargo routing and for heavier transport aircraft design). May 23 – (Belgium) Sabena started with an airmail / air cargo flight the same day it is founded, flying a De Havilland DH.9 from Haren, Belgium via Ostend to Lympne, United Kingdom.
1924
February – (United States) First air mail in Alaska is flown by Carl Ben Eielson from Fairbanks to McGrath in under 3 hours, a distance dog sleds took up to 30 days to cover. Apr 30 – Regular Belfast–Liverpool airmail flights are inaugurated by Alan Cobham, using de Havilland DH.50 craft. July 1 – (United States) First U.S. regular airmail with continuous day-and-night services commence, linking Chicago, Illinois, with Cheyenne, Wyoming. September 11 – {Canada} First Canadian regular airmail service begins, with Laurentide Air Services linking Haileybury, Ontario, with Rouyn, Quebec. October 1 – November 24 – (Netherlands – Indonesia) KLM's first intercontinental test flight to the Dutch East Indies, an intercontinental proving flight from Amsterdam toward Batavia (Jakarta) using a single-engine Fokker F.VII (registration H-NACC) carrying 281 pieces of mail.
1925
February 2 – (United States) Air Mail Act of 1925 (Kelly Act) passed. U.S. Congress passed the Contract Air Mail Act, permitting the Post Office to contract private companies to carry airmail. This law is widely seen as the legal/financial trigger for commercial airlines; it created the market (paid mail routes) that allowed private carriers and manufacturers to grow. April 13 – (United States) First U.S. scheduled air freight service. Henry Ford's Ford Air Transport Service begins scheduled freight flights carrying parts and mail between factories in Detroit and Chicago. April 20 – (Japan) First scheduled airmail services in Japan. Seeing the success of the scheduled passenger/cargo airlines started in 1922, the Ministry of Communications began experimental air transport of mail using these routes. July 1 – (United States) The United States Post Office Department inaugurates 24-hour transcontinental air mail service. Previously, mailplanes had not flown at night and trains had carried the mail during the hours of darkness, but the completion of a coast-to-coast system of lighted beacons has allowed night flying to become practical along the entire route. The day-and-night flying allows the transcontinental air mail service to deliver mail notably faster than train-only service for the first time.Jensen, Richard, "The Suicide Club," Aviation History, May 2017, pp. 63, 64, 65. November 25 – (United Kingdom-Africa) Imperial Airways starts a route proving flight from London to Cape Town and back.
1926
February 12 – (United states) Straying off course while flying a Curtiss Carrier Pigeon for the United States Post Office on the overnight airmail delivery route from Chicago to New York City, pioneering American pilot Art Smith dies when he crashes into a grove of trees near Montpelier, Ohio. He is the second U.S. overnight mail service pilot to die on duty. February 15 – (United States) First commercial contract airmail flights start after the Post Office began turning airmail routes over to private carriers under the 1925 "Kelly Act" (Contract Air Mail / CAM) legislation. April 15 – (United States) Charles A. Lindbergh's first contract airmail flight (CAM-2) from Chicago to St. Louis while working as a contract airmail pilot.