Sublime

IN 1914, THE WORLD’S FIRST FIXED-WING COMMERCIAL flight departed St. Petersburg, Florida, crossed the bay, and landed in Tampa 20 minutes later, a distance of about 23 miles. It had enough room for a single passenger, the former mayor of St. Petersburg, Abram C. Pheil, who paid $400 for the privilege—over $10,000 in 2019 dollars.

Ce printemps 1959, Romain Gary se rend à Paris. Il emprunte pour la première fois le vol direct New York-Orly opéré par la Pan Am. Quatorze heures en Boeing 707, contre cinq jours par la mer, cette nouvelle ligne aérienne révolutionne déjà la façon de voyager et de parcourir le monde.

Trippe had discovered what might be called the First Rule of Airline Economics: If a plane is going to take off anyway—once the fuel is purchased and the pilot paid and the interest rendered on the money borrowed to buy the plane in the first place—any paying passenger or payload recruited to the flight is almost pure profit. The fare paid by the l