The Oldest Airlines in the World Still Flying (2026)

The oldest airline in the world still flying is KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, founded in The Hague on October 7, 1919. It turned 107 on October 7, 2026, and it still flies under the name it was born with.

Colombia’s Avianca is second, two months younger, and Australia’s Qantas is third, founded in November 1920. Below them sit 13 more airlines that date from before 1933 and still sell tickets as of October 2026, ranked by the founding date each airline counts from.

The list is also shorter than most versions online. Czech Airlines, a fixture of every “oldest airlines” ranking, stopped flying under its own code in October 2024, and Lufthansa’s 100th birthday in 2026 comes with an asterisk the airline itself acknowledges.

Rank	Airline	Country	Counts from	Founded as
1	KLM	Netherlands	Oct 7, 1919	Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij
2	Avianca	Colombia	Dec 5, 1919	SCADTA
3	Qantas	Australia	Nov 16, 1920	Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services
4	Aeroflot	Russia	Mar 17, 1923	Dobrolet
5	Finnair	Finland	Nov 1, 1923	Aero O/Y
6	Delta Air Lines	United States	Mar 2, 1925	Huff Daland Dusters
7	United Airlines	United States	Apr 6, 1926	Varney Air Lines
8	American Airlines	United States	Apr 15, 1926	Robertson Aircraft Corporation
9	Iberia	Spain	Jun 28, 1927	Iberia, Compañía Aérea de Transporte
10	LOT Polish Airlines	Poland	Dec 29, 1928	Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT
11	Hawaiian Airlines	United States	Jan 30, 1929	Inter-Island Airways
12	LATAM	Chile	Mar 5, 1929	Línea Aeropostal Santiago-Arica
13	Cubana	Cuba	Oct 8, 1929	Compañía Nacional Cubana de Aviación Curtiss
14	EgyptAir	Egypt	1932	Misr Airwork
15	Alaska Airlines	United States	1932	McGee Airways
16	Air India	India	Oct 15, 1932	Tata Air Services

1. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (1919)

Eight investors signed KLM into existence at a notary’s office in The Hague on October 7, 1919. Its full name was Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij voor Nederland en Koloniën, the Royal Aviation Company for the Netherlands and Colonies.

It did not fly for another seven months. On May 17, 1920, pilot Jerry Shaw flew a leased de Havilland DH-16 from London to Amsterdam, the first KLM service.

KLM wins both ways: it was founded first and flew first, and KLM describes itself as “the oldest airline in the world still operating under its original name.” The royal word in that name has its own odd history, covered in our guide to what airline names actually stand for.

2. Avianca (1919)

Avianca traces its history to December 5, 1919, when SCADTA was founded by deed in Barranquilla, Colombia. That makes it 59 days younger than KLM.

SCADTA’s first flight came on September 5, 1920, a Junkers F 13 carrying mail from Barranquilla to Puerto Colombia. The Avianca name arrived on June 14, 1940, when SCADTA merged with SACO to form Aerovías Nacionales de Colombia.

Avianca calls itself “the oldest airline in the Americas and the second oldest in the world,” and the dates back it up. It now flies as part of Abra Group, alongside Brazil’s Gol.

3. Qantas (1920)

Qantas was registered on November 16, 1920, with the papers signed in Brisbane’s Gresham Hotel and the company based in Winton, in outback Queensland. The name is an acronym: Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services.

Operations moved to Longreach in early 1921, and scheduled services began in 1922. On November 2, 1922, outback pioneer Alexander Kennedy, holder of ticket No. 1, boarded the first scheduled passenger and mail flight for the Longreach to Cloncurry leg.

Qantas bills itself as “the longest continuously operating airline in the world,” a claim about uninterrupted operation rather than birth date. By founding date it is third, about 11 months behind Avianca.

4. Aeroflot (1923)

Aeroflot counts its history from March 17, 1923, when the joint-stock company Dobrolet was established. The Aeroflot name was adopted on February 25, 1932, when Soviet civil aviation was folded into one organization.

You will sometimes see February 9, 1923, quoted instead. Aeroflot treats that as the birthday of Russian civil aviation as a whole, not of the airline.

It still flies, but inside a shrinking map. Shut out of European Union, UK and US airspace, Russian airlines were expected to fly nonstop to just 32 countries in summer 2026.

5. Finnair (1923)

Finnair was founded as Aero O/Y on November 1, 1923, and flew its first service on March 20, 1924: a Junkers F 13 floatplane carrying mail from Helsinki to Tallinn.

Aero began using the Finnair name in its marketing in 1953, but the official change did not come until 1968. With Czech Airlines gone, Finnair and Aeroflot are the two 1923 survivors on this list.

6. Delta Air Lines (1925)

Delta’s history begins on March 2, 1925, when Huff Daland Dusters was incorporated in Macon, Georgia. It was not an airline at all: the Delta Flight Museum calls it “the world’s first aerial crop-dusting company.”

The company moved to Monroe, Louisiana, that July. Its first passenger flights came on June 17, 1929, on a route from Dallas to Jackson, Mississippi, by way of Shreveport and Monroe.

Delta celebrated its centennial in 2025 as “the first U.S. airline to turn 100,” which is true by founding date. It is a different claim from being the oldest US airline to carry passengers, which is why the next two entries argue the point.

7. United Airlines (1926)

United counts from April 6, 1926, when Varney Air Lines flew a Laird Swallow biplane loaded with airmail from Pasco, Washington, to Elko, Nevada, by way of Boise. United Air Lines was formed in 1931 by United Aircraft and Transport, which had bought Varney the year before.

United marked its 100th birthday on April 6, 2026. Travel writer Gary Leff of View from the Wing argues United is the real oldest US airline, because it was flying airline service, mail first, while Delta was still a crop-dusting business.

8. American Airlines (1926)

Nine days after United, on April 15, 1926, a DH-4 biplane left Chicago for St. Louis carrying mail for Robertson Aircraft Corporation. At the controls was Robertson’s chief pilot, Charles Lindbergh.

Robertson was one of the carriers rolled into American Airways in 1930, renamed American Airlines in 1934. American celebrated its own centennial on April 15, 2026, so two of the three big US carriers turned 100 within nine days of each other this year. Our comparison of Delta vs United vs American covers how the three stack up today.

9. Iberia (1927)

Iberia, Compañía Aérea de Transporte, was formally founded on June 28, 1927. On December 14 that year, King Alfonso XIII watched the opening of its Madrid to Barcelona route, which Iberia describes as Spain’s first commercial air route.

Iberia still flies under the name it was founded with, and it turns 100 in June 2027.

10. LOT Polish Airlines (1928)

The Polish government created LOT on December 29, 1928, by merging and nationalizing two private carriers, Aero and Aerolot. It began operating on January 1, 1929, which is why some lists give 1929.

The founding date is the earlier one, which puts LOT about a month ahead of Hawaiian Airlines.

11. Hawaiian Airlines (1929)

Inter-Island Airways was incorporated on January 30, 1929. It began with sightseeing flights on October 6, 1929, and its first scheduled flight, Honolulu to Hilo, followed on November 11.

Hawaiian now carries an asterisk of its own. Alaska Air Group bought it in 2024, the two airlines received a single operating certificate on October 29, 2025, and on April 22, 2026, the HA flight code, in continuous use since 1929, was replaced by Alaska’s AS.

Hawaiian still flies as a separate brand under its own name, so it stays on the list.

12. LATAM Airlines (1929)

LATAM began operations on March 5, 1929, as Línea Aeropostal Santiago-Arica, founded by Commodore Arturo Merino Benítez. It became Línea Aérea Nacional, or LAN, in 1932.

The modern name hides the age. LAN Airlines S.A. renamed itself LATAM Airlines Group ahead of its 2012 merger with Brazil’s TAM, so the company that flies today is the legal successor of Chile’s 1929 state airline.

13. Cubana de Aviación (1929)

Cubana was established on October 8, 1929, as Compañía Nacional Cubana de Aviación Curtiss, at first a flying school and charter operator. Scheduled services began in 1930.

It is the frailest entry here. Most of its small fleet is inactive, and its summer 2026 schedule from Havana listed a handful of weekly domestic flights to Nueva Gerona, Santiago de Cuba and Holguín. But it is still flying, which is more than several bigger names can say.

14. EgyptAir (1932)

EgyptAir was founded in 1932 as Misr Airwork. The airline marks the founding in May, though some histories give June, and passenger operations began in 1933.

That makes it the only airline from Africa or the Arab world on this list.

15. Alaska Airlines (1932)

Alaska Airlines dates to 1932, when Linious “Mac” McGee and his partner Harvey Barnhill started advertising charter flights in Anchorage. McGee took over later that year and named the business McGee Airways.

It merged into Star Air Service in 1934 and took the Alaska Airlines name in 1944. Ninety-four years on, the Anchorage bush operation owns Hawaiian, three years its senior.

16. Air India (1932)

On October 15, 1932, J.R.D. Tata flew a de Havilland Puss Moth from Karachi to Bombay, the first flight of Tata Air Services. The airline became Air India in 1946 and was nationalized in 1953.

Its story came full circle on January 27, 2022, when the Tata Group took back control of the airline its founder had started almost 90 years earlier.

Next in Line: Four More Airlines Born Before 1942

Just outside the top 16 are four airlines that most readers would recognize, each still flying under a name its founders would know.

Turkish Airlines (May 20, 1933). It started as the State Airlines Administration with 30 employees and five aircraft, and took the Turkish Airlines name in 1955.

Air France (August 30, 1933). It was formed by merging Air Orient, Air Union, Lignes Farman and CIDNA, with Aéropostale joining later. It was officially inaugurated at Le Bourget on October 7, 1933.

Aer Lingus (April 15, 1936). Ireland’s airline flew its first service on May 27, 1936, from Baldonnel to Bristol in a de Havilland DH.84 Dragon named Iolar.

Philippine Airlines (February 26, 1941). Its first flight, on March 15, 1941, carried five passengers from Manila to Baguio in a Beechcraft Model 18. It is the oldest airline in Asia still flying under its original name; Air India flew earlier, but under a different one.

The Old Airlines That Stopped Flying

Many “oldest airlines” lists were written years ago and never updated. These are the names that still appear on them but no longer belong.

Czech Airlines (1923). ČSA was founded on October 6, 1923, and flew its last flight under its own OK code, Paris to Prague, on October 26, 2024. Its routes are now flown by Smartwings under the QS code, a few aircraft still wear ČSA paint, and Turkey’s Pegasus Airlines completed its takeover of ČSA and Smartwings on October 1, 2026.

Danish Air Lines, or DDL (1918). Founded on October 29, 1918, it was older than KLM. It stopped flying on its own and became a holding company inside SAS in 1950, and SAS itself was founded in 1946.

Mexicana (1921). The original Mexicana was founded on July 12, 1921, and stopped flying on August 28, 2010. The Mexicana flying since December 26, 2023, is a new state-owned airline that bought the old brand.

Sabena (1923) and Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano (1925). Belgium’s Sabena was declared bankrupt on November 7, 2001. Bolivia’s LAB suspended all flights on April 1, 2007.

Pan Am (1927). The most famous airline name of all ceased operations on December 4, 1991. We tell that story in full in what happened to Pan Am.

The Contested Claims: Lufthansa, Air Serbia and TAROM

Three airlines celebrate founding dates that would put them on the list, but each has a gap between the company that founded it and the airline flying today.

Air Serbia traces its roots to Aeroput, founded in Belgrade on June 17, 1927. But Aeroput stopped flying in April 1941, and the state airline JAT was formed as a new company in 1947, so the line is broken.

Romania’s TAROM traces its history to the first Romanian air transport organizations of 1920. TAROM itself was established on September 18, 1954, after a chain of reorganizations, so 1920 is heritage rather than an unbroken company history.

For the wider story of how scheduled flying began before any of these airlines existed, see when commercial aviation actually started.

FAQ

Which is the oldest airline in the world?

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is the oldest airline in the world still flying. It was founded in The Hague on October 7, 1919, flew its first service on May 17, 1920, and still operates under its original name. Avianca of Colombia is second, founded as SCADTA on December 5, 1919.

What are the 10 oldest airlines still flying?

By founding date, the 10 oldest airlines still flying in 2026 are KLM (1919), Avianca (1919), Qantas (1920), Aeroflot (1923), Finnair (1923), Delta (1925), United (1926), American (1926), Iberia (1927) and LOT Polish Airlines (1928). Older lists often include Czech Airlines, which stopped flying under its own code in October 2024.

What is the oldest US airline still operating?

It depends on what you count. Delta is the oldest by founding date, March 2, 1925, but it began as a crop-dusting company and carried its first passengers in 1929. United has flown airline service, starting with airmail, since April 6, 1926, and American since April 15, 1926.

What is the oldest airline in Asia?

Philippine Airlines, founded in 1941, is the oldest airline in Asia still flying under its original name. Air India is older by lineage, tracing back to Tata Air Services’ first flight on October 15, 1932, but it took the Air India name in 1946.

Is Czech Airlines still flying?

No. Czech Airlines flew its last flight under its own OK code on October 26, 2024, and its routes are now flown by Smartwings under the QS code, though a few aircraft still carry ČSA colors. Pegasus Airlines completed its takeover of ČSA and Smartwings on October 1, 2026.

Is Lufthansa 100 years old?

Lufthansa celebrated 100 years in 2026, counting from Deutsche Luft Hansa, founded on January 6, 1926. The original company was liquidated after the Second World War, and today’s Lufthansa was founded in 1953 and began scheduled flights in 1955, which Lufthansa itself calls the legal foundation of the current airline.

Which famous old airlines no longer exist?

Pan Am ceased operations on December 4, 1991, Belgium’s Sabena was declared bankrupt on November 7, 2001, and the original Mexicana stopped flying on August 28, 2010. Czech Airlines, founded in 1923, stopped flying under its own code in October 2024.

Is Qantas older than KLM?

No. Qantas was registered on November 16, 1920, more than a year after KLM’s founding on October 7, 1919. Qantas describes itself as the longest continuously operating airline in the world, which is a claim about uninterrupted operation rather than founding date.