118 Fun Facts About Airline

Which airline, founded in 1919, is the oldest still operating under its original name?

KLM has flown under the same name since 1919, keeping it even after merging with a French rival in 2004; founder Albert Plesman ran the airline until his death in 1953.

The K in KLM stands for the Dutch word Koninklijke, which means what?

Royal: the airline was granted the title before it had flown a single flight, which is why it trades in English as KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.

Qantas's wartime Double Sunrise flights crossed which ocean non-stop?

Indian: the flying boats took more than a day to reach Ceylon without landing, so everyone aboard watched the sun come up twice, which gave the service its name.

The acronym QANTAS originally stood for what?

Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services was registered in 1920 and spent its first months selling joy rides and charter flights in the outback before scheduled services began in 1922.

By what nickname is Qantas popularly known?

The Flying Kangaroo dates from 1944, when Qantas first painted a kangaroo, copied from the one on Australia's penny coin, on its wartime Liberator aircraft.

DELAG, the world's first airline, was founded in Germany in 1909 to carry passengers aboard what kind of aircraft?

Airships: DELAG was set up to give Zeppelin's craft a market while army orders were uncertain, and it flew more than 34,000 passengers before the First World War.

Which US airline began in the 1920s as Huff Daland Dusters, a crop-dusting outfit spraying Southern cotton fields?

Delta Air Lines took its name in 1928 from the Mississippi Delta region it served, after C. E. Woolman raised the money to buy the crop-dusting firm in Monroe, Louisiana.

Which airline was the unofficial US flag carrier before it collapsed in 1991?

Pan Am never recovered from the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, which helped push it into bankruptcy, and its last flight landed on 4 December 1991.

Pan Am used which word for its aircraft names and radio callsigns?

Clipper was the airline's radio callsign and the prefix for every aircraft name, a legacy of its 1930s flying boats such as the China Clipper.

Who founded Pan American Airways and led it for four decades?

Juan Trippe ran the airline until 1968 and pushed its planemaker into building the first jumbo jet by asking for an airliner two and a half times the size of its biggest jet.

Which route system, adopted by one US airline as early as 1955, is now used by most of the world's big carriers?

Hub-and-spoke sends flights through one central airport where passengers change planes, so an airline can link many cities with far fewer routes, which is why most big carriers adopted it.

As of 2025, which ultra-low-cost carrier flies more passengers than any other airline in Europe?

Ryanair began in 1985 with a single 15-seat turboprop on one route; thirty years later it was carrying more international passengers than any airline in the world.

Which Gulf airline's name has appeared on the shirts of Arsenal, Real Madrid and AC Milan?

Emirates began in 1985 with two aircraft leased from Pakistan's national airline; two decades later it could afford to put its name on Arsenal's stadium as well as the shirts.

Which double-deck airliner does Dubai's biggest airline operate in greater numbers than any other carrier?

Airbus A380 production ended in 2021 after the airline, by far the type's biggest customer, cut back its final order.

Founded in 1997, which grouping was the world's first global airline partnership network?

Star Alliance began with five airlines from three continents pooling their networks, so a traveller could connect between them and earn miles on all of them.

Which European airline was a founding member of the first global airline alliance in 1997?

Lufthansa founded the alliance with four partners, among them Scandinavian Airlines, which defected to a rival alliance in 2024.

American Airlines and British Airways were among the five founders of which airline alliance in 1999?

Oneworld lost a founder within 16 months of its launch: Canadian Airlines left after being bought by Air Canada, a member of a rival alliance.

Which frequent-flyer program came first in May 1981, with a rival airline copying it within days?

AAdvantage opened with members already on its books: American combed its booking computers for its most frequent flyers and enrolled them before they had asked.

Ellen Church, the first airline stewardess in 1930, had originally applied to the airline for which job?

Pilot: Ellen Church was a qualified flyer, but the airline would not put a woman at the controls, so she pitched the idea of cabin crew instead and flew as one of the first eight.

What qualification did the earliest stewardesses have to hold?

Registered nurse: the airline reckoned that having nurses aboard would calm a public still afraid of flying, and it hired eight of them in 1930.

Which airliner was the first to be called a "jumbo jet"?

The Boeing 747 was designed to carry so many passengers that the cost of flying each one would fall by about 30%, the target its first airline customer set.

Which airliner's name was chosen by a worldwide public vote in 2003?

Dreamliner, the Boeing 787's name, topped a poll of about 500,000 votes from more than 160 countries; the jet replaced Boeing's scrapped Sonic Cruiser, trading speed for fuel efficiency.

Why does the first jumbo jet have its cockpit in a hump?

For a nose cargo door: its designers expected supersonic jets to take over passenger travel, so the nose had to swing open for a second career hauling freight.

The Everett plant, built in the 1960s for the first jumbo jet, holds which distinction?

The world's largest building by volume went up so fast that the first jumbo was being assembled inside while the factory was still being built around it.

Which Asian airline flew the first passengers on the world's largest airliner, the superjumbo, in 2007?

Singapore Airlines sold the seats on that first flight to Sydney in an online charity auction, with passengers paying from $560 to $100,380.

Singapore's national airline has its home base at which airport?

Changi opened in 1981 because the old airport at Paya Lebar was hemmed in by the growing city and had no room to expand.

Besides British Airways, which airline bought and flew its own fleet of Concordes?

Air France and British Airways launched supersonic services on the same day in January 1976, and no other airline ever bought the jet.

Which part of Concorde was lowered for take-off and landing?

Nose: the long needle tip that kept Concorde sleek at supersonic speed would have hidden the runway from its pilots, so it drooped whenever they needed to see the ground.

Aer Lingus pilots identify themselves to air-traffic control with which radio callsign?

Shamrock is spoken on the radio in place of the airline's name, so a controller calls flight 105 'Shamrock one-zero-five'; the same emblem is painted on the tails of Aer Lingus aircraft.

British Airways uses which radio callsign, inherited from BOAC?

Speedbird, the callsign British Airways inherited from BOAC, comes from the stylised bird logo Imperial Airways adopted in 1932.

As of 2025, the world's longest scheduled passenger flight links Singapore with which US city?

New York: the airline dropped its non-stops to nearby Newark in 2013 as too costly, then revived them in 2018 with a longer-range Airbus that has no economy seats.

Which airline boss, chief executive of Ryanair from 1994, is known for provocative publicity stunts?

Michael O'Leary once announced that passengers would pay to use the toilet on board, then admitted the idea was a cheap publicity stunt.

Southwest has flown from which Chicago airport since 1985, making it one of the airline's main bases?

Midway fitted Southwest's habit of flying point to point between smaller, less crowded airports, where it could turn a plane around in about ten minutes.

Delta Air Lines has its home base at which airport, for years the world's busiest for passengers?

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta became Delta's home when the airline moved its headquarters there from Louisiana in 1941; the airport has handled more passengers than any other almost every year since 1998.

The airline widely credited as the first to fly scheduled aeroplane services began in 1914 in which country?

The United States: the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line began on 1 January 1914, and its first passenger, a former mayor, paid $400 at auction for the 23-minute hop across Tampa Bay.

Ryanair has its headquarters in Swords, on the edge of which capital city?

Dublin is home to Ryanair's head office, yet the Irish airline's biggest base is across the water at London Stansted.

Which airline's Flight 1549 ditched safely in the Hudson River in January 2009?

US Airways Flight 1549, an Airbus A320 flown by Captain Chesley Sullenberger, ditched in the Hudson River on 15 January 2009 after striking geese; all 155 aboard survived.

Who played both Live Aids via Concorde?

Phil Collins played Wembley, took a helicopter to Heathrow, crossed the Atlantic by Concorde and reached Philadelphia by another helicopter in time to perform again.

First-class passengers on the largest jets of Dubai's biggest airline can enjoy which onboard luxury?

A shower: each passenger gets just five minutes of running water, counted down by a traffic-light gauge, because every litre has to be carried aloft as extra weight.

Singapore's national airline split in 1972 from a carrier shared with which neighbour?

Malaysia and Singapore had run one airline together, but their governments wanted different things from it, so in 1972 its fleet and routes were divided into two national carriers.

Which airline trade body assigns the airline codes used on tickets and in flight numbers?

The International Air Transport Association is the airlines' own club, and for decades its conferences also fixed international fares, which is why critics called it a cartel.

Southwest's first flight attendants wore which eye-catching uniform in 1971?

Hot pants, worn with go-go boots, were part of the airline's cheeky early marketing, meant to get a tiny Texas newcomer noticed.

The Qantas kangaroo emblem first appeared in 1944 on the airline's new service to which city?

BOAC crews took over at Karachi for the leg to London.

Which low-cost subsidiary did Qantas launch in 2004?

Jetstar was created as Qantas's answer to the threat from budget rival Virgin Blue, and began flying in May 2004.

Which airline, strong on routes across the Pacific, did Delta buy in 2008?

Northwest Airlines brought Delta a Tokyo hub and its long-established Pacific routes; the Northwest name vanished from flights in January 2010.

Which US airline used the slogan 'Fly the Friendly Skies'?

United Airlines introduced the line, written by the Leo Burnett agency, in 1965, later dropped it, and brought it back in 2013 after merging with Continental.

Southwest was established in 1967 by Rollin King and which lawyer, later its long-time CEO?

Herb Kelleher spent four years fighting rival airlines in court before the first plane flew, deferring his legal fees and paying the court costs out of his own pocket.

Southwest began in 1971 by linking the three largest cities in Texas: Dallas, Houston and which other?

San Antonio completed the triangle; rival airlines kept the plan tied up in court for years, and the first flights left only after wins in the Texas and US supreme courts.

Southwest's Christmas 2022 meltdown was blamed largely on what?

Outdated scheduling software lost track of where crews were once a winter storm hit, stranding some two million travellers; regulators later fined the airline a record $140 million.

What is Southwest's stock-exchange ticker symbol?

LUV, the airline's NYSE ticker, plays on the name of its original Dallas home airport and its heart-themed branding.

How did Southwest settle its 1992 'Just Plane Smart' trademark dispute with Stevens Aviation?

An arm-wrestling match, billed as 'Malice in Dallas', decided it in March 1992; the airline's CEO lost, but Stevens Aviation's Kurt Herwald let both firms keep the slogan.

The 1979 Wright Amendment restricted Southwest's home-airport flights to protect which airport?

Dallas/Fort Worth International was shielded by the law, named for Fort Worth congressman Jim Wright, which at first limited flights from Southwest's Dallas base to Texas and four neighbouring states; the last limits went in 2014.

Which airline did Southwest buy in 2011, flying its last flight under the old name in December 2014?

AirTran Airways brought its buyer its first foreign destinations, in Mexico and the Caribbean; the last AirTran flight landed on 28 December 2014.

Until January 2026, Southwest stood out among big US airlines for which boarding practice?

Open seating let passengers line up by boarding group and take any free seat; Southwest ended the practice after decades when assigned seats began on 27 January 2026.

Southwest's frequent-flyer scheme launched in 1987 as The Company Club and was renamed what in 1996?

Rapid Rewards, the name adopted in 1996, awarded credits per flight flown rather than by distance until a 2011 overhaul switched it to fare-based points.

Which bird appears, encircled and in flight, on Lufthansa's logo, first drawn in 1918?

A crane was drawn by Otto Firle in 1918 for an earlier German airline; today's Lufthansa, founded in 1953, bought the old name and emblem so the tradition could carry on.

The airline that became Virgin Atlantic was first planned in the early 1980s to link London with which remote territory?

The Falkland Islands were the first target, but the runway at Port Stanley was too short, so the airline's maiden flight in June 1984 went to Newark instead.

Which entrepreneur founded easyJet in 1995 with start-up money from his father?

Stelios Haji-Ioannou made bright orange the signature colour of his 'easy' companies, and in 2004 squared up to the phone firm Orange over who could use it.

Which state airline broke up into some 400 regional carriers in the early 1990s?

Aeroflot's fragments were nicknamed 'Babyflots'; by 1994 so many were bankrupt and unsafe that travellers were being warned off flying in Russia.

Which carrier flew to more countries than any other in 2024, earning a Guinness World Record?

Turkish Airlines collected the Guinness certificate in December 2024 on landing its first flight in Santiago, Chile; the record counted 120 countries with active flights in a year.

What was the world's first commercial jet airliner, which entered service in 1952?

The de Havilland Comet began BOAC service in May 1952; fatal crashes in 1954 were traced to metal fatigue, and the type was grounded and redesigned.

Ireland's flag carrier takes its name from Irish words meaning what?

Air fleet is the meaning of the Irish aerloingeas, though the fleet began in 1936 as a single small biplane, the Iolar ('eagle'), which flew the first service from Baldonnel airfield to Bristol.

Air India was founded in 1932 under what name?

Tata Airlines was J. R. D. Tata's creation: one of the first Indians to hold a commercial pilot's licence, he flew its first airmail service himself in 1932, in a single-engine Puss Moth.

What is the name of Air India's turbaned mascot?

The Maharajah, a bowing, moustachioed figure in a turban, was created in 1946 by Bobby Kooka and artist Umesh Rao as Air India's mascot.

Cathay Pacific, founded in 1946 by an American and an Australian pilot, is based in which city?

Hong Kong became home when wartime pilots Roy Farrell and Sydney de Kantzow moved their freight venture there from Shanghai and registered the airline, starting with a DC-3 nicknamed Betsy; the Swire trading house bought in two years later.

Which airline did David Neeleman launch from JFK airport in 2000?

JetBlue, first set up under the working name NewAir, began flying from JFK in February 2000; its board replaced founder David Neeleman as chief executive in 2007, after a winter storm forced it to cancel flights for days.

Which pioneering airline, flown by author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, was absorbed into France's new flag carrier in 1933?

Aéropostale flew the mail across the Sahara and on to South America, dangerous work that its pilot Saint-Exupéry turned into the novel Night Flight; the line was folded into the new national airline in 1933.

Which aircraft-industry founder was the principal figure behind the formation of United Air Lines?

William E. Boeing built United Air Lines out of Boeing Air Transport and other mail carriers, but a 1934 law forced planemakers and airlines apart, and he quit the industry and sold his aviation stock.

Which 1988 film, cut by other airlines for in-flight showing, has a character who will fly only Qantas?

Rain Man played uncut only on Qantas flights, since the scene lists other carriers' crashes; the film is credited with introducing the airline's safety record to US audiences.

Which restaurant chain launched its own airline in the 2000s, with two of its uniformed waitresses on every flight?

Hooters Air was owner Robert Brooks's flying billboard for the restaurants, and its two Hooters Girls only helped with hospitality beside traditionally dressed cabin crews.

Which Hollywood actor and pilot owned a former Qantas jetliner and served as the airline's goodwill ambassador?

John Travolta flew his own ex-Qantas 707 in the airline's old livery, then donated the jet in 2017 to an aircraft restoration society near Wollongong, Australia.

The world's shortest scheduled airline flight, about ninety seconds, links two islands in which Scottish group?

Orkney's Westray to Papa Westray hop is scheduled for a minute and a half, and Loganair's actual flying time is closer to one minute.

In the 2014 'nut rage' incident, a Korean Air executive forced a taxiing jet back to the gate over which snack?

Macadamias arrived in a bag instead of on a plate, so Heather Cho, the airline chief's daughter, had the cabin chief put off the plane; South Korean sales of the nut then rose nearly 250 percent.

Air New Zealand billed itself as the official airline of which fictional land, wrapping jets in film images in 2002?

Middle-earth returned in 2013, when Air New Zealand put a 54-metre image of the dragon Smaug along each side of a jet for the second Hobbit film.

Which entrepreneur launched Virgin Atlantic in 1984 and crossed the same ocean by hot-air balloon in 1987?

Richard Branson's balloon was named Virgin Atlantic Flyer, and four years later he and Per Lindstrand set off from Japan to cross the Pacific the same way.

Which Greek shipping tycoon, later married to Jacqueline Kennedy, founded Olympic Airways in 1957?

Aristotle Onassis was refused the famous Olympic rings for the airline's logo, so he simply added a sixth.

On which day of the week does Israel's flag carrier El Al fly no passengers, under a promise made by Ben-Gurion?

Saturday is the Jewish Sabbath, and religious parties joined David Ben-Gurion's first coalition only once he promised El Al would not fly on it and would serve only kosher food.

Which future US president ran a Northeast shuttle airline under his own name from 1989 to 1992?

Donald Trump paid $365 million for the shuttle and refitted its jets with maple veneer, chrome seat-belt latches and gold-coloured lavatory fixtures.

Which reclusive billionaire aviator and film producer held a controlling interest in Trans World Airlines by 1944?

Howard Hughes helped finance and design the Lockheed Constellation for the airline, then gave up control in the 1960s.

Bruce Dickinson, once an airline captain for the charter carrier Astraeus, sings with which heavy metal band?

Iron Maiden toured the world in Ed Force One, a converted Astraeus 757 with Dickinson himself at the controls.

Which Formula One world champion founded an Austrian airline under his own surname, starting with two Fokkers?

Niki Lauda owned Lauda Air for much of its life, before it became the leisure charter arm of Austrian Airlines.

Scandinavian Airlines was created in 1946 as the joint flag carrier of Denmark, Sweden and which third country?

Norway's national airline joined those of Denmark and Sweden to pool their transatlantic flights, and the trio merged fully in 1951.

The 'Cathay' in the name of Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific is an old European name for which country?

China was the Cathay of medieval Europe, and the founders added Pacific because they hoped the airline would one day fly across that ocean.

Garuda, named after the bird that carries the Hindu god Vishnu, is the flag carrier of which country?

Indonesia's founding president Sukarno suggested the name, and the airline's first aircraft was a DC-3 paid for by the people of Aceh.

Which cargo airline, founded by Fred Smith, runs its global 'Super Hub' at Memphis International Airport?

FedEx Express moved to Memphis in 1973, after founder Fred Smith failed to get the support he wanted from the airport at Little Rock.

Which nickname for overnight airline flights that land around dawn was also the title of a 2005 Wes Craven thriller?

Red-eye comes from the bloodshot look of tired passengers, since such flights are too short for a full night's sleep.

Which US president signed the Airline Deregulation Act, which freed carriers to set their own fares and routes?

Jimmy Carter signed it in October 1978, a year after he had signed a matching law that deregulated air cargo.

Which British entrepreneur launched Skytrain, a no-frills low-fare service across the Atlantic, in September 1977?

Freddie Laker's Skytrain flew cut-price seats between Gatwick and JFK, and he was knighted for services to the airline industry before Laker Airways went bankrupt in 1982.

Avianca, an airline that dates its founding to 1919, is the flag carrier of which country?

Colombia's flag carrier began in 1919 as SCADTA, and it took the Avianca name after merging with a regional rival in Barranquilla in 1940.

British Airways merged in 2011 with which Spanish flag carrier to form International Airlines Group?

Iberia and British Airways each became a subsidiary of the new group, which went on to buy Vueling and Aer Lingus.

Which Italian airline flew popes on their foreign visits from 1964 until it closed down in 2021?

Alitalia's papal charters, which began with Paul VI, were nicknamed Shepherd One by the press, though the real callsign was simply the Italian for papal flight.

Qatar Airways, established by its government in 1993, flies from Hamad International Airport in which capital city?

Doha was the departure city when Qatar Airways became the first airline to resume international flights to Iraq, on a route to Basra.

Which airline's 'Gimli Glider' jet glided to a landing in 1983 after a pounds-and-kilograms fuel mix-up?

Air Canada Flight 143 ran dry between Montreal and Edmonton because a faulty gauge and a wrong conversion left its tanks with 45 percent of the fuel the trip needed.

Which airline's Flight 305 was hijacked between Portland and Seattle by the unidentified parachutist D. B. Cooper?

Northwest Orient handed over $200,000 and four parachutes in Seattle; the only money ever recovered was $6,000 found on a bank of the Columbia River in 1980.

Which European flag carrier, nicknamed the 'Flying Bank' for its financial stability, made its final flight in 2002?

Swissair was regarded as a Swiss national symbol for most of its 71 years before the bankruptcy.

Which of the 'Big Four' US airlines was headed in its early years by First World War flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker?

Eastern Air Lines had Rickenbacker, credited with 26 aerial victories in the war, as its long-time head.

Which Malaysian low-cost airline did Tony Fernandes and a partner buy in 2001 for a nominal one ringgit?

AirAsia cost about 26 US cents because the buyers also took on its considerable liabilities; Fernandes had been a Time Warner executive.

Wizz Air, the ultra-low-cost airline founded by József Váradi, is headquartered in which European capital?

Budapest's airport, named after the composer Franz Liszt, is also one of the main bases of Wizz Air.

Which US airline's tail fins carry Pualani, an island woman whose name means 'flower of the sky'?

Hawaiian Airlines has flown the Pualani tail art since the 1970s, and newer jets add a silver maile lei wrapped around the fuselage beneath her.

Which national emblem has appeared on the tail fins of Aer Lingus aircraft, first in green and later in white?

The shamrock began as a large green leaf on the Aer Lingus fin and later turned white against a green tail.

Which Māori motif, first painted on the airline's DC-10s in 1973, forms the tail logo of Air New Zealand?

Koru is a spiral that evokes an unfurling silver fern frond, and in Māori art it stands for new life, growth, strength and peace.

Which Soviet-era symbol has Aeroflot kept in its logo since the USSR dissolved, despite plans to drop it?

The hammer and sickle was meant to be replaced, but Aeroflot kept it as the most recognisable mark the company had carried for over 70 years.

Which sculptor, known for his mobiles, painted a full-size Braniff jetliner as a 'flying canvas' in the 1970s?

Alexander Calder's contract with Braniff covered one DC-8 jetliner, dubbed Flying Colors, plus 50 gouaches, for a total fee of $100,000.

Which British politician covered up a model British Airways tail in 1997 in protest at its new ethnic-art designs?

Margaret Thatcher draped tissue paper over the model's fin, saying the airline flew the British flag and would lose its identity with the new art.

Which US low-cost airline puts a different wild animal on every tail, each with a name such as Flo the Flamingo?

Frontier Airlines put wildlife photographs on its tails from 1994, and a 2014 rebrand gave its 'spokesanimals' an even bigger role.

Which Japanese cartoon character has featured on specially painted jets flown by Taiwan's EVA Air since 2005?

Hello Kitty arrived through a campaign with her owner Sanrio, and later EVA Air liveries painted the faces of other Sanrio characters along the fuselage.

Which desert antelope, the national animal of Qatar, forms the burgundy logo on Qatar Airways tail fins?

An oryx also appears, slightly smaller, on the jets of the airline's private-charter arm, Qatar Executive.

Which Belgian comic-book hero inspired two Brussels Airlines special liveries, named Rackham and Gravity?

By 2024 the Tintin livery was the last of the Belgian Icon jets flying; others, honouring the painter Magritte and the national football team, had been repainted.

Which Seattle-based carrier became the first US airline to sell tickets over the internet, in 1995?

Alaska Airlines grew out of McGee Airways, a tiny outfit whose first service linked Anchorage with Bristol Bay.

Which 1925 silent film, adapted from a Conan Doyle novel, was screened for Imperial Airways passengers in flight?

The Lost World, with pioneering stop-motion dinosaurs by Willis O'Brien, is often cited as the first film shown to airline passengers, though a Chicago sightseeing flight screened a short in 1921.

British Airways flew its first scheduled Concorde service, in January 1976, to which Gulf destination?

Bahrain received the British launch flight on the same day the French one left for Rio de Janeiro by way of Dakar.

Heinrich Kubis, the German waiter who became the world's first flight attendant, survived which 1937 disaster?

The Hindenburg fire was the second wreck Kubis lived through, after the Schwaben was destroyed in 1912, and he helped passengers jump from the dining room to safety.

The first daily international air service, begun in August 1919, flew from Hounslow Heath in England to which city?

Paris was reached at Le Bourget, the same airfield where Charles Lindbergh would land after his solo Atlantic crossing in 1927.

The first jet airliner flight with fare-paying passengers, flown by BOAC in May 1952, ended in which African city?

Johannesburg was five stops and a scheduled 21 hours 20 minutes away on that first jet service.

From which Australian city did Qantas launch the first non-stop scheduled flights to Britain, in 2018?

Perth's new service meant that, for the first time, every continent except Antarctica was linked to the others by non-stop flights.

Which early airline booking system grew from a 1953 in-flight chat between an IBM salesman and an airline boss?

Sabre went online experimentally in 1960, and its name began as an abbreviation of Semi-Automated Business Research Environment.

Which ultra-low-cost carrier became the first US airline to charge passengers for carry-on bags, in 2010?

Spirit Airlines brought in the carry-on fee while flying a blue livery, four years before it repainted its jets bright yellow.

Which Soviet supersonic jet entered Aeroflot service in December 1975, weeks before Concorde's first passengers?

Tupolev Tu-144 services ran between Moscow and Alma-Ata, but passengers were not carried until November 1977 and the type was withdrawn under seven months later.