( CNN ) -- Faster than you can catch the red-eye from New York to London , the world 's airlines have to keep evolving in order to stay resilient in the global world of commercial aviation . With 8 million passengers taking a plane each day , the 3 billion journeys made last year are more than just a flight for many . They are the hopes and dreams of deals to be done , families to be reunited and ambitions to be realized . The first commercial flight 100 years ago was a 23-minute journey in a flying boat across Tampa Bay , Florida in 1914 . The Mayor of St. Petersburg , Florida , at that time paid $ 400 -- about $ 9,000 today -- to become the world 's first paying passenger . Since the birth of commercial aviation the airline industry has been characterized by the concept of risk versus reward , with some of the best-known names failing , many merging and consolidating along the way . Pan American World Airways was one of the first to blaze a trail across the Atlantic with its spacious cabins , ladies-only powder rooms and modest overhead lights . But even for Pan Am it was n't enough to keep the company financially astute . `` These names have gone , the Pan Ams and the British Caledonian and others , but of course their businesses went into other businesses , and that tells us that consolidation is the way forward in this industry , '' Tony Tyler , CEO of International Air Transport Association ( IATA ) , told CNN 's Richard Quest at the group 's 70th AGM in Doha , Qatar . The industry has suffered as much turbulence in the pocket as it has in the air , and American Airlines is another example of risk versus reward . After its recent bankruptcy , it was the last major U.S. carrier to merge , with U.S. Airways . There 's no better example of risk and reward than the Boeing 747 , the Jumbo Jet . The world 's first wide-bodied , double decker plane , it was built by Boeing in the 1960s , which literally bet the company on the plane 's success . According to Tyler , a key to success in the future is sticking to a global mindset . `` The point is this is a global industry , it 's become global over the last 100 years , '' he told Quest . `` We are the industry that makes global possible and what that means is that everyone in it needs to understand they are part of a global network . They 're part of a global system and they need to think globally in everything they do . '' While today 's airplanes are a century away from that flying boat that crossed Tampa Bay , there 's no doubt that the risk and reward still remain just as high as they did 100 years ago . Timeline : 100 years of commercial aviation .
The first commercial flight took place 100 years ago in Tampa Bay , Florida . Since then , many airlines have been consolidating . In the early days of air travel, there were a few major carriers that dominated the industry and made it easy for people to get from one city to another.