History
The first passenger-carrying airline flight happened in 1913 with the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line. Before that time, aircraft had been used to carry mail and other cargo. With the start of World War I in 1914, aircraft were being operated internationally to carry not only cargo, but also as military assets. The international use of aircraft brought up questions about air sovereignty. The arguments over air sovereignty at the time factored into one of two main viewpoints: either no state had a right to claim sovereignty over the airspace overlying its territory, or every state had the right to do so.
The Paris Convention of 1919 sought to determine this question as part of the process of framing the convention's assumptions, and it was decided that each nation has absolute sovereignty over the airspace overlying its territories and waters.
Nations involved were: The United States Of America, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, The British Empire, China, Cuba, Ecuador, France, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, The Hedjaz, Honduras, Italy, Japan, Liberia, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Roumania, The Serb-Croat-Slovene State, Siam, Czechoslovakia And Uruguay. The United States signed the Convention but never ratified it because of its linkage to the League of Nations.
The Paris Convention was superseded by the Convention on International Civil Aviation (aka the Chicago Convention).
Read more about this topic: The Paris Convention Of 1919
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