Jet Age

The Jet Age is a period of history defined by the social change brought about by the advent of large aircraft powered by turbine engines. These aircraft are able to fly much higher, faster, and farther than older piston-powered propliners, making transcontinental and inter-continental travel considerably faster and easier: for example, aircraft leaving North America and crossing the Atlantic Ocean (and later, the Pacific Ocean) could now fly to their destinations non-stop, making much of the world accessible within a single day's travel for the first time. Since large jetliners could also carry more passengers, airfares also declined (relative to inflation), so people from a greater range of social classes could afford to travel outside of their own countries. In many ways, these changes in mobility are similar to those brought about by railroads during the 19th century.

The introduction of the Concorde supersonic transport (SST) airliner to regular service in 1976 was expected to bring similar social changes, but the aircraft never found commercial success, and after a fatal crash in Gonesse, near Paris (the only loss of an SST in civilian service), flights were discontinued in 2003. The only other SST to enter service was the Tu-144. This only saw limited passenger services within Russia but proved expensive to operate and maintain and was retired from civilian service in 1978 (although it was later used for research flights). McDonnell Douglas, Lockheed and Boeing were three US manufacturers that had planned to develop SSTs since the 1960s, but these projects were abandoned for various developmental/cost or other reasons.