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50 Stunning Images Capturing the Golden Era of Air Travel

A girl and her father play a game of checkers.

Flying First Class in the 1960s.

A snack on a Scandinavian Airlines flight, 1969

KLM

KLM

Inside a Boeing 747

Iberia

Iberia

Iberia

Inside an Alaska Airlines Convair 880 M-6 in the 1960s. U.S. National Archives.

Travelers sit on large couches without seatbelts.

BA Speedbird [Heritage] Centre

Child passenger takes his pick of chocolate, 1960s

A bar in the sky.

KLM

Flight attendants for the now defunct Pacific Southwest Airlines.

A young Richard Nixon and friends enjoy a game of cards.

Dean Conger / Getty Images

KLM

BA Speedbird [Heritage] Centre

Passengers recline, 1950s. Douglas Miller / Stringer / Getty Images



A waiter serving a couple in the air.

Stunning inflight snacks

Sacha Distel performs mid-flight, 1959.

Southwest Airlines flight attendants in the 1970s. San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive.

The stunning interior of an early commercial airline.

Swissair archives

Kids enjoy a full-course meal.

Swissair archives

Bunkbeds for travelers to sleep in.

A woman enjoys caviar, salad nicoise, and a charcuterie platter.

Swissair archives

Swissair archives

Photo by SAS Museum CC BY 2.0

Photo by SAS Museum CC BY 2.0

Photo by SAS Museum CC BY 2.0

Photo by SAS Museum CC BY 2.0

Photo by SAS Museum CC BY 2.0

Photo by SAS Museum CC BY 2.0



Photo by SAS Museum CC BY 2.0

Photo by SAS Museum CC BY 2.0