civil aviation

Operation of passenger and freight transport by air. With increasing traffic, control of air space is a major problem. In the USA, the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) is responsible for regulating development of aircraft, air navigation, traffic control, and communications and the Civil Aeronautics Board prescribes safety regulations and investigates accidents. In Europe, Eurocontrol was established in 1963 by Belgium, France, West Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and the UK to supervise both military and civil movement in the air space over member countries. Close cooperation is maintained with authorities in other countries, and there is also a tendency to coordinate services and other facilities between national airlines; for example, the establishment of Air Union in 1963 by France (Air France), West Germany (Lufthansa), Italy (Alitalia), and Belgium (Sabena).

The world's largest airline was the Soviet Union's government-owned Aeroflot (split between republics 1992), which operated 1,300 aircraft over 620,000 mi/1 million km of routes and carried over 110 million passengers a year. It once carried over 110 million passengers a year, falling to 62 million by 1992.