Grand Rapids, Michigan: First Regular Flight Schedule in America

Did you know that the first regular passenger flight service in the country was based out of West Michigan?

Kent County started building its first airport in 1919.  Then, Michigan made U.S. flight history nearly 99 years ago according to Gerald Ford International Airport,

Stout Air Services was founded in 1925.  By July of 1926, you could buy a ticket for $35 to fly from Grand Rapids to Detroit.  That doesn't sound like much, but when you use an inflation calculator that comes out to $624.08 in 2025.  That's an expensive flight to go from Grand Rapids to Detroit.

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The Stout Air Services company operated under the name of Detroit-Grand Rapids Airline.  They were the first airline to offer a regularly scheduled passenger flight.  However, the first airline in the U.S. launched on New Year's Day of 1914 with a passenger flight from St. Petersburg to Tampa according to Space.com.  St. Petersburg and Tampa are less than 25 miles apart when driving.  I don't think you can book a flight that short today.

It may be difficult to wrap your head around how innovative Stout was in 1926.  To put this in perspective, the picture below shows you what 1926 in America looked like.  It's hard to imagine what would go through a cowboy's mind in the 1920s, to get off a horse and onto a plane for the first time.

READ MORE:  These Are the 13 Friendliest Places to Live in Michigan

Michigan is the first state to have phone numbers, the first state to have tunnels that connect 2 countries, and the first state to end prohibition.  That's just the tip of the iceberg.