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When Air Transport World was launched 50 years ago, the airline industry was just five years into the "Civil Jet Age." The first issue of ATW in May 1964 excitedly chronicled how the fast-growing business had used jet aircraft to increase worldwide annual revenue by 45% to $7 billion in 1963 compared to $4.8 billion in 1958. In 2013, worldwide airline revenue topped $700 billion - a more than 100 times increase in the 50 years this magazine has been publishing.
The big story as ATW debuted in 1964 was whether and how many Douglas Aircraft Company DC-9 aircraft - then still more than a year away from entering service with launch customer Delta Air Lines - Trans World Airlines, United Air Lines and Eastern Airlines would order. The Douglas DC-8, Boeing 707 and Boeing 720 were the workhorses of the first five years of the jet era. The Boeing 727, considered the first medium-range jet airliner, entered service with Eastern in February 1964.
But as readers perused the inaugural issue of ATW , airlines were considering the prospects of the DC-9, which Douglas - still three years away from its 1967 merger with McDonnell Aircraft - touted as the mid-range "smaller brother" of the DC-8. Douglas said the new aircraft would combine high speed with "rapid but comfortable rates of climb and descent" and be ideal for frequent flying. The first page of the first ATW featured a Douglas advertisement promoting the DC-9.
"DC-9 performance will mean airline profits," the manufacturer said. "It takes off in 5,000 feet with 15,000...