TAMPA, Fla. – Two electric aircraft flew across Tampa Bay on Friday, tracing the route of the world’s first scheduled commercial airline flight as state and federal officials test airborne transit to bypass congested highway corridors.
The demonstration flights took off from Albert Whitted Airport in St. Petersburg, crossed the bay in formation, and touched down at Signature Aviation at Tampa International Airport. Spectators gathered along the waterfront to watch the aircraft follow the route flown by aviator Tony Jannus in 1914.
Friday’s event opened the Florida Department of Transportation’s “Future of Flight Series,” part of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) and Advanced Air Mobility Integration Pilot Program. The joint initiative gathers acoustic and airspace data to help federal regulators draft safety rules, vertiport standards, and operational guidelines for future commercial air taxi networks…