Florida once again makes aviation history with Advanced Air Mobility test flight over Tampa Bay

The demonstration began at Albert Whitted Airport in downtown St. Petersburg, the same general area where aviation history was made on Jan. 1, 1914, when pilot Tony Jannus carried the first paying airline passenger, former St. Petersburg Mayor Abram Pheil, across Tampa Bay to Tampa. That flight, aboard the Benoist XIV "flying boat," is widely recognized as the first scheduled commercial airline flight in the world.

Friday's test flight followed a similar path across Tampa Bay, drawing crowds to waterfront viewing areas in St. Petersburg and around Tampa International Airport as the electric aircraft completed flyovers and safely touched down.

"More than 100 years ago, Florida helped launch the commercial aviation industry, and now Florida is paving the way for the future of flying cars," FDOT Secretary Jared W. Perdue said. "The work we are doing today will revolutionize the way people and goods move around the state, and this flight series will serve as an important step forward in our efforts to take highways to the sky."

Tampa International Airport leaders said the airport is already thinking ahead about how electric aircraft could fit into the region's transportation network.

"We are planning for the future now," Tampa International Airport CEO Michael Stephens said. "That means identifying where these aircraft could operate on the airfield, and also evaluating the role other airports in the region - including Peter O. Knight Airport near downtown Tampa and Tampa Executive Airport - could play in an Advanced Air Mobility system."