World Aviation in 2004

January 2
Several British Airways flights from London Heathrow Airport to Washington D.C. and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia are cancelled due to security fears.

January 3
Flash Airlines Flight 604 crashes into the Red Sea off the coast of Egypt, killing all 148 aboard.

January 13
An Uzbekistan Airways plane crashes in Uzbekistan's capital of Tashkent, killing all 37 aboard.

March 27
NASA's X-43 pilotless plane breaks world speed record for an atmospheric engine by briefly flying at 7,700 kilometres (4,780 miles) per hour (seven times the speed of sound)

April 4
Alaska Airlines discontinues service between San Francisco and Tucson.

May 5
Air France and Netherlands-based KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines) merge, the two airlines are now known as Air France-KLM.

May 9
Southwest Airlines begins service to Philadelphia International Airport.

May 12
The last F-4 Phantom fighters are withdrawn from service with the Israeli Air Force.

May 23
Frontier Airlines begins service to Philadelphia, Billings, Montana and Spokane, Washington.

May 27
Delta Air Lines begins service between Cincinnati and New Haven.

June 1
America West Airlines starts service between Phoenix and Anchorage.

June 6
Alaska Airlines starts service between Denver and Anchorage and discontinues service between San Jose and Tucson.
 
June 20
Frontier Airlines begins service to Nashville, Tennessee.

June 21
SpaceShipOne is the first non-government built spacecraft to transport a person into space and return safely to earth.

June 24
Volga-AviaExpress Flight 1303 and Siberia Airlines Flight 1047 explode south of Domodedovo International Airport in Moscow. The Russian government declares the explosions to have been caused by Chechen terrorists

October 4
SpaceShipOne successfully makes her 3rd flight into space and proves to be a plausible option for space tourism, thus winning the Ansari X-Prize

November 16
NASA's X-43 reaches a record speed of Mach 10 (7,000 mph, 11,200 km/h)

December 10
Two CT-114 Tutors from Canada's Snowbirds aerobatic team collide while training near Mossbank, Saskatchewan. Captain Miles Selby is killed and Captain Chuck Mallet is injured.

December 10
The United States Federal Aviation Administration issues an Emergency Airworthiness Directive effectively grounding the entire U.S. fleet of Beechcraft T-34 Mentor aircraft. The AD is in response to fatal in-flight structural failure accidents during simulated aerial combat flights.

First flights
Aero-Cam Slick 360

May 29
Aceair AERIKS 200

June 18
Airblue flies its first flight, a private airline in Pakistan

July 15
Aermacchi M-346

July 20
Aerocomp Comp Air Jet