Which airline operated the first scheduled passenger flight across the Pacific Ocean in 1936?

Pan American World Airways operated the first scheduled passenger flight across the Pacific Ocean in 1936.

The service used Pan Am’s Martin M-130 flying boat, named China Clipper, linking San Francisco with Manila. The aircraft did not fly the entire distance nonstop; it followed a chain of island and coastal stops, including Honolulu, Midway, Wake Island and Guam. These intermediate stations were essential because long-range land-based airliners did not yet exist.

Pan Am had already surveyed the route with experimental and mail flights before beginning passenger operations. Its Pacific service became one of the most celebrated achievements of interwar aviation and helped establish the airline as a symbol of long-distance international travel.

The event is sometimes confused with the first nonstop Pacific crossing, which was a separate aviation milestone. Pan Am’s achievement was the first scheduled passenger operation, not a single uninterrupted flight.