THIS year marks the 100th anniversary of the first scheduled commercial flight between St Petersburg and Tampa, Florida, on New Year's Day in 1914.

From a single airplane, a single pilot and a single passenger, commercial aviation has evolved into the global air transport system that this year will safely connect some 3.3 billion travellers with nearly 100,000 flights per day; the industry itself supports 58.1 million jobs.

Travel re-unites friends and families and builds bridges between different cultures - but sometimes, there are challenges in the experience.