2004 in aviation

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

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

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

February
February 12 - United Airlines created another airline, this time called Ted (airline).

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

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

May
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May 12 - The last F-4 Phantom fighters are withdrawn from service with the Israeli Air Force.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
Jun 1 - America West Airlines starts service between Phoenix and Anchorage.

Jun 6 - Alaska Airlines starts service between Denver and Anchorage and discontinues service between San Jose and Tucson.

Jun 20 - Frontier Airlines begins service to Nashville, Tennessee.

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

July
Jul 14-20 - the 14th FAI World Rally Flying Championship in Herning, Denmark. Individual winners: 1. Jiří Filip & Michal Filip (Czech), 2. František Cihlář & Milos Fiala (Czech), 3. Krzysztof Wieczorek & Krzysztof Skrętowicz (Poland); team winners: 1. Czech Republic, 2. Poland, 3. France.

Jul 19-24 - the 16th FAI World Precision Flying Championship in Herning, Denmark. Individual winners: Krzysztof Wieczorek (Poland) - 3Xtrim, 2. Petr Opat (Czech) - Cessna 152, 3. Wacław Wieczorek (Poland) - PZL Wilga 2000; team winners: 1. Poland, 2. Czech Republic, 3. France.

August
Aug 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
Oct 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
November 1 - Pan American Airways, or Pan Am III, turned down operations once again, but gave operations to Boston-Maine Airways.

November 16 - NASA's X-43 reaches a record speed of Mach 9.8 (7,546 mph, 12,144 km/h)

December
December 9 - The U.S. Army issues a request for proposals (RFP) for the Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH).

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

March
March 5 - Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer

May
May 29 - Aceair AERIKS 200

June
June 18 - Airblue flies its first flight, a private airline in Pakistan
June 21 - First sub-orbital flight of SpaceShipOne

July
July 15 - Aermacchi M-346
July 20 - Aerocomp Comp Air Jet