Airline companies have regularly used maps as part of their promotional campaigns or their in-flight magazines. Many of these maps are available for viewing at AirlineRouteMaps.com. These range from the professional and busines-like to the hand-drawn folksy look and everything in between. L0oking at these maps, one realizes that not all maps are created equal.

AirlineRouteMaps.com has a fairly extensive collection. Thei mages seem to either have been scanned or screen-captured from airline websites. Unfortunately, many of the route map images are a bit too small and the East Asia section seems to be missing.

If current airline route maps are what you are looking for, then your best best is to visit Airfarewatchdog.com. This site has a number of links to the actual maps hosted by the various airline websites. Some of these maps are interactive and some are simply static images. A quick review indicates that cartographic quality (and cool factor) varies. The focus seems to be primarily on airlines operating from the United States. The Independent Traveler also has a numbero f links to domestic U. S. discount airline route maps.

Airchive.com also has an extensive but by no means exhaustive collection but this site also includes old maps and schedules. These are scanned brochures and map contributed by various individuals and most at a good readable size. These are certainly a pleasure to browse through. It is interesting to note the changes in style over the years, from the advertisement/map/graphic style of the 1940s to the angular, “modern” style of the 1970s.