Direction of Travel, Volume 3

Airlines have been charting their networks for more than 100 years. Every airline with regular scheduled service have created a map of its routes, connecting destinations on a map with lines that dart across countries and continents, crossing time zones and cultural frontiers. These maps are often beautifully designed and illustrated in a myriad of styles.

Direction of Travel charts their progress, examines their designs, decodes their stories, explores their makers and the history of the airlines behind them.

In this issue:

Above the Alps

This volume of Direction of Travel includes maps that chart the evolution of two extinct European airlines, Alitalia and Swissair.

In addition to a selection of gorgeous maps, this volume also includes a number of long-form essays. In one, we explore the airport spectator balcony. In another, we take a deep dive into the importance of securing a window seat. We fly virtually across the width of Italy in the latest version of Microsoft Flight Simulator, navigating it using an airline route map from the 1930s. You will also find a map that charts all the airport consecrations performed by the late Pope John Paul II. Finally, we share the joys of flying with our kids.

This volume features photography by David Rothenberg, Nedko Solokav, John Schabel, and Laird Kay. Forty pages filled with maps, photography, and stories. Join us on the trip above the Alps.