Air Mail Act of 1925

{{Infobox U.S. legislation

| shorttitle = Air Mail Act of 1925

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| longtitle = An Act to encourage commercial aviation and to authorize the Postmaster General to contract for air mail service.

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| nickname = Kelly Act

| enacted by = 68th

| effective date = February 2, 1925

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| cite public law = {{uspl|68|359}}

| cite statutes at large = {{usstat|43|805}}, Chap. 128

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| title amended = 39 U.S.C.:Postal Service

| sections created = {{Usc-title-chap|39|54}} § 5401 et seq.

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| introducedin = House

| introducedbill = {{USBill|68|H.R.|7064}}

| introducedby = Melville Clyde Kelly (R–PA)

| introduceddate = May 13, 1924

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| passedbody1 = House

| passeddate1 = December 18, 1924

| passedvote1 = [https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/68-2/h130 292-15]

| passedbody2 = Senate

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| passeddate2 = January 27, 1925

| passedvote2 = [https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/68-2/s185 51-23], in lieu of {{USBill|68|S.|3674}}

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| signedpresident = Calvin Coolidge

| signeddate = February 2, 1925

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The Air Mail Act of 1925, also known as the Kelly Act, was a key piece of legislation that intended to free the airmail from total control by the Post Office Department.{{cite web |title=Airmail Creates an Industry: Postal Act Facts |url=https://postalmuseum.si.edu/airmail/airmail/public/airmail_public_postal_long.html |website=Smithsonian National Postal Museum |access-date=9 October 2018 }} In short, it allowed the Postmaster General to contract private companies to carry mail.{{cite book|author=Tim Brady|title=The American Aviation Experience: A History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7ccymjJZxLcC&pg=PA303 |date=2000 |publisher=SIU Press|isbn=978-0-8093-2371-5|page=303}} The Act was sponsored by Pennsylvania representative Clyde Kelly, and became legislation in February that year.{{cite book |first=Alexander T. |last=Wells |title=Air Transportation: A Management Perspective|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ej8Qslt1nfsC&pg=PA33 |date=1 January 2007 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing |isbn=978-0-7546-7171-8 |page=33}}

The act created a bidding period for small airmail routes, setting rates and subsidies contractors would receive for flying mail. The first contracts were awarded to Colonial Air Transport, National Air Transport, Robertson Aircraft Corporation, Western Air Express and Varney Air Lines. Contractors were paid $3.00 per pound of mail for the first 1,000 miles traveled. Due to the surplus aircraft available after the First World War, particularly de Havilland DH-4s, the act bolstered a nascent aviation industry in the United States.{{cite book |first1=Michael W. |last1=Pearson |first2=Daniel S. |last2=Riley |title=Foundations of Aviation Law |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1oQHDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA41 |date=15 April 2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-13372-8 |page=41 }}

By 1927, over 2.5 million miles were traveled by US Airmail Service planes, carrying over 22 million letters.{{cite book |first=Camille |last=Allaz |title=History of Air Cargo and Airmail from the 18th Century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fPLm9omt_YIC&pg=PA63 |date=March 2005 |publisher=Google Consultant |isbn=978-0-9548896-0-9|page=63}} Further regulation ensued quite rapidly, such as those issued by second assistant postmaster general Col. Paul Henderson, which required pilots and their aircraft to receive a certificate of airworthiness from the Post Office, and that each company needed to post at least ten thousand dollars in good faith bonds.{{cite book|author=F. Robert van der Linden|title=Airlines and Air Mail: The Post Office and the Birth of the Commercial Aviation Industry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sqwfBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA17|date=13 January 2015|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=978-0-8131-4938-7 |page=17 }}