Predicting the future of travel is no easy task – but that rarely stop people trying. Just last month a self-styled ‘futurist’, Richard Watson, told us that paper boarding passes are on the way out (well obviously), Instagram will fall from fashion (really?), and passenger drones will one day transport people from one city to another (yeah right). He went on to suggest that Westworld and teleportation “are not completely impossible” – cue plenty of raised eyebrows.

But who’s to say he won’t be proven right? After all, one of the most famous sci-fi creations, Back to the Future, made some bold but brilliant predictions back in the Eighties. It correctly prophesied the use of drones, fingerprint scanning, tablet computers, hands-free gaming, wearable technology and video calls. Even Marty’s hoverboard is almost a reality. Lexus, the Japanese car manufacturer, has even created a rideable prototype.

One of Back to the Future’s biggest predictions, however, missed the mark. Namely, flying DeLorean cars. And when it comes to other predictions for how travel might work in the future, flying personal transportation has been something of a constant. People imagined we’d all be whizzing around the heavens by now, as these series of paintings, produced by French artists in the late 19th century and stumbled upon by science fiction author Isaac Asimov in the Eighties, demonstrate.