Morse code was the general means of relaying information between air communications stations prior to World War II. Generally, it was only necessary to relay a message between one or two stations. After World War II, there was an increase in the number of commercial aircraft operating, and these aircraft were capable of flying greater distances than in the past. As a result, the Aeronautical Fixed Telecommunication Network (AFTN) was implemented worldwide as a means of relaying the air traffic communications, sometimes through the use of radioteletype which had become common among military forces in the 1940s.