The first passenger to ever fly in an airplane was Charles W.Furnas.
What is the meaning of the underlined part here?
What if I write the above sentence in the following way?
The first passenger in an airplane was Charles W.Furnas.
He was the first man who flew as a passenger in an aircraft. ‘Ever’ emphaises the fact that no one had done so before.
For your recasting, I’d prefer
The first airplane passenger was Charles W. Furnas.