what does "atmospheric navigation" refers to?

what does “atmospheric navigation” refers to?

So, too, this seer, in reply to a query regarding what was then termed
“atmospheric navigation,” felt “deeply impressed” that “the necessary
mechanism—to transcend the adverse currents of air, so that we may
sail as easily and safely and pleasantly as birds—is dependent on a new
motive power. This power will come. It will not only move the
locomotive on the rail, and the carriage on the country road, but the
aerial cars also, which will move through the sky from country to
country.”

Source: The History of Spiritualism by Arthur Conan Doyle.