Misplaced Pages

#729270

70-416: Although Deutsche Luft Hansa was the forerunner of modern German airline Lufthansa (founded in 1953) and both airlines share the same logo, there is no legal connection between the two. However, the new Lufthansa took over staff from the old airline and claims DLH's legacy. For this reason it is controversial in the historical reappraisal to what extent the modern Lufthansa should confess to crimes committed by

140-574: A Boeing 747 flight on 26 April 1970. It was followed by the introduction of the DC-10-30 on 12 November 1973, and the first Airbus A300 in 1976. In 1979, Lufthansa and Swissair became launch customers for the Airbus A310 with an order for twenty-five aircraft. The company's fleet modernization programme for the 1990s began on 29 June 1985, with an order for fifteen Airbus A320s and seven Airbus A300 -600s. Ten Boeing 737-300s were ordered

210-471: A Fokker F.II took off on 6 April 1926 for the first scheduled flight to Zürich via Halle , Erfurt and Stuttgart . In the same year, Deutsche Luft Hansa acquired a stake in Deruluft , a joint German- Soviet airline, and launched non-stop flights from Berlin to Moscow , which was then regarded as an exceptionally long distance. Shortly after that flights to Paris were commenced. Deutsche Luft Hansa

280-476: A travel ban because of the COVID-19 pandemic . Consequently, the airline incurred losses of 1 million euros per hour by April 2020. While Lufthansa reduced its costs throughout 2020, continuing health risks and travel restrictions still caused hourly losses of approximately 500,000 euros on average at the beginning of 2021. On 14 May, Lufthansa Group announced that it planned to operate 1,800 weekly flights by

350-413: A 16 euro surcharge on Global Distribution System bookings. The surcharge is payable unless tickets are purchased from the airline's website, or its airport service centres and ticket counters. Amadeus said the new model would make "comparison and transparency more difficult because travellers will now be forced to go to multiple channels to search for the best fares." For the period between 1–14 September,

420-414: A few days later. All were delivered between 1987 and 1992. Lufthansa also bought Airbus A321 , Airbus A340 , and Boeing 747-400 aircraft. In 1987, Lufthansa, together with Air France , Iberia , and Scandinavian Airlines , founded Amadeus , an IT company (also known as a GDS ) that would enable travel agencies to sell the founders and other airlines' products from a single system. Lufthansa adopted

490-468: A historical study was commissioned to shed light on this aspect of the company's past. However, Lufthansa was criticized for not publishing the resulting study for more than a decade. The early 2000s witnessed Lufthansa demonstrate remarkable resilience in the face of industry challenges. Despite significant industry losses following the 11 September attacks, the airline maintained profitability and strategically avoided workforce reductions. Lufthansa became

560-523: A long-standing dispute with the Vereinigung Cockpit union, which has advocated for a system in which pilots can retire at the age of 55, and 60% of their pay be retained. Lufthansa pilots were joined by pilots from the group's budget carrier Germanwings to stage a nationwide strike in support of their demands in April 2014 which lasted three days. The pilots staged a six-hour strike at the end of

630-403: A loss of 298 million euros in the first quarter of 2010 and another 13 million loss in the year 2011 due to the economic recession and restructuring costs, Deutsche Lufthansa AG cut 3,500 administrative positions or around 20 percent of the clerical total of 16,800 in 2012. Lufthansa announced a restructuring program called SCORE to improve its operating profit. As a part of the restructuring plan,

700-462: A major purveyor of West Germany's image abroad. During this time, East Germany attempted to establish its own " Lufthansa " airline in 1955, but legal challenges from the West German carrier led to its abandonment.  East Germany subsequently launched Interflug as its national carrier in 1963. Lufthansa embraced the jet age in 1958 by ordering four Boeing 707 aircraft. This marked

770-581: A monopoly position for mail transport between Germany and China, as well as access to the Chinese market. To this end, the Shanghai - Nanjing - Beijing route was launched in the following year using Junkers W 34 specially deployed there. A record was set in 1930 when the mail route from Vienna to Istanbul (with stopovers in Budapest , Belgrad and Sofia ) was completed in only 24 hours. By comparison,

SECTION 10

#1732782990730

840-450: A new corporate identity in 1988. The fleet was given a new livery, while cabins, city offices, and airport lounges were redesigned. Following German reunification on 3 October 1990, Lufthansa swiftly reintegrated Berlin into its network, marking the city's return as a key destination within 25 days. The mid-1990s saw a period of strategic restructuring for Lufthansa. This involved the establishment of independent operating companies within

910-594: A number of experimental and survey missions, most notably for developing the best airborne crossing of the South Atlantic, and during the Third German Antarctica Expedition in 1938–39, when two Dornier Wal aircraft performed a photographic survey of 350,000 square kilometres, an area which became known as New Swabia . With the outbreak of the war on 1 September 1939 all civilian flight operations of Luft Hansa came to an end, and

980-466: A result, service to Chicago from Düsseldorf was first made seasonal, suspended for the winter 2015 season, and then canceled altogether. Service to Newark, however, was initially maintained. From the winter 2015 schedule through the end of the winter 2016 schedule, Düsseldorf was served by aircraft which also flew the Munich-Newark route. The Düsseldorf-Newark route ended on 30 November 2018, which

1050-569: A significant leap forward, allowing them to launch jet flights between Frankfurt and New York City in March 1960. To further bolster their jet fleet, Boeing 720B aircraft (a 707 derivative for shorter flights from shorter runways) were later acquired. Lufthansa's network continued to expand throughout the early 1960s. In February 1961, their Far East routes extended beyond Bangkok to include Hong Kong and Tokyo. Africa saw additions in 1962 with Lagos , Nigeria, and Johannesburg , South Africa joining

1120-537: The Eurasia Corporation had to be shut down following an intervention by the Chinese government . Syndicato Condor was nationalised and renamed Cruzeiro do Sul in 1943, in an attempt to erase its German roots. The last scheduled flight of Deutsche Luft Hansa – from Berlin to Munich took place on 21 April 1945, but the aircraft crashed shortly before the planned arrival. Another (non-scheduled) flight

1190-460: The French Alps, killing all 150 aboard whereas Spohr had misleadingly said the co-pilot "was 100% airworthy without any restrictions, without any conditions". In June 2015, Lufthansa announced plans to close its small long-haul base at Düsseldorf Airport for economic reasons by October 2015. At the time, the base consisted of two Airbus A340-300s rotating between Newark and Chicago . As

1260-540: The Lufthansa Group, specializing in areas like maintenance ( Lufthansa Technik ), cargo ( Lufthansa Cargo ), and information technology ( Lufthansa Systems ). Over time, the group further expanded through the addition of LSG Sky Chefs (catering), Condor (leisure travel), and Lufthansa CityLine (regional operations). Lufthansa joined Air Canada , Scandinavian Airlines , Thai Airways International , and United Airlines to form Star Alliance on 18 May 1997,

1330-446: The March 2015 Germanwings Flight 9525 incident, "the darkest day for Lufthansa in its 60-year history", when pilot Andreas Lubitz intentionally flew an aircraft into a mountain, murdering 149 passengers. Nonetheless, damage control by Spohr and his team was poor according to several sources. It was revealed that Lubitz suffered from a severe case of depression and mental disorders and had intentionally crashed Germanwings Flight 9525 into

1400-563: The Middle East. Politically, the company leaders were linked to the rising Nazi Party ; an aircraft was made available to Adolf Hitler for his campaign for the 1932 presidential election free of any charge. The Nazi party used footage of those flights for their propaganda efforts and gained an advantage in being able to hold events featuring Hitler in different places in far quicker succession than other parties which relied largely on rail transport. Erhard Milch , who had served as head of

1470-804: The NDL liner Bremen during her maiden voyage crossing the Atlantic in 1929, shortening the mail delivery time between Europe and North America. Both the Bremen and her sister ship Europa launched mail planes on their scheduled North Atlantic crossings until 1935. Even though the early years of the decade saw a difficult financial situation due to the Great Depression , Deutsche Luft Hansa further expanded its international route network in South America, and launched scheduled flights from Germany to

SECTION 20

#1732782990730

1540-698: The North Atlantic Ocean (from Baldonnel Aerodrome in Ireland to Greenly Island, Canada ) was made by the Luft Hansa pilot Hermann Köhl , Ehrenfried Günther Freiherr von Hünefeld and the Irish pilot James Fitzmaurice using the Junkers W 33 aircraft Bremen in April 1928. The airline launched scheduled multi-leg flights to Tokyo . A Heinkel HE 12 aircraft was launched (by catapult ) off

1610-475: The South Atlantic from August 1956. However, the political realities of the time presented challenges to the airline. The United States, Soviet Union, Britain and France did not allow Lufthansa to fly to any part of the divided Berlin during the division of Germany . The airline had hoped this would only be a temporary matter and planned to move its headquarters and primary hub back to the German capital once

1680-658: The aircraft fleet came under command of the Luftwaffe , along with most staff. The company focused on aircraft maintenance and repair. There were still scheduled passenger flights within Germany and to occupied or neutral countries, but bookings were restricted and served the demands of warfare. During the later years of the war, most passenger aircraft were converted to military freighters. The Luft Hansa co-operations in foreign countries were gradually dismantled: Deruluft ceased to exist in March 1940, and by November of that year,

1750-532: The airline announced it would sell six A380 aircraft back to Airbus, beginning in 2022. Pro-migration activists from Germany have criticised Lufthansa for performing deportation flights on behalf of the German government. In 2019, 4,573 people were deported on their planes, while their subsidiary Eurowings performed 1,312 deportations. This totals more than 25% of deportations in Germany in 2019. At least two deportees perished during transport. On 19 March 2020, Lufthansa cancelled 95 percent of all flights due to

1820-526: The airline coincided with the lifting of restrictions on commercial air operations imposed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles . This allowed the route network to be quickly expanded to cover major European cities. The initial fleet consisted of 162 aircraft, nearly all of them outdated World War I types, and the company had 1,527 staff. The most important airfield for DLH was Berlin Tempelhof . From there

1890-469: The airline experienced a 16.1% drop in revenue, indicating to some that the new fee backfired, although the airline maintains that the decrease was due to the pilot strike, and "other seasonal effects". In October 2017, Lufthansa took over 81 aircraft from the insolvent Air Berlin . The total purchase price for the shares acquired by Lufthansa from the insolvency estate of Air Berlin amounted to around 210 million euros. On 4 December 2017, Lufthansa became

1960-522: The airline since 1926, was appointed by Hermann Göring to be head of the Aviation Ministry when Hitler came to power in 1933; Milch had been a member of the Nazi party since 1929, and was later convicted of war crimes. According to a leading scholar of the history of German aviation, from this point, "Lufthansa served as a front organization for armament, which took place secretly until 1935 - it

2030-421: The airline was affected by an IT glitch, leaving thousands of passengers stranded around the world. According to the German air traffic control agency, the airline's flights were redirected from Frankfurt to other airports due to an IT glitch. The issue was reportedly caused after construction work cut through fiber optic cables in the city. SS Europa (1928) Too Many Requests If you report this error to

2100-492: The branding of the former flag carrier by acquiring the Luft Hansa name and logo in 1954. Lufthansa's corporate headquarters are in Cologne . The main operations base, called Lufthansa Aviation Center , is located at Frankfurt Airport , the airline's primary hub. It also maintains a secondary hub at Munich Airport , along with its Flight Operations Centre . Lufthansa traces its history to 1926 when Deutsche Luft Hansa

2170-489: The company started to transfer all short-haul flights outside its hubs in Frankfurt, Munich, and Düsseldorf to the company's re-branded low-cost carrier Germanwings . In September 2013, Lufthansa Group announced its biggest order, for 59 wide-body aircraft valued more than 14 billion euros at list prices. Earlier in the same year, Lufthansa placed an order for 100 next-generation narrow-body aircraft. The group has had

Deutsche Luft Hansa - Misplaced Pages Continue

2240-507: The country by the United States for political reasons. On 1 April 1939, Deutsche Luft Hansa launched scheduled transatlantic flights to Natal, Rio Grande do Norte and Santiago de Chile using Fw 200 aircraft, a route which had previously been operated by Syndicato Condor . With Bangkok , Hanoi and Taipeh , further Asian destinations were added to the route network. During the 1930s, Luft Hansa aircraft had also been deployed on

2310-485: The distinction of being the first customer for the Boeing 737 and one of only four buyers of the initial 737-100 model (alongside NASA , Malaysia-Singapore Airlines , and Avianca ). While NASA technically had the first built 737 airframe, it was ultimately delivered last and originally intended for Lufthansa, making them the first foreign launch customer for a Boeing airliner. The wide-body era for Lufthansa started with

2380-674: The end of June. The company's recovery plans involved high-density cargo to replace paying customers. All Lufthansa Group required all passengers to wear a mask while aboard. On 25 June, Deutsche Lufthansa AG shareholders accepted a € 9,000,000,000 bailout, consisting of capital measures and the participation of the Economic Stabilisation Fund (WSF) of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy . The measures, which passed after initial opposition by principal shareholder Heinz Hermann Thiele , gave

2450-541: The end of the 2000s, Lufthansa made a large commitment to very large aircraft, introducing the first of 14 Airbus A380 in 2010 and becoming the becoming the launch customer for the Boeing 747-8I in 2012, eventually purchasing 19 of the type. In 2011 Lufthansa planned significant growth at Berlin Brandenburg Airport for the originally planned opening in 2012 with many new connections from Berlin. After

2520-436: The evaluation. In celebration, Lufthansa painted an Airbus A320 and a Boeing 747-8 in the "5 Starhansa" livery. In March 2018, Lufthansa and other airlines like British Airways and American Airlines accepted a request from Beijing to list Taiwan as part of China. In March 2019, Lufthansa ordered 20 Boeing 787-9 and an additional 20 Airbus A350-900 for its own and the group's fleet replacement and expansion. Also,

2590-462: The first European airline to receive the Skytrax 5-star certification. As stated by Skytrax, a key factor in the positive rating was the announcement of a new Business Class cabin and seating that was expected to be introduced in 2020. While this makes Lufthansa the 10th airline to be holding this award, in reality the 5th star was given to a product that was supposed to be introduced two years after

2660-561: The first aircraft not manufactured in Germany were introduced into the Luft Hansa fleet: two Boeing 247s and one Douglas DC-2 . The grip on the domestic South American markets was further tightened in 1937, when the Sociedad Ecuatoriana de Transportes Aéreos (SEDTA) and Lufthansa Perú were founded as Luft Hansa co-operations in Ecuador and Peru respectively, operating Junkers W 34 aircraft. The Middle Eastern network

2730-409: The first transatlantic passenger flight by the airline (from Warnemünde to New York City using a Dornier Wal flying boat ) took roughly one week. After several years of testing, a scheduled postal route between Europe and South America was inaugurated in 1934. This was the first regularly scheduled airline service across an ocean in the world. Wal flying boats were used, catapult launched for

2800-460: The flight network of leading European airlines of that time and vice versa. The agreements were with air lines including Aerotransport , Ad Astra Aero , Adria Aerolloyd , Aero Oy , Air Union , Balair , CIDNA , CSA , DDL , Imperial Airways , KLM , Lignes Aeriennes Latécoère , LOT , ÖLAG , Malert , SABENA , SANA , SGTA , and Ukrpovitroshliakh , as well as Syndicato Condor from Brazil and SCADTA from Colombia . During that period,

2870-422: The following European destinations saw scheduled passenger flights: Due to the war and the de facto end of commercial air transport in Germany, Luft Hansa operated scheduled passenger flights only on some domestic trunk routes and international services on a limited number of routes to occupied or Axis -affiliated countries. These routes deteriorated during the war as Germany came closer to defeat. As of 1940/41,

Deutsche Luft Hansa - Misplaced Pages Continue

2940-536: The following destinations were served. At that time, interline agreements were in force with Iberia , Aeroflot , Malert , LARES (Romania), Aero Oy (Finland), DDL ( occupied Denmark ), ABA (Sweden), and CSA ( occupied Czechoslovakia ). Additionally, there were scheduled sea plane flights along the Norwegian coast (from Trondheim to Kirkenes ), which was then part of the Atlantic Wall . Over

3010-617: The following years, the domestic network grew to cover all the important cities and towns of Germany. More international routes were added through co-operation agreements. With the newly founded Iberia in Spain its longest scheduled route was 2,100 kilometres from Berlin to Madrid (though with several stopovers). The establishment of Syndicato Condor in Brazil served the airline's interests in South America where there were important German minorities at that time. The first east–west crossing of

3080-431: The government a 20% stake in the airline. In January 2021, Lufthansa CEO Spohr announced that the entire currently stored Airbus A340-600 fleet will be retired with immediate effect and not return to service anymore. This decision was later overturned, with several A340-600 aircraft returning to service in 2021 after several months in storage. In June 2021, Lufthansa said it wants to repay state aid it received during

3150-458: The launch customer for the Connexion by Boeing in-flight internet connectivity in 2004. Lufthansa further solidified its position as a major European airline group through strategic acquisitions. The acquisitions of Swiss International Air Lines in 2005, Brussels Airlines (staged between 2009 and 2017), and Austrian Airlines in 2009 expanded the group's reach and network capabilities. At

3220-530: The liquidated Deutsche Lufthansa for DM 30,000 (equivalent to €41,000 today), thus continuing the tradition of a German flag carrier with that name. On 1 April 1955, Lufthansa won approval to commence operation of scheduled domestic flights. The airline's initial network linked Hamburg , Düsseldorf , Frankfurt , Cologne, and Munich . International flights started on 15 May 1955, to London , Paris , and Madrid , followed by Super Constellation flights to New York City from 1 June of that year, and across

3290-510: The network. Innovation continued with the introduction of the Boeing 727 in 1964. This enabled Lufthansa to launch a pioneering Polar route from Frankfurt to Tokyo via Anchorage in May of that year. Further expansion plans were solidified in February 1965 with the order of twenty-one Boeing 737 aircraft, entering service in 1968. Lufthansa's role in Boeing's history is noteworthy. They hold

3360-633: The newly founded East German national airline operated under the same name but, having lost a lawsuit with the West German company, it was liquidated and replaced by Interflug . From 1926 until the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Deutsche Luft Hansa built up an extensive network centred on its base at Berlin Tempelhof Airport covering many German cities and towns, as well as the major European cities. There were early interline agreements which granted Luft Hansa passengers access to

3430-657: The old airline. Deutsche Luft Hansa was founded on 6 January 1926 in Berlin . The name of the company means "German Hansa of the Air". The Hansa or Hanseatic League dominated maritime trade in the Baltic Sea area for hundreds of years, and is well regarded in Germany to this day. The airline was created by the merger of Deutscher Aero Lloyd, formerly Deutsche Luft-Reederei (1917 to 1923) , and Junkers Luftverkehr (c. 1919) in 1926. The two companies, Germany's largest airlines at

3500-654: The pandemic before Germany's federal election in September 2021 if possible. Also in June 2021, Lufthansa said it would change its communications to adopt a more gender-neutral and inclusive language. It will remove greetings such as " Ladies and Gentlemen ". In January 2022, Lufthansa admitted it had operated over 18,000 empty flights to keep airport slots during the pandemic. In March 2022, Lufthansa originally confirmed that its entire Airbus A380 fleet would be retired, having been in storage since early 2020. This decision

3570-452: The political situation changed, plans that ultimately never came to fruition. Instead, Lufthansa turned Frankfurt Airport into its primary hub in 1958. The airline also embarked on a marketing campaign to encourage travelers to consider visiting West Germany as it rebuilt in the wake of World War II and to use its hub to connect to other locations across Europe. By 1963, the airline, initially limited in its public relations efforts, had become

SECTION 50

#1732782990730

3640-413: The pre-war Deutsche Luft Hansa. West Germany had not yet been granted full sovereignty over its airspace, so it was not known when the new airline could become operational. Nevertheless, in 1953, Luftag placed orders for four Convair CV-340 and four Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellations aircraft and set up a maintenance base at Hamburg Airport . On 6 August 1954, Luftag acquired the name and logo of

3710-465: The scheduled European routes and a total of 254,713 passengers and 5,288 tons of mail transported. From 1936 Deutsche Luft Hansa carried out route proving flights to carry mail across the North Atlantic. This service was intended to replace the mail planes launched by catapult from trans-Atlantic steamers. However this never materialized, as German planes were denied the right to carry mail into

3780-494: The summer holidays in September 2014, which caused the cancellation of 200 Lufthansa flights and 100 Germanwings flights. During the course of the 2014 FIFA World Cup , part of the fleet was branded "Fanhansa". In November 2014, Lufthansa signed an outsourcing deal worth $ 1.25 billion with IBM that will see the US company take over the airline's IT infrastructure services division and staff. Carsten Spohr, Lufthansa's CEO, called

3850-506: The surrender of Germany and the ensuing Allied occupation of Germany , all aircraft in the country were seized and Deutsche Luft Hansa was dissolved. The remaining assets were liquidated on 1 January 1951. In an effort to create a new national airline, a company called Aktiengesellschaft für Luftverkehrsbedarf ( Luftag ) was founded in the city of Cologne in West Germany on 6 January 1953, with many of its staff having worked for

3920-466: The time, were forced to merge by the German government, while all other airlines were shut down. This reorganization was intended to reduce the amount of financial support the government provided to the airline industry. Like many other countries, Germany subsidized the airlines, which also gave the German government control over them. The stylised flying crane symbol predates Luft Hansa and had been used by DLR and Deutscher Aero Lloyd. The foundation of

3990-708: The trans-Atlantic leg These were replaced by the Dornier Do 18 in 1936 making operations in non-visual conditions possible. The European network saw the introduction of the Junkers G.38 (at that time the largest passenger aircraft in the world) on the Berlin- London route via Amsterdam , as well as the Junkers Ju 52/3m and Heinkel He 70 , which allowed for faster air travel. This was promoted by so-called " Blitz Services" (German: Blitzstrecken ) between Berlin , Hamburg , Cologne and Frankfurt . In 1935,

4060-658: The world by revenue . Lufthansa is also one of the five founding members of Star Alliance , which is the world's largest airline alliance , formed in 1997. Lufthansa was founded in 1953 and commenced operations in April 1955. Besides operating flights under its own brand, the Lufthansa Group also owns several other airlines, including Austrian Airlines , Brussels Airlines , Discover Airlines , Eurowings and Swiss International Air Lines . The group also owns several aviation-related companies, including Global Load Control , Lufthansa Consulting , Lufthansa Flight Training , Lufthansa Systems and Lufthansa Technik . The company

4130-400: The world's first multilateral airline alliance . Lufthansa actively addressed its historical legacy during this period. In 1999, the airline participated in a German initiative aimed at resolving wartime misdeeds, acknowledging the use of forced labor by its predecessor, Deutsche Luft Hansa. As part of the initiative, Lufthansa also reportedly paid tens of millions German marks. Additionally,

4200-467: The years of its existence, Deutsche Luft Hansa operated the following aircraft types: Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG ( German pronunciation: [ˌdɔʏtʃə ˈlʊfthanzaː ʔaːˈɡeː] ), or simply Lufthansa , is the flag carrier of Germany . When combined with its subsidiaries, it ranks second in Europe by passengers carried, as well as largest in Europe and fourth largest in

4270-522: Was an air force in disguise." The historian Norman Longmate reported that during its peacetime flights in the 1930s, the airline had secretly photographed the entire British coastline as preparation for a possible invasion. A key interest of Deutsche Luft Hansa at that time was the reduction of mail delivery times. In 1930, the Eurasia Corporation was established as a joint-venture with the Chinese transport ministry, granting Luft Hansa

SECTION 60

#1732782990730

4340-570: Was expanded with the launch of the Berlin- Baghdad - Tehran route in the same year. In 1938 the Focke-Wulf Fw 200 long range aircraft was introduced making it possible to fly non-stop between Berlin and New York and from Berlin to Tokyo with only one intermediate stopover. This last year prior to the outbreak of World War II turned out to be the most successful one in the history of the airline, with 19.3 million flight kilometres on

4410-423: Was formed in Berlin by the merger of Deutscher Aero Lloyd , the world´s sixth-oldest airline , and Junkers Luftverkehr . Deutsche Luft Hansa was Germany's flag carrier until the outbreak of war when it came under the command of the Luftwaffe . During the war, the airline was focused mainly on aircraft maintenance and repair in which forced labor was employed on the site of Berlin Tempelhof Airport . Following

4480-412: Was founded as Aktiengesellschaft für Luftverkehrsbedarf (often shortened to Luftag ) on 6 January 1953 by staff of the former Deutsche Luft Hansa , Germany's national airline founded in 1926. While Deutsche Luft Hansa played a significant role in the development of commercial aviation in Germany, it was liquidated in 1951 due to its association with the Nazi regime during World War II . Luftag adopted

4550-407: Was one of the first airlines to operate night flights, the first of which connected Berlin with Königsberg using Junkers G 24 aircraft. This route proved so successful that the night train connection was discontinued some years later. During its first year, the airline operated more than six million flight kilometres, transporting a total of 56,268 passengers and 560 tons of freight and mail. Over

4620-455: Was operated with an Airbus A330-300 aircraft. Their base was officially closed in March 2019. On 22 March 2016, Lufthansa ended Boeing 737-500 operations. The airline's last Boeing 737 (a 737-300) was retired on 29 October 2016, after a flight from Milan to Frankfurt. Lufthansa operated the 737 in several variants for almost 50 years, the first aircraft having been delivered on 27 December 1967. On 1 September 2015, Lufthansa implemented

4690-455: Was particularly used from 1940 to 1942. Forced laborers were used to install and maintain radar systems and to assemble, repair, and maintain aircraft, including military aircraft. Forced laborers were lodged in barracks run by Luft Hansa on the Tempelhof site and elsewhere in Berlin were surrounded by barbed wire and guarded by authorities with machine guns; sanitation in these camps, was poor, as

4760-473: Was performed the next day, from Berlin to Warnemünde , which marked the end of flight operations. Following the surrender of Germany and the ensuing Allied occupation of Germany , all aircraft in the country were seized and Deutsche Luft Hansa was dissolved. The remaining assets were liquidated on 1 January 1951. During World War II, Deutsche Luft Hansa employed more than 10,000 forced laborers, including many children, from occupied countries; forced Jewish labor

4830-447: Was reversed in June 2022, with plans to now return up to five aircraft from storage by 2023 to be based at Munich Airport . There is also an option to return all eight remaining A380 aircraft to service by 2024, as six of formerly 14 have already been sold. In May 2022, Skytrax demoted Lufthansa from its aforementioned 5-star rating which it held since 2017 as the first European carrier to do so, to an overall 4-star rating. In 2023,

4900-400: Was the level of medical care and nutrition. In 2012, a team of archaeologists excavated the site of the camp run by Luft Hansa on Tempelhof airport. Lufthansa , today's German flag carrier , acquired the name and logo of the 1926–1945 airline upon its foundation in 1953 and claims DLH's history as its own. However, there is no legal link between the two companies. Between 1955 and 1963,

#729270