History Of An Airline Feature Lufthansa

Welcome to this first edition of our History Of An Airline Feature. This weekly feature will examine some of the worlds best known airlines and look at not only their operations today but their past, looking in detail at how they have developed over the years. This week we will be looking at the German airline Lufthansa.

In this feature we will look at the aircraft that Lufthansa has used since its inception whilst examining key moments in the airlines history, so let's go!

The origins of Lufthansa were from the Deutsche Luft Hansa Aktiengesellschaft which was formed from a collaboration between Deutsche Aero Lloyd and Junkers Luftverkehr. The Deutsche Luft Hansa Aktiengesellschaft was renamed Lufthansa in 1933. IN 1927 on December the 9th an agreement was reached between the Spanish and German governments to fly a route between the two nations.

As the years went by leading up to the Second World War the company increased services to fly routes to the Far East, South Atlantic and North Atlantic using propellor driven aircraft such as the Heinkel, Focke-Wulf, Junkers and Dornier - all names synonymous with military aircraft used by the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) during the Second World War.

Early in the Second World War services by Lufthansa were only able to run to neutral countries and by the 1945 all services were suspended following Germany's defeat. On the 6th of January 1953 Lufthansa was re-created however under a different name, Aktiengesellschaft für Luftverkehrsbedarf. In 1954 the airline was re-named yet again, this time to Deutsche Lufthansa Aktiengesellschaft retaining the Lufthansa name that is used today. Scheduled flights were resumed on the 1st of April 1955.

In 1958 air travel underwent a revolution for Lufthansa as it entered the jet age by ordering four Boeing 707's jet airliners. The 707's went into service in March 1960 on a route from Frankfurt to Tokyo followed not long after by an order of Boeing 720's that complemented the fleet of Boeing 707's. Lufthansa did not abandon the more traditional prop driven airliners however and continued to run the reliable and popular Vickers Viscount until 1971 when it was retired from the fleet. In 1961 the airline began flights to Hong Kong and Tokyo whilst expanding services yet again in 1962 to Nigeria, Lagos and Johannesberg.

1962 saw a change in machinery for Lufthansa with the introduction of the more modern Boeing 727 that undertook the Frankfurt to Tokyo flight route. In 1965 Lufthansa ordered twenty one of the brand new (at the time) Boeing 737's. These began flying with the airline in 1968. Lufthansa was the first airline to buy the Boeing 737 and was also the highest orderer. Being the first allowed Lufthansa to be able to claim the title of the first foreign airline to launch a Boeing commercial plane.

It was not too many years later that the boom in air travel required a new aircraft that Boeing duly delivered. On April the 26th 1970 Lufthansa celebrated the inaugural flight of one of its brand new Boeing 747 'jumbo jet' aircraft. The first Boeing 747 service began in 1971, flying to South America after which services for the huge new aircraft were rapidly expanded. It was not long after this that the McDonnell-Douglas DC10 joined the Lufthansa fleet as well as the Airbus A300, the first from the European aircraft maker.

The airline continued its approach in 1979 from previously using just Boeing aircraft for its mainstream flights by ordering the European Airbus A310, an aircraft that was highly advanced for its time. Lufthansa placed a substantial order for the European Airbus with a total of twenty five airliners ordered. Until 1985 there were no substantial orders made however preparations were made in 1985 for the demand of the 1990's and orders were placed by the airline for fifteen Airbus A320's, seven Airbus A300-600's, ten Boeing 737-300's, as well as a number of Airbus A321's, Airbus A340's and Boeing 747-400's. It was not only the aircraft that were updated for the 1990's as in 1988 the airline created a new identity and logo as well as updating offices, lounges and aircraft cabins.

In 1990 Berlin once again became a destination for Lufthansa for the first time in 45 years which was due to the reunification of Germany. Between 1992 and 1997 Lufthansa had to manage a serious economic crisis. The mainly state owned airline had to be slowly privatised as well as making the cargo, IT and MRO businesses separate entities.

On the 18th of May 1997 Lufthansa, Air Canada, Scandanavian Airlines, Thai Airways and United Airlines formed the Star Alliance which was the first multilateral airline alliance in the world. Since this date many other airlines have entered to make it a stronger and stronger force. You can spot an airline that is part of the Star Alliance as they will have a logo clearly displayed on the fuselage of the aircraft.

In 2000 Air One became a partner of Lufthansa and even today the flights code share. Lufthansa builds a vision for the future and the new millenium by placing an order for fifteen Airbus A380 'superjumbos' to ensure it could match all other airlines that will be operating the brand new aircraft in the years to come. In 2003 Terminal 2 was opened at Munich's Franz Josef Strauss Airport by Lufthansa to take some of the pressure off its main hub that was operating at Frankfurt Airport. In March 2005 Lufthansa merged with SWISS however they continued to be run as different airlines as well as the airline celebrating its 50th anniversary.

A partnership between Jetblue and Lufthansa took place in December 2007 and was the first example of a European Airline investing in an American Airline since the beginning of the new Openskies agreement.

All images in this article courtesy of kpmarek.

Published by: Jon Vickery