Lufthansa

Lufthansa (Deutsche Lufthansa AG) is the largest German airline. The name Lufthansa derives from Luft (the German word for "air") and Hansa (the Hanseatic trade organization that was active in Northern Europe during medieval times). Lufthansa's headquarters is in Cologne while its main base and primary traffic hub is at Frankfurt International Airport in Frankfurt am Main.

The company has developed a second hub at Munich's Franz Josef Strauß International Airport. Since its takeover of SWISS, Zurich Airport will become Lufthansa's third main hub.

Lufthansa is a founding member of Star Alliance, the largest airline alliance in the world. The Lufthansa Group operates more than 400 aircraft and employs nearly 100,000 people world-wide.

In 2005, 51.3 million passengers flew with Lufthansa.

History

The company was founded in 1926 in Berlin, following a merger between "Deutsche Aero Lloyd" (DAL) and "Junkers Luftverkehr" on January 6 of that year. The company's original full name was Deutsche Luft Hansa Aktiengesellschaft.

In the 1950s East Germany attempted to establish its own airline using the Lufthansa name, but this resulted in a dispute with West Germany, where the airline had been already re-established after the Second World War. East Germany instead called its national airline Interflug, which ceased operations in 1991. Lufthansa was banned from flying into West Berlin until the demise of the communist regime.

Lufthansa was the launch customer of the Boeing 737 aircraft, and the only buyers of new 737-100s. By doing so, Lufthansa became the first foreign launch customer for a Boeing commercial plane. On 17 May 2004, Lufthansa became the launch customer for the Connexion by Boeing in-flight online connectivity service.

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In June 2003 Lufthansa opened new Terminal 2 at Munich's Franz Josef Strauß International Airport to relieve its main hub, Frankfurt, which has capacity constraints. It is one of the first terminals in Europe partially owned by an airline.

On 22 March 2005 SWISS consolidated with Lufthansa Airlines. The majority shareholders (the Swiss government and large Swiss companies) will be offered payment if Lufthansa's share price outperforms an airline index during the years following the merger. Swiss will continue to be run separately from Lufthansa.

Other Businesses

In addition to its mainline operation, Lufthansa has the subsidiaries. The most important are:

Lufthansa Cargo, flight-logistics-company
Lufthansa Technik, aircraft maintenance providers
Lufthansa Systems, aviation IT-providers
Lufthansa Regional, a regional carrier that is an alliance of several small airlines, including Lufthansa CityLine
Lufthansa CityLine, a regional carrier
Thomas Cook, a travel services provider
Air Dolomiti, an airline based in Trieste, Italy
Delvag, an insurance company specializing in air transport
LSG Sky Chefs, the world's largest airline caterer, which accounts for one third of the world's airline meals
Lufthansa Flight Training, a provider of flight crew training services to various airlines and the main training arm for the Airline's own pilots
Condor, a charter carrier and vacation consolidator

Destinations

Accidents and Incidents

Flight 540 Was the first ever crash of a Boeing 747.

Fleet

Deutsche Lufthansa AG

Total 254

Lufthansa City Line GmbH

Total 80

Lufthansa Cargo AG

14 Boeing MD-11F
5 Boeing MD-11SF

Total 19

Air Dolomiti

Total 19

Eurowings

9 ATR500
6 ATR700
4 BAe146-200
10 BAe146-300
8 CRJ200

Total 37

Germanwings

21 Airbus A319-100
3 Airbus A320-200

Total 20

Lufthansa total 429

Orders

Total 52 Orders

In March 2006, the Lufthansa fleet average age was 10.1 years.

Lufthansa has ordered 15 Airbus A380 aircraft and has a further 10 on option. The first will be delivered before the end of 2007. They are likely to be used on services to Asia, Canada and the USA (ref: Airliner World, March 2005).

Lufthansa has expressed interest in the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350. They are also very interested in the 747-8 passenger and freighter version. It is possible that Lufthansa could replace its 30 747-400 fleet with the more fuel efficient 747-8.

Numbers

Passengers: 51.3 Million ( January 2006)
Cargo: 1,736 Mio. Tonnes ( January 2006)
Employees: 91364 ( October 2005)

Through its Lufthansa Berlin Stiftung, it operates three classic German aircraft as well:

External links

Airlines of Germany | Lufthansa | 1926 establishments

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