Lufthansa

Deutsche Lufthansa AG (ISIN: DE0008232125) (pronounced [ˈdɔɪtʃə ˈlʊfthanza]) is one of the largest airlines in Europe in terms of overall passengers carried, and the flag carrier of Germany. The name of the company is derived from Luft (the German word for "air"), and Hansa (after Hanseatic League, the powerful medieval trading group).

The airline is the world's fifth largest airline in terms of overall passengers carried, operating services to 209 destinations in 81 countries. Together with its partners Lufthansa services around 410 destinations.^[1] It has the sixth-largest passenger airline fleet in the world, when combined with Lufthansa CityLine, Air Dolomiti, Eurowings, Germanwings, Augsburg Airways, Contact Air, and SWISS, operating 531 aircraft.

Lufthansa corporate headquarters is in Cologne, with its main base and primary traffic hub at Frankfurt International Airport in Frankfurt am Main with a second hub at Munich International Airport.^[1]

Lufthansa is a founding member of Star Alliance, the world's largest airline alliance. Star Alliance was formed in 1997 together with Thai Airways, United Airlines, Air Canada and Scandinavian Airlines System. The Lufthansa Group operates more than 500 aircraft and employs worldwide 105,261 people of 146 nationalities (31 December 2007). In 2007, 83.1 million passengers flew with Lufthansa Group including all subsidiaries.

History

Former Lufthansa headquarters in Cologne, Germany

The company was founded on January 6, 1926 in Berlin, following a merger between "Deutsche Aero Lloyd" (DAL) and "Junkers Luftverkehr".^[2] The company's original name was Deutsche Luft Hansa Aktiengesellschaft. Lufthansa, as one word, has been used since 1933. On December 9, 1927, Deutsche Luft Hansa, on behalf of the German government, established an agreement with the Spanish government authorizing an air service between the two countries. This included a capital investment to establish an airline that would eventually become Iberia.

In the years prior to World War II, the company pioneered routes to the Far East and across the North Atlantic and the South Atlantic, using a fleet of mostly Dornier, Junkers, Heinkel, Focke-Wulf and other German-designed aircraft. After the outbreak of war in 1939, Lufthansa was only able to maintain service to neutral countries. Early in the war, along with the Italian Transcontinental Airline (Linee Aeree Transcontinentali Italiane, or LATI), the company competed vigorously in South America.^[3] However, all service was suspended by Lufthansa following Germany's defeat in 1945.

The main entrance to the Lufthansa headquarters

Lufthansa was recreated on January 6, 1953 as Aktiengesellschaft für Luftverkehrsbedarf (Luftag) and was renamed Deutsche Lufthansa Aktiengesellschaft on August 6, 1954. The "new" Lufthansa of 1953 is not the legal successor of the Lufthansa founded in 1926 and which existed during and before World War II. On April 1, 1955 Lufthansa resumed scheduled service within Germany. International operations started on May 15, 1955, with flights to points in Europe, followed by service to New York on June 8 using Lockheed Super Constellations. South Atlantic routes were resumed in August 1956.

East Germany attempted to establish its own airline in the 1950s using the Lufthansa name, but this resulted in a dispute with West Germany, where the airline was already in operation. East Germany renamed its national airline to Interflug, which ceased operations in 1991. Lufthansa was banned from flying into West Berlin until the demise of the GDR regime.

Boeing 737-500.

In 1958, Lufthansa placed an order for four Boeing 707s, used to start jet services from Frankfurt to New York in March 1960. Boeing 720s were later bought to back up the 707 fleet. In February 1961, Far East routes were extended beyond Bangkok, Thailand to Hong Kong and Tokyo. The cities of Lagos, Nigeria and Johannesburg, South Africa were added in 1962.

Lufthansa introduced the Boeing 727 into service in 1964 and in May of that same year they began the Polar route from Frankfurt to Tokyo. In February 1965, the company placed an order for twenty-one Boeing 737 medium-haul jets, which were introduced into service in 1968.

Lufthansa was the first customer to purchase and also bought the largest number of Boeing 737 aircraft, and was one of only four buyers of the new 737-100s (the others were NASA, Malaysia-Singapore Airlines and Avianca – while the NASA airframe was technically the first constructed, it was the last delivered and originally intended for delivery to Lufthansa). In doing so, Lufthansa became the first foreign launch customer for a Boeing commercial plane.

Boeing 747-400 - "Düsseldorf"

The beginning of the wide-body era for Lufthansa was marked with the inaugural Boeing 747 flight on April 26, 1970. In 1971 Lufthansa began service to South America. In 1979, Lufthansa and Swissair were launch customers for the advanced new Airbus A310, with an order for twenty-five aircraft.

The company's fleet modernization programme for the 1990s began on June 29, 1985 with an order for fifteen Airbus A320s and seven Airbus A300-600s. Ten Boeing 737-300s were ordered a few days later. All of the aircraft were delivered between 1987 and 1992. Lufthansa also bought Airbus A321, Airbus A340 and the Boeing 747-400.

Lufthansa adopted a new corporate identity in 1988. The fleet was given a new livery while cabins, city offices and airport lounges were redesigned.

On October 28, 1990, 25 days after reunification, Berlin became a Lufthansa destination again. On May 18, 1997 Lufthansa, Air Canada, Scandinavian Airlines, Thai Airways and United Airlines formed the Star Alliance, the world's first multilateral airline alliance.

In 2000 Air One became partner airline of Lufthansa and nearly all Air One flights are code-shared with Lufthansa. In June 2003, Lufthansa opened Terminal 2 at Munich's Franz Josef Strauß International Airport to relieve its main hub, Frankfurt, which was suffering from capacity constraints. It is one of the first terminals in Europe partially owned by an airline.

On May 17, 2004, Lufthansa became the launch customer for the Connexion by Boeing in-flight online connectivity service.

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

On December 6, 2006, Lufthansa placed an order for 20 Boeing 747-8 airliners, becoming the launch customer of the type. The airline will also be the first European airline to operate the Airbus A380, expected in service in 2009.

Lufthansa is owned by private investors (88.52%), MGL Gesellschaft für Luftverkehrswerte (10.05%), Deutsche Postbank (1.03%) and Deutsche Bank (0.4%) and has 37,042 employees (at March 2007).^[1]

On December 14th Lufthansa and American low-cost airline Jetblue announced the beginning of a partnership initiated through the 19% stake purchase in Jetblue shares by Lufthansa. This is the first major ownership investment by a European carrier in an American carrier since the EU-US open skies agreement was announced last year.

Lufthansa is an advocate of consolidation in the European aviation sector and is the preferred partner for purchasing the Austrian governments majority stake in Austrian Airlines.

On August 28 2008 Lufthansa and Brussels Airlines announced that they were negotiating joining together. [1] On September 15, 2008 it was jointly announced by both airlines that Lufthansa will acquire a 45% stake in Brussels Airlines with an option to acquire the remaining 55% from 2011. As a part of this deal Brussels Airlines will join Star Alliance. A date for the airline's entry into the alliance has yet to be determined. ^[4][5]

On 28th October 2008, Lufthansa exercised its option to purchase BMI, with the deal expected to be completed in January 2009.

In November, Lufthansa and Austrian announced a deal in which Lufthansa will buy the majority stock from the Austrian government. The deal should be done in January 2009

Subsidiaries

In addition to its main operation, Lufthansa has subsidiaries, such as:

• Lufthansa CityLine, a regional carrier, wholly owned by Lufthansa
• Lufthansa Cargo, flight logistics company, wholly owned by Lufthansa.
• Lufthansa Italia, a new subsidiary which will be operating flights out of Milan Malpensa to destinations across Europe starting in early 2009, with a fleet of six Airbus A319 aircraft. The new subsidiary is intended to capture a large size of the Milan market following major cutbacks by Alitalia in its bid to return to profitability^[6].
• Air Dolomiti, an airline based in Trieste, Italy, wholly owned by Lufthansa.
• BMI, a UK airline. Lufthansa currently holds 30%, minus 1 share and will acquire a further 50% in January 2009.
• Brussels Airlines, on September 15, 2008 Lufthansa announced it would acquire a 45% stake in the Belgian airline with an option to acquire the remaining 55% in 2011.
• Condor, a charter carrier, of which Lufthansa holds 24.9%
• Eurowings a regional carrier, which in turn has a full stake in Germanwings, a low-cost subsidiary. Lufthansa currently owns 49 % and will acquire the remaining 51 % on January 1, 2009 ^[7]
• Luxair - Lufthansa holds a 13% stake.
• JetBlue - Lufthansa holds a 19% stake. ^[8]
• SunExpress, airline based in Antalya, Turkey; 50% owned by Lufthansa (50% Turkish Airlines)
• Swiss International Air Lines, an airline based in Zurich, Switzerland owned by Lufthansa

• Lufthansa Technik, aircraft maintenance providers
• Lufthansa Systems, largest European aviation IT provider
• Lufthansa Regional, a brand operated by an alliance of several small regional airlines, including Lufthansa CityLine
• 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
• Lufthansa has a 19% stake in Lufthansa Commercial Holding, containing over 400 service and finance companies of which Lufthansa holds shares

History of the brand

The Lufthansa logo, an encircled crane in flight, was created in 1918. It was part of the livery of the first German airline, Deutsche Luftreederei GmbH (DLR), which began air service on February 5, 1919. The stylised crane was designed by Professor Otto Firle. In 1926 Lufthansa adopted this symbol from Aero Lloyd AG, which merged with DLR in 1923. The original creator of the name Lufthansa is believed to be F.A. Fischer von Puturzyn. In 1925 he published a book entitled "Luft-Hansa" which examined the options open to aviation policymakers at the time. Luft Hansa was the name given to the new airline which resulted from the merger of Junkers Luftverkehr AG and Deutscher Aero Lloyd^[2].

Destinations

Further information: Lufthansa destinations

Fleet

Airbus A340-600

Airbus A300-600

Airbus A319-100

Airbus A320-200

Airbus A321-200

Avro RJ85

Bombardier CRJ200

Lufthansa's vintage aircraft restoration

Lufthansa Technik, the airline's maintenance arm, restored a Junkers JU-52 built in 1936, to airworthiness; this aircraft was in use on the 10-hour Berlin to Rome route, across the Alps, in the 1930s. Lufthansa is now restoring a Lockheed Super Constellation, using parts from three such aircraft bought at auction. Lufthansa's Super Constellation "Starliners" served routes such as Hamburg-Madrid-Dakar-Caracas-Santiago. Lufthansa Technik recruits retired employees and volunteers for skilled labor.^[9][10] Lufthansa sells air buffs rides on the restored airplanes. (See also List of airworthy Ju 52)

Cabin

Intercontinental

First Class: Lufthansa First Class is offered on Boeing 747, Airbus A330 and A340 aircraft. Each seat converts to a two meter bed, includes laptop power outlets, as well as entertainment facilities. Meals are available on demand. Lufthansa offers dedicated First Class check in counters at most airports, and offers dedicated First Class lounges in Frankfurt and Munich, as well as a dedicated First Class Terminal in Frankfurt.

Business Class: Lufthansa's long-haul Business Class is offered on all long-haul aircraft. Each seat converts to a two meter lie-flat bed, includes laptop power outlets and entertainment facilities. Lufthansa offers dedicated Business Class check in counters at all airports, as well as dedicated Business Class lounges at most airports, or contract lounges at other airports.

Economy Class: Lufthansa's long-haul Economy Class is offered on all long haul aircraft. Passengers receive meals, as well as free drinks. In 2007, Lufthansa began installing personal Audio-Video-On-Demand (AVOD) screens in Economy Class. All A330-300 and A340-600 aircraft have been refitted, and the remaining long-haul A340-300 and 747-400 are currently being refitted.

European Domestic

Business Class: Lufthansa's short-haul Business Class is offered on all A300, A319, A320, A321 and B737 aircraft. Passengers receive meals and drinks, as well as access to dedicated Business Class check-in counters, and Lufthansa Business Class lounges. Selected A300-600 aircraft have been refitted with older long-haul Business Class seats. These aircraft are used on selected medium-haul flights. Inflight entertainment is not offered on any short-haul flights.

Economy Class: Lufthansa's short-haul Economy Class is offered on all A300, A319, A320, A321 and B737 aircraft. Passengers receive free beverages, and snacks or meals. Inflight entertainment is not offered on any short-haul flights.

Lounges

Lufthansa operates three types of lounges: First Class, Senator and Business Lounges. Each lounge is accessible both through travel class, or Miles and More / Star Alliance status.

First Class Terminal

Lufthansa operates a First Class Terminal at Frankfurt Airport. The first terminal of its kind; access is limited only to departing Lufthansa First Class, and HON Circle members. Approximately 200 staff care for approximately 300 passengers per day in the terminal, which features a full-service restaurant, full bar, cigar lounge, relaxation rooms and offices, as well as bath facilities. Guests are driven directly to their departing flight by Mercedes S-class, or Porsche Cayenne.

Miles & More

Lufthansa's Frequent Flier Program is called Miles & More, and is shared among several European airlines, including Austrian Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, and Swiss International Air Lines. Miles & More members may earn miles on Lufthansa flights and Star Alliance partner flights, as well as through Lufthansa credit cards, and purchases made through the Lufthansa shops. Status within Miles & More is determined by miles flown during one calendar year with specific partners. Membership levels include: Basic (no minimal threshold), Frequent Traveller (Silver, 35,000 mile threshold), Senator (Gold, 100,000 mile threshold, 130,000 for German residents), and HON Circle (Black, 600,000 mile threshold over two calendar years). All non-basic Miles & More status levels offer lounge access and executive bonus miles, with the higher levels offering more exclusive benefits.

Codeshare agreements

Lufthansa has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:^[11]

*Star Alliance member

Accidents and incidents

• Hull-loss Accidents: 61 with a total of 282 fatalities^[12]
  • January 11, 1959 – a Lockheed L-1049G Super Constellation en route from Hamburg, Germany crashed into the beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil while descending in heavy rain. 36 people died, 3 survived.
  • January 28, 1966 – Lufthansa Flight 005, a Convair CV 440 crashed on landing after an approach in low visibility to Bremen, Germany. All 46 passengers and crew on board lost their lives.
  • November 20, 1974 – Lufthansa Flight 540, a Boeing 747-130 crashed shortly after take-off in Nairobi. 59 of 157 on board lost their lives.
  • July 26, 1979 – Lufthansa Cargo Flight 527, a Boeing 707-330C crashed after take-off in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, killing 3 crew members.
  • September 14, 1993 – Lufthansa Flight 2904, an Airbus A320 flying from Frankfurt to Warsaw, Poland with 70 people, overran runway 11 and crashed into an earth embankment located 90 m beyond the end of the runway. The copilot and a passenger died. [2]
• Hijackings
  • October 13, 1977 – Lufthansa Flight 181, a Boeing 737, was hijacked and the captain murdered, but all other crew members and all the passengers were freed safely when a German counter-terrorism force (GSG 9) stormed the aircraft in Mogadishu, Somalia.
  • February 13, 1993 – A Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Cairo was hijacked by a 20-year old Ethiopian man who diverted it to the United States. The hijacker, who was allegedly seeking political asylum, surrendered to authorities upon arrival at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City.

See also

• Amadeus IT Group
• Air Berlin
• Air Dolomiti
• Augsburg Airways
• BMI
• Brussels Airlines
• Contact Air
• Crossair
• Eurowings
• Iberia
• Lufthansa Cargo
• Lufthansa CityLine
• Interflug
• JetBlue Airways
• Lufthansa Heist
• SWISS
• Swissair
• SunExpress

References

External links

• Lufthansa
• Lufthansa USA
• Lufthansa's Labor of Love: Restoring Some Really Old Junkers, Wall Street Journal, June 16, 2008
• Engineering Veteran Plays a Vital Role In Plane's Rebirth, Wall Street Journal, June 16, 2008

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