Lufthansa

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Lufthansa

IATA LH	ICAO DLH	Callsign Lufthansa
Founded		1926 (as Deutsche Luft Hansa Aktiengesellschaft), refounded 1954
Hubs		Frankfurt International Airport Franz Josef Strauß Int'l Airport
Focus cities		Düsseldorf International Airport Hamburg International Airport
Frequent flyer program		Miles & More
Member lounge		HON / Senator Lounge
Alliance		Star Alliance
Fleet size		251 ( + 103 orders ); Lufthansa AG including Cityline, Cargo & subsidiaries (except Swiss International Airlines): 432
Destinations		188
Parent company		Deutsche Lufthansa AG
Headquarters		Cologne, Germany
Key people		Jürgen Weber (Head of Supervisory Board and former CEO), Wolfgang Mayrhuber(CEO), Stefan Lauer (), Stephan Gemkow (CFO)
Website: http://www.lufthansa.de

Deutsche Lufthansa AG (ISIN: DE0008232125) (pronounced [dɔɪtʃə ˈlʊftˌhanza]) is the largest German airline, and the second-largest in Europe (behind Air France-KLM, but before British Airways).^{[citation needed]} The name of the company is derived from Luft (the German word for "air"), and Hansa (after Hanseatic League, the powerful medieval trading group).

Lufthansa is based in Cologne. Its main base and primary traffic hub is at Frankfurt International Airport in Frankfurt am Main with a second hub at Munich International Airport. Since its takeover of Swiss International Air Lines, Zürich Airport will become Lufthansa's third main hub.

Lufthansa is a founding member of Star Alliance, the largest airline alliance in the world. Star Alliance was formed in 1997 and now has 18 member airlines. The Lufthansa Group operates more than 400 aircraft and employs nearly 100,000 people worldwide. In 2006, 53.4 million passengers flew with Lufthansa.

1 History
2 Subsidiaries
3 History of the brand
4 Destinations
5 Fleet
- 5.1 Lufthansa Cityline
- 5.2 Lufthansa Cargo
  - 5.2.1 Orders
6 Livery
7 Accidents
8 Incidents
9 Notable Employees
10 See also
11 References
12 External links

[edit] History

The company was founded on 6 January 1926 in Berlin, following a merger between "Deutsche Aero Lloyd" (DAL) and "Junkers Luftverkehr"^{[citation needed]}. The company's original name was Deutsche Luft Hansa Aktiengesellschaft, Lufthansa in 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 air company that would eventually become Iberia.

In the years prior to World War II, the company developed into one of the world's leading airlines, pioneering routes to the Far East and across the North and South Atlantic, using a large 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, and suspended service following Germany's defeat in 1945.

Lufthansa was recreated on 6 January 1953 as Aktiengesellschaft für Luftverkehrsbedarf (Luftag) and was renamed to Deutsche Lufthansa Aktiengesellschaft on August 6, 1954. The "new" Lufthansa of 1953 is not the legal successor of the Lufthansa during and before WWII. 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 of 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 operating. 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 communist regime.

In 1958, Lufthansa placed an order for four Boeing 707s, used to start jet services from Frankfurt to New York in March of 1960. Boeing 720s were later bought to back up the 707 fleet. In February of 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 of 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.

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 major fleet renovation and modernisation 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 Boeing 747-400

Lufthansa Airbus A340-600

Lufthansa Airbus A300-B4

Lufthansa A320-200

Lufthansa Airbus A321-100 Retrojet

Lufthansa A321-100

Lufthansa Boeing 737-300

Lufthansa Avro RJ85

Lufthansa CityLine Canadair CL-600-2B19 regional jet (CRJ-100)

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

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

On 22 March 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 6 December 2006, Lufthansa placed an order for 20 Boeing 747-8I airliners, becoming the launch customer of the type.

[edit] Subsidiaries

In addition to its main operation, Lufthansa has numerous subsidiaries. The most important are:

Lufthansa Cargo, flight logistics company
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
Lufthansa CityLine, a regional carrier, wholly owned by LH
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, of which LH holds 10%
Germanwings, a low-cost subsidiary operating short-haul point-to-point flights from a number of bases in Germany
Italianwings, a soon to be established low-cost airline based on the Germanwings model
Lufthansa Commercial Holding, containing over 400 service and finance companies of which Lufthansa holds shares

[edit] 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 5 February 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.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Destinations

Further information: Lufthansa destinations

[edit] Fleet

Lufthansa operates the following aircraft as of February 2007:

**Lufthansa Fleet**
Aircraft	Total	Passengers (First/Business*/Economy)	Notes
Airbus A300-600R	14	280*
Airbus A319	20 (23 orders)	132*
Airbus A320	36 (15 orders)	156*
Airbus A321	26 (15 orders)	190*
Airbus A330-300	10 (5 orders)	221 (8/48/165)
Airbus A340-300	28	266 (44/222) 221 (8/48/165) 247 (8/42/197)
Airbus A340-600	16 (8 orders)	345 (66/279) 306 (8/60/238)
Airbus A380-800	(15 orders)		Entry into service: 2009
Boeing 737-300	33	123* 126*
Boeing 737-500	30	123*
Boeing 747-400	30	330 (16/80/234) 390 (16/64/310)
Boeing 747-8^[1]	(20 orders)		Launch Customer Entry into service: 2010

^{*First Class is offered aboard some international flights.

*Short haul aircraft base Business Class seating amounts by demand.}

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

[edit] Lufthansa Cityline

The fleet of Lufthansa Cityline consists of:

[edit] Lufthansa Cargo

The fleet of Lufthansa Carrgo consists of:

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

Lufthansa has the biggest Non-American fleet.

[edit] Orders

Lufthansa is the launch customer for the Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental.

30 (+30) Airbus A319
10 Airbus A320
15 Airbus A321
5 Airbus A330 (deliveries: January 2008)
8 Airbus A340-600 (deliveries: 2006-2009)
15 Airbus A380 (deliveries: 2009)
20 Boeing 747-8 (deliveries: 2010)

The biggest capital expenditure project is the Airbus A380. Lufthansa has ordered 15, and a further 10 on option. They are likely to be used on services to Asia, Canada and the USA.^[2] Owing to its greatly expanded capacity, Lufthansa expects the A380 to provide growth without having to increase the number of aircraft in use and will simultaneously improve the fleet's efficiency due to its lower operating costs than conventional long-haul aircraft.^[3]

Lufthansa placed an order for 20 Boeing 747-8Is for delivery in 2010 on December 6, 2006 with purchase rights for 20 more airframes.^[1] ^[4]

Lufhansa also plans the purchase of 60 regional aircraft for its Cityline.

[edit] Livery

Lufthansa's livery is a Eurowhite scheme, composed of primarily white with blue and yellow/orange accents. A bare metal livery was proposed during the 1980s, also a yellow tail-belly-engines with silver titles in the late 1980s ( only 1 737 and 1 A310 ever carried this livery).

[edit] Accidents

1959 (January 11): A Lockheed Super Constellation crashed shortly before landing at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on a flight from Hamburg, Germany. 36 of 39 people died. [1]
1966 (January 28): While trying to go-around after failing to land Flight 5, a Convair CV-440, crashed on its flight from Frankfurt, Germany to Bremen, Germany during low-visibility conditions. All 46 people on board died. [2]
1974 (November 20): Shortly after takeoff, Flight 540, a 747-100 (D-ABYB, named "Hessen") crashed in Nairobi.
1993 (September 14): In Warsaw Flight 2904, an Airbus 320 (D-AIPN, named "Kulmbach"), coming from Frankfurt am Main with 70 people crashed into an earth wall at the end of the runway. The copilot and a passenger died. A series of unfortunate events lead to the crash: heavy rain prior to the landing, strong windshear over the airport, meteorological information provided by the tower to the crew was not accurate, pilot error and computer software imperfections. [3] [4]

Lufthansa is 18th in the international JACDEC-Safety-Ranking with 0,05 (2006) index points.

[edit] Incidents

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Flight 181, on October 13, 1977, was a Boeing 737, named after the Bavarian city "Landshut". The aircraft was hijacked and the captain was 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.

25 March 2007 - Flight LH584 (SK3585/UA8910) enroute Frankfurt - Cairo made an emergency landing in Belgrade due to smoke coming from one of the onboard cabin systems. 213 passengers and 11 crew were onboard the Airbus A300-600 aircraft with only one passenger needing to be treated for smoke inhalation and breathing difficulties.