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===European Domestic===
===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.
'''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.

|[[Image:Lufthansa A321.jpg|thumb|left|[[Airbus A321|Airbus A321]]]]


'''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.
'''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.

Revision as of 22:39, 6 October 2008

"Deutsche Lufthansa" redirects here. For the East German airline, see Interflug.
Lufthansa
File:Lufthansa Logo.svg
IATA ICAO Callsign
LH DLH LUFTHANSA
Founded1926 (as Deutsche Luft Hansa Aktiengesellschaft), refounded 1954
Hubs
Focus cities
Frequent-flyer programMiles & More
AllianceStar Alliance
Fleet size276 (+ 166 orders + 90 options); Lufthansa AG including subsidiaries: 531
Destinations209 in 81 countries (by June 2008)
HeadquartersCologne, Germany
Key peopleJürgen Weber (Head of Supervisory Board and former CEO), Wolfgang Mayrhuber(CEO), Stefan Lauer (), Stephan Gemkow (CFO)
Websitehttp://www.lufthansa.de/

Deutsche Lufthansa AG (ISIN: DE0008232125) (IPA: [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

Lufthansa headquarters in Cologne, Germany

The company was founded on 6 January 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.

Lufthansa was recreated on 6 January 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 1 April 1955 Lufthansa resumed scheduled service within Germany. International operations started on 15 May 1955, with flights to points in Europe, followed by service to New York on 8 June 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 SED 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

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 28 October 1990, 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 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 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 747-8 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]

Subsidiaries

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

  • 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
  • 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% from 2011.
  • 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 Lufthansa
  • 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 Lufthansa holds 24.9%
  • Lufthansa holds 13% of Luxair.
  • 49% of Eurowings a regional carrier, which in turn has a full stake in Germanwings, a low-cost subsidiary operating short-haul point-to-point flights from a number of bases in Germany
  • 30%, minus 1 share, of BMI, a UK airline
  • Lufthansa has a 19% stake in JetBlue.[6]
  • 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 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[2].

Destinations

Further information: Lufthansa destinations

Fleet

Airbus A340-600
Airbus A300-600
Airbus A319
Airbus A320
Airbus A321
Avro RJ85
Bombardier CRJ200
Lufthansa narrowbody fleet
Aircraft Total Passengers Notes
Airbus A319 20
(11 orders) 		126
Airbus A320 36
(14 orders) 		142
Airbus A321 32
(30 orders) 		182 Largest operator of the Airbus A321
Boeing 737-300 33 127 Exit from service: 2012
Boeing 737-500 30 111 Exit from service: 2010
Embraer 190 (30 orders) About 100 Entry into service: 2009
Lufthansa Widebody Fleet
Aircraft Total Passengers Notes
Airbus A300-600 13 280
Airbus A330-300 14
(3 orders) 		221
Airbus A340-300 28 247 Largest operator of the Airbus A340-300
Airbus A340-600 20
(4 orders) 		306 Largest operator of the Airbus A340-600
Airbus A380-800 (15 orders)
(10 options) 		555 Entry into service: 2009
Boeing 747-400 30 344 Exit from Service: 2010-2012
Replacement aircraft:
Boeing 747-8
Airbus A340-600
Airbus A380
Boeing 747-8 (20 orders)
(20 options) 		467 Launch customer
Entry into service: 2010
Lufthansa Cityline Fleet
Aircraft Total Passengers
Avro RJ85 18 93
Bombardier CRJ100 50
Bombardier CRJ200 50
Bombardier CRJ700 20 70
Bombardier CRJ900 12
(15 orders) 		84
Lufthansa Cargo Fleet
Aircraft Total
McDonnell Douglas MD-11F 19

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.[7][8]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 slated for refitting beginning in October, 2008.

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.

|

Airbus A321

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

Lounge Access - Class Access - Status Notes Number on Network
First Class Terminal First Class HON Circle FRA Only 1
First Class Lounge First Class HON Circle FRA and MUC Only 3
Senator Lounge First Class Senator (or higher)
Star Alliance Gold 		30
Business Lounge Business Class (or higher) Frequent Traveler (or higher) 26

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. Membership levels include Basic (no minimal threshold), Frequent Traveler (Silver, 35,000 mile threshold), Senator (Gold, 100,000 mile threshold, 130,000 for German residents), and HON Circle (Black, 600,000 mile threshold). All Miles & More status levels (excluding basic) permit lounge access and bonus miles, with the higher levels offering more exclusive benefits.

Codeshare agreements

Lufthansa has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:[9]

*Star Alliance member

Accidents and incidents

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International. 2007-04-03. p. 107.
  2. ^ a b Lufthansa Chronicle
  3. ^ "Sedta Cuts Rates". Time Magazine. 27 January, 1941. Retrieved 2007-09-14. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameters: |laydate=, |laysource=, |quotes=, |laysummary=, |coauthors=, and |month= (help)
  4. ^ http://konzern.lufthansa.com/en/html/presse/pressemeldungen/index.html?c=nachrichten/app/show/en/2008/09/857/HOM&s=0 Official press release by Lufthansa
  5. ^ http://company.brusselsairlines.com/en/news/detail.aspx?uri=tcm:141-19030 Official press release by Brussels Airlines
  6. ^ http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/primenewswire/133023.htm
  7. ^ Lufthansa's Labor of Love: Restoring Some Really Old Junkers, Wall Street Journal, June 16, 2008
  8. ^ Engineering Veteran Plays a Vital Role in Plane's Rebirth
  9. ^ Lufthansa Codeshare Agreements
  10. ^ "JACDEC's JACDEC's Airliner Safety Statistics: Airlines". JACDEC. May 17 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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