Lufthansa

Lufthansa can look back on an eventful history. It has included many glorious moments but the course of events has not always been smooth. The challenges facing air transport have become increasingly complex, yet Lufthansa has always found the strength to learn and renew itself. That ability has gained the company its lead position in the international airline business.

Lufthansa is the largest German airline and one of the largest airlines in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Its registered office and corporate headquarters are in Cologne. Lufthansa Group is composed of the segments Network Airlines, Eurowings and Aviation Services. Aviation Services comprises the segments Logistics, MRO (maintenance, repair, and overhaul), Catering and Additional Businesses and Group Functions. The latter also includes Lufthansa AirPlus, Lufthansa Aviation Training and the IT companies (until April 2009 Lufthansa inventory and departure control systems, based on Unisys were managed by LH Systems. Lufthansa reservations systems were outsourced to Amadeus in the early 1990s. Following a decision to outsource all components of the Passenger Service System, the functions were outsourced to the Altéa platform managed by Amadeus).

All segments occupy a leading position in their respective markets. As a leading European airline group, the aim of the Lufthansa Group is to take on a key role in shaping the global aviation market and to remain the first choice for shareholders, customers and employees in the future. The main operations base, called Lufthansa Aviation Center, is at Lufthansa's primary hub at Frankfurt Airport and its secondary hub is at Munich Airport where a secondary Flight Operations Centre is maintained.

The name of the former flag carrier is derived from the German word Luft meaning "air" and Hansa for the Hanseatic League. Lufthansa is one of the five founding members of Star Alliance, the world's largest airline alliance, formed in 1997.

The Lufthansa logo, an encircled stylized crane in flight, was first created in 1918 by Otto Firle. It was part of the livery of the first German airline, Deutsche Luft-Reederei (abbreviated DLR), which began air service on 5 February 1919. In 1926, Deutsche Luft Hansa adopted this symbol, and in 1954, Lufthansa expressed continuity by adopting it and later in 1963. 

In 2018, Lufthansa refreshed its livery. The encircled crane was retained, however, the background was changed from yellow to dark blue. The vertical stabilizer and the rear fuselage was all painted in dark blue, with the tail cone remained white. The main fuselage was painted in all white, and the brand name "Lufthansa" was painted above the windows, also in dark blue.

 The company slogan is 'Say yes to the world.' With hubs in Frankfurt and Munich, under the slogan is 'Say yes to the world.' Lufthansa currently flies to 211 destinations in 74 countries.

Besides its own services, and owning subsidiary passenger airlines Austrian Airlines, Swiss International Air Lines, Brussels Airlines, and Eurowings (referred to in English by Lufthansa as its Passenger Airline Group), Deutsche Lufthansa AG owns several aviation-related companies, such as Lufthansa Technik and LSG Sky Chefs, as part of the Lufthansa Group. In total, the group has over 700 aircraft, making it one of the largest airline fleets in the world.

Lufthansa traces its history to 1926 when Deutsche Luft Hansa A.G. (styled as Deutsche Lufthansa from 1933 onwards) was formed in Berlin. DLH, as it was known, was Germany's flag carrier until 1945 when all services were terminated following the defeat of Nazi Germany; it has since been demonstrated that Deutsche Luft Hansa relied on the use of forced labor and housed forced laborers on the site of Tempelhof airport. In an effort to create a new national airline, a company called Aktiengesellschaft für Luftverkehrsbedarf (Luftag) was founded in Cologne on 6 January 1953, with many of its staff having worked for the pre-war Lufthansa.

 Multiple tasks had to be accomplished by the new airline before it could begin flight traffic: finding and buying suitable airplanes, schooling airline pilots and engineers and training air stewards. Organizational and infrastructural prerequisites for the technical maintenance of airplanes also had to be set. The ambitious project succeeded: on 1 April 1955 two Convair airplanes took off from Hamburg and Munich to commence scheduled air services.

Parallel to the development of a European route network, flights to destinations in America, Africa and the Far East have also been added shortly after. Since 1958, the red rose has stood for the fulfilment of the highest comfort requirements in First Class on intercontinental routes.

In 1960, Lufthansa arrived in the age of the jet plane with the acquisition of the first Boeing B707. Simultaneously, the company transferred its long-distance operations from Hamburg to Frankfurt am Main and continued to expand its cargo business.

The oil crises of 1973 and 1979, which made the prices for kerosene explode. At the same time, it created a new understanding of how resources are handled and thus drove the development of fuel-efficient and quieter jet engines forwards.

Time and again Lufthansa offered innovations to their growing customer base: Wide-body aircraft with the latest technology were bought. In 1970, the Boeing B747 was deployed for the first time on long-haul routes followed by the tri-jet Douglas DC 10, and from 1976 the Airbus A300, the first wide-body twin-engine jet for medium distance flights.

Women also conquered the cockpits at Lufthansa with the training of the first two female pilots in 1986.

In the second half of the 1990s, the corporate group was faced with huge changes. On the one hand, in 1995 Lufthansa Technik AG, Lufthansa Cargo AG and Lufthansa Systems GmbH were transformed into independent companies of the aviation group and on the other hand, in 1997 Lufthansa was finally privatized. Both were meant to increase the group’s competitiveness and contributed to Lufthansa’s long-term strategy of developing into the world-wide leading provider of air travel and air travel contiguous services.

COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND RECOVERY: On 19 March 2020 Lufthansa cancelled 95 percent of all flights due to a travel ban because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, the airline incurred losses of 1 million euros per hour by April 2020. While Lufthansa reduced its costs throughout 2020, continuing health risks and travel restrictions still caused hourly losses of approximately 500,000 euros on average at the beginning of 2021.
On 14 May, Lufthansa's Hans DeHaan said the airline would resume flights between Toronto and Frankfurt as of 3 June. Flights were banned on all international non-essential travel between Canada and the European Union. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Lufthansa operated 64 weekly flights between the two countries. The airline's recovery plans involve high-density cargo to replace paying customers. The Lufthansa Group airlines now require all passengers to wear a mask while aboard.

In January 2021, Lufthansa CEO Spohr announced that the entire currently stored Airbus A340-600 fleet will be retired with immediate effect and not return to service anymore.

Lufthansa has received the 5-Star Airline rating from SKYTRAX for the quality of its airport and onboard product and staff service. Product rating includes seats, amenities, food & beverages, IFE (in-flight-entertainment), cleanliness etc, and service rating is for both cabin staff and ground staff.