Lufthansa turns 100 years between wars and mass tourism | EUROtoday

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The German airline Lufthansa turns 100 on 6 January 2026, a centenary that marks a historical past of interruptions, restarts and relaunches to grow to be one of many largest airways on the earth able to transporting over 150 million passengers a 12 months, with a fleet of over 300 plane and as a gaggle it may well depend on a widespread community of European airways from SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Discover Airlines, Eurowings, ITA Airways and Brussels Airlines. Today the brand new growth additionally passes by means of Italy after the settlement with the Italian provider Ita AIrways and with the Germans’ choice to concentrate on Fiumicino as a hub for development in the direction of America, Africa and Asia.

The firm’s first plane

Photo: Lufthansa

The start of the German firm…

The historical past of the corporate is marked by darkish durations as she herself defines them “the darkest chapter in Lufthansa’s history was during the Nazi era, when the airline became part of the regime and played an active role within it” writes the provider in a notice. But let’s go so as. On 6 January 1926, an airline referred to as Deutsche Luft Hansa was based in Berlin following the merger between Junkers Luftverkehr and Deutsche Aero Lloyd with the duty of connecting the German Landers and opening new routes to the Continent. Pioneer of German aviation in the course of the two wars, with the political modifications in Germany within the Thirties and Forties, he quickly turned an lively a part of the Nazi regime, enjoying a big position inside it.

.. and the Second World War

During the Second World War it was in control of pilot coaching and plane upkeep and restore on behalf of the Luftwaffe, the German navy air pressure, an integral a part of the Wehrmacht in the course of the Second World War. Forced labor was additionally used to hold out these actions and a lot of the work was carried out within the well-known Tempelhof airport in Berlin, the place what would grow to be Lufthansa was based mostly, an space now transformed right into a park.

A Junkers Ju 52 and a Lockheed L-1649A Starliner,

The restoration and fall of the Berlin Wall

With the tip of the battle in 1945 and the following occupation of Germany by Allied forces, all the firm’s remaining plane had been grounded and on 1 January 1951 Deutsche Luft Hansa was closed, with all remaining belongings liquidated. Recovery was gradual, however Germany ultimately regained management of its airspace, ultimately deciding to create a brand new nationwide airline. The firm, initially referred to as Aktiengesellschaft für Luftverkehrsbedarf (Luftag), was based in Cologne in 1953. The following 12 months, the brand new firm acquired the rights to make use of the identify of the earlier pre-war nationwide airline and in 1955 formally resumed flights beneath the Deutsche Lufthansa AG model. It initially operated solely home flights after which rapidly expanded internationally to Europe and past. The airline’s preliminary community linked Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Cologne and Munich. International flights started with connections from Germany to Paris, London and Madrid, and in June 1955 flights to New York started.

With the appearance of jets within the Nineteen Sixties, a brand new period started, resulting in the mass tourism of the Nineties: Lufthansa turned a mannequin firm based mostly on the rules of security, technological innovation and high quality of service. A elementary stage in its historical past was reached in 1989, when, for the primary time since 1945 and as an indication of the newfound German unity, a Lufthansa airplane landed in Berlin.