Lufthansa

Deutsche Lufthansa AG (ISIN: DE0008232125) (pronounced ) is the second largest airline in Europe (after Air France - KLM). more...

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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 German flag carrier and the world's sixth largest airline, operating services to 200 destinations in 100 countries. Together with its partners Lufthansa services over 410 destinations.

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.

Lufthansa is a founding member of Star Alliance, the largest airline alliance. Star Alliance was formed in 1997 together with Thai Airways, United Airlines, Air Canada and Scandinavian Airline Systems. Star Alliance has now 17 member airlines and 3 regional members. The Lufthansa Group operates more than 400 aircraft and employs nearly 100,000 people worldwide. In 2006, 53.4 million passengers flew with Lufthansa.

History

The company was founded on 6 January 1926 in Berlin, following a merger between "Deutsche Aero Lloyd" (DAL) and "Junkers Luftverkehr". 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 pioneered routes to the Far East and across the North Atlantic and the 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. Early in the war, along with the Italian Transcontinental Airline (Linee Aeree Transcontinentali Italiane, or LATI), the company competed vigorously in South America. 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.

Read more at Wikipedia.org