Lufthansa Airlines is a German flag carrier found in 1953 and commenced operations in 1954. It is owned by private investors (88.52%), MGL Gesellschaft fur Luftverkehrswerte (10.05%), Deutsche Postbank (1.03%) and Deutsche Bank (0.4%). It is Europe’s largest airline in terms of overall passengers carried and is headquartered in Cologne, Germany.
Lufthansa has its operations base and traffic hub at Frankfurt Airport and secondary hub at Munich Airport. It operates services to six continents including 18 domestic destinations and 203 international destinations. Lufthansa offers services to over 410 destinations along with its partners and stands and ranks fourth in the passenger count. It owns over 710 aircraft along with its subsidiaries and holds the record as the second largest passenger fleet airline. With several subsidiary airlines, Lufthansa is a founding member of Star Alliance. The airline has codeshare agreements with Air India, Air Malta, Avianca, Cirrus Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Luxair, Qatar Airways and TACA Airlines.
History:
The history of Lufthansa Airlines dates back to 1926 when the airline Deutsche Luft Hansa, the flag carrier of Germany served operations. By the end of the Second World War, the airlines suspended all operations when Germany was defeated. The airline was renamed as Deutsche Lufthansa Aktiengesellschaft and relaunched in 1954 a year after it was taken over by the air traffic demand company Aktiengesellschaft fur Luftverkehrsbedarf in 1953. In 1955, the airline commenced services within Germany and international operations were launched in the same year to Europe and New York City, following which services to South Atlantic routes were introduced in 1956.
Lufthansa introduced jetliner operations to New York, Bangkok, Thailand, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Lagos, Nigeria, and Johannesburg. In the same decade, Boeing 727 for polar routes and 21 Boeing 737 for medium haul routes were introduced. Lufthansa was the first customer of Boeing 737 aircraft and became the first foreign launch customer for commercial operations using the aircraft.
Lufthansa entered the wide-body era in the 1970s when it purchased many Airbuses and aircraft. The airline began services to South America after the purchase of Boeing 747 flights. Lufthansa along with Air Canada, Thai Airways, Scandinavian Airlines and United Airlines formed the world’s first multilateral airline alliance, Star Alliance. In 2000, the airline partnered with Air One. In 2003, the airline opened Terminal 2 at Franz Josef Strauß Airport in Munich to resolve constraints at Frankfurt Airport. In the following years, Lufthansa purchased many aircraft and was the launch customer of different aircraft.
Services:
Lufthansa Airlines operates First Class, Business Class, and Economy Class services in intercontinental flights and operates Business Class and Economy Class services in European domestic flights.
Intercontinental:
First Class passengers have seats with a two-meter bed, laptop power outlets, entertainment facilities and meals on demand. Passengers have dedicated First Class check-in counters, access to First Class lounges in Frankfurt and Munich, First Class Terminal in Frankfurt and Munich and arriving passengers have access to Lufthansa’s First Class arrival facilities. Business Class passengers have seats with two meters angled lie-flat bed, laptop power outlets, entertainment facilities, Business Class check-in counter and access to Business Class lounges and contract lounges and Lufthansa Welcome Lounge in Frankfurt. Passengers flying in Economy Class have a 31” seat pitch, meals with free drinks and AVOD systems.
Europe Domestic:
Business Class passengers have 31”-32” seat pitch, meals and drinks and access to Business Class check-in counters and Lufthansa Business Class lounges. Passengers in Economy Class have 31” seat pitch, free meals, snacks, and beverages. In-flight entertainment is not available on any short-haul flights.
Loyalty Programme:
The frequent flyer program of Lufthansa is called Miles & More and is shared among different airlines including Adria Airways, Croatia Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, Luxair, Swiss International Air Lines, Brussels Airlines and Austrian Airlines. Members earn miles by flying on Lufthansa or Star Alliance partner flights, purchase made through Lufthansa credit cards and Lufthansa shops. Miles & More membership includes Basic, Frequent Traveller – Silver, Senator – Gold and HON Circle – Black.
