55 Facts About Lufthansa

Lufthansa is one of the five founding members of Star Alliance, the world's largest airline alliance, formed in 1997.

On 1 April 1955 Lufthansa won approval to start scheduled domestic flights, linking Hamburg, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Cologne, and Munich.

Special status of Berlin meant that Lufthansa was not allowed to fly to either part of Berlin until German reunification in 1990.

In 1958 Lufthansa ordered four Boeing 707s and started jet flights from Frankfurt to New York City in March 1960.

Lufthansa introduced the Boeing 727 in 1964 and that May began the Polar route from Frankfurt to Tokyo via Anchorage.

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Lufthansa was the first foreign launch customer for a Boeing airliner.

In 1999, Lufthansa participated in the German Business Foundation initiative addressing class action lawsuits against German companies for World War II-era misdeeds, including the use of forced labor, by reportedly paying 10s of millions German marks.

On 6 December 2001, Lufthansa announced an order for 15 Airbus A380 superjumbos with 10 more options, which was confirmed on 20 December.

In June 2003, Lufthansa opened Terminal 2 at Munich's Franz Josef Strauß Airport to relieve its main hub, Frankfurt, which was suffering from capacity constraints.

On 17 May 2004, Lufthansa became the launch customer for the Connexion by Boeing in-flight online connectivity service.

In September 2008, Lufthansa Group announced its intent to purchase a stake in Brussels Airlines.

In September 2016, Lufthansa announced it would purchase the remainder of Brussels Airlines for €2.

In September 2009, Lufthansa purchased Austrian Airlines with the approval of the European Commission.

In 2012, Lufthansa announced a restructuring program called SCORE to improve its operating profit.

In September 2013, Lufthansa Group announced its biggest order, for 59 wide-body aircraft valued more than 14 billion euros at list prices.

Lufthansa pilots were joined by pilots from the group's budget carrier Germanwings to stage a nationwide strike in support of their demands in April 2014 which lasted three days.

In June 2015, Lufthansa announced plans to close its small long-haul base at Dusseldorf Airport for economic reasons by October 2015.

Lufthansa operated the 737 in several variants for almost 50 years, the first aircraft having been delivered on 27 December 1967.

On 4 December 2017, Lufthansa became the first European airline to receive the Skytrax 5 star certification.

On 19 March 2020 Lufthansa cancelled 95 percent of all flights due to a travel ban because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

All Lufthansa Group required all passengers to wear a mask while aboard.

In June 2021, Lufthansa said it wants to repay state aid it received during the pandemic before Germany's federal election in September 2021 if possible.

Also in June 2021, Lufthansa said it would change its communications to adopt a more gender-neutral and inclusive language.

In January 2022 Lufthansa admitted it had operated over 18,000 empty flights to keep airport slots during the pandemic.

In March 2022, Lufthansa originally confirmed that its entire Airbus A380 fleet would be retired, having been in storage since early 2020.

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In June 2022, Lufthansa revised its former decision to retire all Airbus A380s with plans to now return up to five aircraft from storage by 2023 to be based at Munich Airport.

However, in early 2013 Lufthansa revealed plans to relocate its head office from Cologne to Frankfurt by 2017.

Several Lufthansa departments are not at the headquarters; instead they are in the Lufthansa Aviation Center at Frankfurt Airport.

In 1926, Deutsche Luft Hansa adopted this symbol, and in 1954, Lufthansa expressed continuity by adopting it and later in 1963 – a variant thereof as redesigned by Robert Lisovskyi.

In late 2007, Lufthansa Cargo was forced to relocate a hub from Kazakhstan to Russia.

Lufthansa completed the purchase of Austrian Airlines from the Austrian government in January 2009.

In 2010, Lufthansa was named in a European Commission investigation into price-fixing, but was not fined because it acted as a whistleblower.

Lufthansa describes Air Malta, Luxair, and LATAM as partner airlines.

In February 2010, Lufthansa announced that its first two Airbus A380s would be named Frankfurt am Main and Munchen after Lufthansa's two hub airports.

Lufthansa is restoring a Lockheed Super Constellation, using parts from three such aircraft bought at auctions.

Lufthansa uses its A380s from and to Frankfurt am Main and since March 2018 to and from Munich as well.

From 6 to 12 December 2011, Lufthansa already used an A380 once a day on the route from Munich to New York-JFK.

On 8 March 2020, Lufthansa announced that it would be grounding all of its A380 aircraft due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lufthansa announced on 27 June 2022 that the remaining fleet of eight A380s will be reactivated and brought back into service for the 2023 summer season.

Lufthansa is still assessing how many and which A380 will be reactivated and which route the A380 will serve again.

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.

Lufthansa introduced a new First Class product aboard the Airbus A380 and planned to gradually introduce it on all of its long-haul aircraft.

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, as well as the Lufthansa Welcome Lounge upon arrival in Frankfurt.

Lufthansa operates four types of lounges within its destination network: First Class, Senator, Business, and Welcome Lounges.

Lufthansa operates a dedicated first class terminal at Frankfurt Airport.

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Lufthansa previously operated a check-in point in the city limits of Nuremberg and a bus service from Nuremberg to Munich Airport in the late 1990s.

Carsten Spohr, Lufthansa's CEO, oversaw the Germanwings Flight 9525 accident, "the darkest day for Lufthansa in its 60-year history", when pilot Andreas Lubitz intentionally flew an aircraft into a mountain, murdering 149 passengers.

On 1 September 2015, Lufthansa implemented a 16 euro surcharge on Global Distribution System bookings.

Pro-migration activists from Germany have criticised Lufthansa for performing deportation flights on behalf of the German government.

Lufthansa has been criticized for lack of transparency about the use of more than 10,000 forced laborers, many of them children, by its predecessor company, Deutsche Luft Hansa, during World War II.

Lufthansa called in dozens of armed federal police to enforce its policy.

Lufthansa confirmed that it barred a group of passengers from the flight.

Lufthansa denied its actions were antisemitic saying that "We consider the claim of anti-Semitism to be unwarranted and without merit".

Lufthansa later said it wishes to investigate the incident internally.

Lufthansa was condemned by US envoy Deborah Lipstadt who described Lufthansa's anti-Semitism as "unbelievable", and stated that her office was in contact with the German government over the incident that involved US citizens.