[S1E1] The Lufthansa Story 1951-1965
Date: 29.06.2017 - Author: Luca Schwahn (@LH-MUC)
The first part of The Lufthansa Story shows you the first ten years of the Lufthansa Company. As every big company Lufthansa started small, more precisely with four Convair CV-340. A propeller-driven airplane which was equipped with 44 seats. In 1955 at the first of April scheduled flights from Hamburg, Germany to Munich, Germany and reverse started. Shortly afterward more german domestic flights and flights to european capitals were established. Furthermore the first L-1049 āSuper Constellationā arrived in Hamburg. As a result flights to New York started in June.
In 1956 Lufthansa made the first provisional contract for the purchase of four Boeing 707. By using the simulating programm āPaper Jetā Lufthansa simulated the regular service for planes. At the second of May the āLufthansa Flight Schoolā in Bremen opened and until today the new pilots are trained there. At the eleventh of February, 1959 the L-1049 āSuper Constellationā D-ALAK crashed in Rio de Janeiro. The 28 passengers and 7 out of 10 crew members lost their lifeās. It was the first accident with casualties in the history of Lufthansa.
With the first arrival of an Boeing 707 in Hamburg at the second of March,1960 the jet plane age for Lufthansa began. Less fuel, twice as fast then propeller-driven planes and also twice as many seats were the great advantages of jet engines. Every month more and more Boeing 707 arrived in Hamburg and replaced the L-1049 āSuper Constellationā on long haul routes.
Pretty fast the management realized that there were overcapacities. As a consequence Lufthansa and many other airlines got into a crisis which could only be overcome by lowering ticket prices so a major amount of people would be able to fly. The strategy worked out and Lufthansa grew more.
The Boeing 707 made long haul travel much more comfortable but the european routes were still served by propeller-driven planes. As a result Lufthansa ordered 12 Boeing 727-100. The aim was to replace the older propeller-driven planes with modern jet aircraft. Furthermore Lufthansa became launching customer for the B737-100 on which the engineers of Lufthansa had major
influence. In only ten years Lufthansa became a respected and a great valued airline.
Continue reading part 2
Next part coming 31.07.2017 : [S1E2] Lufthansa - The climb ā 1965 ā 1975
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