Airline · LH
Lufthansa
Germany
Anna Zvereva — CC BY-SA 2.0
History
The Story of Lufthansa
Deutsche Lufthansa AG traces its commercial roots to the foundation of Deutsche Luft Hansa in Berlin in January 1926, which was formed through the merger of Deutscher Aero Lloyd and Junkers Luftverkehr. The original carrier expanded rapidly across Europe and established early intercontinental routes before its operations were completely dissolved in the aftermath of World War II.
The contemporary iteration of the airline was established in Cologne as Luftag in January 1953 before acquiring the historic name rights, formally relaunching commercial flight operations in April 1955. Lufthansa evolved into a cornerstone of European commercial aviation, becoming a co-founder of Star Alliance in 1997 and expanding into a massive global aviation group through the acquisition of major carriers including Swiss International Air Lines and Austrian Airlines. Today, Lufthansa operates as Germany's primary flag carrier and anchors the Lufthansa Group, positioning it as one of the largest airline networks worldwide.
Branding
Livery & Visual Identity
Lufthansa maintained one of the most stable and uniform corporate identities in global aviation following its 1960s rebrand, which paired a white fuselage and blue cheatline with a dark blue vertical stabilizer featuring a yellow circle enclosing the stylized crane logo designed by Otto Firle. A major visual overhaul launched in 2018 replaced the traditional yellow accent with a darker, minimalist deep-blue tail fin and streamlined typography, generating extensive discussion across the aviation community.
Safety Record
Notable Safety History
Official investigations into operational accidents involving Lufthansa flights have yielded critical regulatory and technical enhancements. On November 20, 1974, Lufthansa Flight 540, a Boeing 747-130 operating from Nairobi, experienced an aerodynamic stall and crashed shortly after takeoff. The official inquiry determined that the pneumatic bleed-air valves supplying the leading-edge high-lift devices had not been opened, leaving the slats retracted during takeoff while the trailing flaps were deployed. The investigation prompted safety recommendations regarding the verification of actual pneumatic system configurations and takeoff warning logic.
On September 14, 1993, Lufthansa Flight 2904, an Airbus A320-200 flying from Frankfurt to Warsaw, overran the destination runway during severe weather conditions. The investigation revealed that asymmetric touchdown under dynamic windshear resulted in delayed compression of the landing gear oleo struts, which served as the safety interlock preventing automatic deployment of ground spoilers and thrust reversers. The findings contributed to subsequent software logic reviews and procedural refinements regarding landing system activation criteria under adverse crosswind and tailwind components.
Covers officially investigated accidents only, per aviation safety authorities (NTSB, ICAO or equivalent).