Lufthansa
Deutsche Lufthansa AG is the flag carrier of Germany with headquarters located in Cologne. Based on overall passengers carried it is considered as one of the largest airlines in Europe. Its hubs are Frankfurt International Airport and Munich Airport while focus cities are Dusseldorf International Airport, Hamburg International Airport, Berlin-Tegel Airport and Stuttgart Airport.
Deutsche Luft Hansa Aktiengesellschaft was founded in 1926 as a result of a merger between Deutsche Aero Lloyd and Junkers Luftverkehr. Prior to World War II, Lufthansa was a pioneer in flight operations to the Far East, North Atlantic and South Atlantic. During World War II Lufthansa only flew to neutral countries. Following Germany’s defeat in the war, Lufthansa stopped all services.
The new Lufthansa was established in 1953. It started domestic and international flights in 1955. In the 1960s Lufthansa extended their Far East operations and also commenced flights to Lagos, Nigeria and Johannesburg.
Lufthansa was allowed to fly to Berlin again in 1990 after the German reunification. By 1997, Lufthansa co-founded Star Alliance, the largest airline alliance in the world.
Lufthansa merged with SWISS in 2005. Then in 2008, Lufthansa announced that it is set to acquire 45% stake with Brussels Airlines.
Lufthansa has around 37,000 employees as of 2007. It is owned by private investors (88.52%), MGL Gesellschaft für Luftverkehrswerte holds 10.05% shares with the company, Deutsche Postbank has 1.03% stake and Deutsche Bank has 0.4%.
Lufthansa’s slogan is “There’s no better way to fly.”
Domestic and International Destinations
Lufthansa has flight services to 209 destinations in 81 countries with a fleet size of 323 aircraft.
Its destinations include Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Newark, New York City, Orlando, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. in United States; Mexico City in Mexico; Calgary, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver in Canada; Buenos Aires in Argentina; Sao Paulo in Brazil; Caracas in Venezuela; Algiers in Algeria; Luanda in Angola; Alexandria and Cairo in Egypt; Asmara in Eritrea; Malabo in Equatorial Guinea; Addis Ababa in Ethiopia; Accra in Ghana; Tripoli in Libya; Casablanca in Morocco; Abuja and Lagos in Nigeria; Cape Town and Johannesburg in South Africa; Khartoum in Sudan; Tunis in Tunisia; Beijing, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Shanghai and Shenyang in People’s Republic of China; Nagoya, Osaka and Tokyo in Japan; Busan and Seoul in South Korea; Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune in India; Jakarta in Indonesia; Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia; Singapore; Bangkok in Thailand; Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam; Manama in Bahrain; Tehran in Iran; Tel Aviv in Israel; Amman in Jordan; Kuwait; Beirut in Lebanon; Muscat in Oman; Doha in Qatar; Dammam, Jeddah and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia; Abu Dhabi and Dubai in United Arab Emirates; Sana’a in Yemen; Yerevan in Armenia; Baku in Azerbaijan; and Tbilisi in Georgia.
Lufthansa’s European destinations include Graz, Innsbruck, Klagenfurt, Linz and Vienna in Austria; Tirana in Albania; Minsk in Belarus; Brussels in Belgium; Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina; Sofia in Bulgaria; Zagreb in Croatia; Larnaca in Cyprus; Prague in Czech Republic; Billund and Copenhagen in Denmark; Tallinn in Estonia; Helsinki in Finland; Bastia, Lyon, Marseilles, Mulhouse, Nice, Paris and Toulouse in France; Athens in Greece; Balaton and Budapest in Hungary; Dublin in Ireland; Reykjavik in Iceland; Ancona, Bologna, Cagliari, Catania, Florence, Genoa, Milan, Naples, Olbia, Pisa, Rome, Trieste, Turin, Venice and Verona in Italy; Riga in Latvia; Vilnius in Lithuania; Malta; Amsterdam in Netherlands; Bergen, Oslo and Stavanger in Norway; Gdansk, Katowice, Krakow, Poznan, Warsaw and Wroclaw in Poland; Faro, Lisbon and Porto in Portugal; Bucharest, Cluj Napoca, Sibiu and Timisoara in Romania; Ekaterinburg, Kazan, Moscow, Nizhny, Perm, Rostov, Saint Petersburg, Samara and Ufa in Russia; Belgrade in Serbia; Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca and Valencia in Spain; Gothenburg and Stockholm in Sweden; Berne, Geneva and Zurich in Switzerland; Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir in Turkey; Donetsk and Kyiv in Ukraine; Birmingham, Bristol, London, Manchester, Newquay, Newcastle, Edinburgh and Jersey in United Kingdom.
In Germany, Lufthansa operates flights to Berlin, Bremen, Cologne, Dresden, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Friedrichshafen, Heringsdorf, Hamburg, Hanover, Hof, Leipzig, Munich, Munster, Nuremberg, Paderborn, Stuttgart and Westerland.
Frequent Flyer Programme
Miles & More is the frequent flyer programme of Lufthansa. It features many benefits to its loyal customers. Membership is free. There are four levels of membership namely Miles & More Member (basic), Frequent Traveller, Senator and HON Circle Member. Each tier has corresponding benefits. Accumulation of miles is based on distance flown for one calendar year.
Every time a member flies with Lufthansa or any of Star Alliance airlines, they can earn points. Miles can also be earned by purchasing goods and/or availing of services from partners such as hotels, car rental companies, shopping, lifestyle, telecommunications and electronics, credit cards and other commercial establishments.
Membership benefits include bonus miles, travel class upgrade, guaranteed booking, waiting list priority, preferential check-in, additional baggage allowance, priority baggage handling, lounge access, first class terminal access, exclusive service hotline and other premium awards.
Benefits from Star Alliance depend on the member airline’s frequent flyer programme.