Lufthansa
Lufthansa is the principal German network airline and the core airline brand of Deutsche Lufthansa AG. It operates a dual-hub passenger network centred on Frankfurt Airport and Munich Airport, combining European feeder services with long-haul flights. Lufthansa is a founding member of Star Alliance and uses the IATA designator LH, ICAO designator DLH and radio callsign LUFTHANSA.[1][2][3]
Corporate identity and scope
Lufthansa Airlines is the passenger-airline operation at the centre of the wider Lufthansa Group. The legal operator is Deutsche Lufthansa Aktiengesellschaft, registered in Cologne under HRB 2168 and regulated by Germany's Luftfahrt-Bundesamt. Jens Ritter has led Lufthansa Airlines as chief executive since 1 April 2022.[4][5]
The terms “Lufthansa”, “Lufthansa Airlines” and “Lufthansa Group” are not interchangeable. The Group also includes separately certificated airlines and businesses such as SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings, Discover Airlines, Lufthansa Cargo and Lufthansa Technik. The annual-report reporting unit headed “Lufthansa Airlines” additionally includes regional partners and Discover Airlines for several operational and financial measures.[1][6]
IATA lists the legal name as Deutsche Lufthansa Aktiengesellschaft, the two-letter designator LH, ICAO designator DLH and airline accounting code 220. The FAA's current company-designator list associates DLH with the telephony designator LUFTHANSA.[2][3]
History
Earlier Lufthansa and the post-war company
The first Deutsche Luft Hansa was created in 1926 from the merger of Deutscher Aero Lloyd and Junkers Luftverkehr. It operated during the National Socialist period and became involved with the regime and forced labour. Allied authorities dissolved the company after the Second World War.[7]
Today's Deutsche Lufthansa AG is not the legal successor of the 1926 company. Its legal foundation was Aktiengesellschaft für Luftverkehrsbedarf, or Luftag, incorporated in Cologne on 6 January 1953. Luftag acquired the Lufthansa name and was renamed Deutsche Lufthansa AG on 6 August 1954.[8][9]
The new airline began domestic operations on 1 April 1955. International services to Madrid, London and Paris followed on 15 May, and the first North Atlantic flight reached New York via Düsseldorf and Shannon on 8 June.[8]
Jet and wide-body expansion
Lufthansa introduced the Boeing 707 on North Atlantic services on 17 March 1960, entering the jet age. Boeing 727s followed on European and Middle Eastern routes in 1964. Frankfurt had by then become the main base for intercontinental flying.[8]
Wide-body aircraft became central to the long-haul network. Lufthansa later operated the Boeing 747, McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and Airbus A300, followed by the Airbus A310, A330 and A340 families. The Airbus A380 joined the fleet in 2010, the Boeing 747-8 in 2012, the Airbus A350-900 in 2016 and the Boeing 787-9 in 2022.[8][10]
Privatisation, alliance and group development
The German state progressively reduced its ownership, and Lufthansa's privatisation was completed on 13 October 1997. Earlier that year, on 14 May, Lufthansa joined Air Canada, Scandinavian Airlines, Thai Airways International and United Airlines in founding Star Alliance.[8]
Lufthansa introduced Miles & More on 1 January 1993. It began as the airline's frequent-flyer programme and later developed into a separate Group company and common loyalty platform used by several partner airlines.[8]
Through acquisitions and investments, Deutsche Lufthansa AG developed from a single network carrier into an aviation group. That corporate expansion should be kept separate from Lufthansa Airlines' own fleet, routes, AOC and operating statistics.
Hubs and network
Lufthansa's two hubs are Frankfurt and Munich. Frankfurt is the larger operation and has historically handled the majority of the airline's flying; Munich supplies a second long-haul hub and connecting bank structure. Flight, technical, operational and administrative functions are based at both airports.[11]
Short-haul services feed long-haul departures as well as serving local origin-and-destination demand. Lufthansa CityLine, Lufthansa City Airlines and Air Dolomiti operate regional and feeder services within the wider Lufthansa Airlines reporting structure, but each airline retains its own operator identity. Lufthansa City Airlines began flying on 26 June 2024, initially from Munich, under the separate IATA code VL.[6][12]
The airline's international reach is extended through Star Alliance and commercial joint ventures. Lufthansa Group participates in joint ventures with United Airlines and Air Canada across the Atlantic, All Nippon Airways between Europe and Japan, Singapore Airlines towards South-East Asia and the south-west Pacific, and Air China between Europe and China.[13]
Destinations and frequencies change by season. Group network totals should not be presented as if they were Lufthansa-operated routes, and a codeshare destination does not establish that a Lufthansa aircraft serves it.
Fleet
Lufthansa operates Airbus narrow-body aircraft and Airbus and Boeing wide-body aircraft. At 31 December 2025, the broader Lufthansa Airlines reporting column—including regional airlines, the legacy Germanwings category and Discover Airlines—contained 387 aircraft. Its type families included the Airbus A319, A320, A320neo, A321, A321neo, A330, A340, A350 and A380; Boeing 747 and 787; Bombardier CRJ; and Embraer regional jets.[14][15]
That 387-aircraft figure is not a mainline-only fleet count. The Group allocates some aircraft centrally and the reporting column combines multiple operators. The dedicated Lufthansa fleet page should therefore use operator-level records and registrations rather than treating every aircraft in the LH annual-report column as flown under Deutsche Lufthansa AG's AOC.[14]
Lufthansa remains a notable operator of four-engined long-haul types, including the Airbus A380, Boeing 747-400 and Boeing 747-8, while introducing Airbus A350-900 and Boeing 787-9 twinjets. The final reactivated A380 returned to Munich service in the first quarter of 2025.[1]
Fleet modernisation is intended to replace older long-haul aircraft and reduce the number of types. Lufthansa Group's plan schedules retirement of the A340-600 in 2026 and the Boeing 747-400 and A340-300 in 2027, while new A350s, 787-9s and 777-9s are introduced. These are Group plans and delivery windows, not guarantees for an individual airframe.[14]
Operations and scale
For 2025, the Lufthansa Airlines reporting unit recorded 65.706 million passengers on 476,842 flights, an 83.4 per cent passenger load factor and 39,858 employees at year-end. The unit generated €17.106 billion in revenue. The annual report explicitly includes regional partners and Discover Airlines in these figures.[1]
Separating scopes is especially important for comparisons. Lufthansa Group carried approximately 135 million passengers in 2025 across its airlines; that number is not attributable to Lufthansa Airlines alone.[16]
The German Luftfahrt-Bundesamt is the competent regulatory authority named by Deutsche Lufthansa AG. Aircraft operated on the German register use D- registrations, but registration does not by itself establish which Group airline operates an aircraft or whether it is currently active.[4]
Cabin products
Lufthansa uses multiple short- and long-haul cabin configurations. Installed products vary by aircraft type and registration, so an aircraft-family label alone does not guarantee a particular seat or cabin.
The Allegris long-haul cabin entered scheduled service on 1 May 2024 aboard an Airbus A350-900 from Munich to Vancouver. The programme introduced new Economy, Premium Economy and Business Class products; Allegris First Class began scheduled service on 9 November 2024. Aircraft delivered before the programme may retain earlier interiors until modified or retired.[17][18]
Cabin fit is therefore an airframe-level, dated fact. It should not be inferred from a route schedule, marketing image or order announcement.
Partnerships and loyalty
Lufthansa was one of the five founding airlines of Star Alliance. The alliance coordinates network, recognition and airport processes while its members remain separate airlines.[13]
Miles & More awards and redeems programme currency across Lufthansa and participating partners. The programme's commercial scope extends beyond Lufthansa Airlines and should not be treated as evidence that every participating airline is owned by Deutsche Lufthansa AG.[8]
Joint ventures coordinate schedules, fares and revenue on defined markets more closely than ordinary codeshares. They do not merge the partners' AOCs, fleets or legal identities.[13]
COVID-19 disruption and recovery
The collapse in traffic during the COVID-19 pandemic led to extensive grounding and restructuring. In 2020, Deutsche Lufthansa AG's shareholders approved German Economic Stabilisation Fund measures within a package of up to €9 billion. The company drew about €3.8 billion of the German package and repaid or cancelled the remaining German stabilisation instruments by November 2021.[19]
The later recovery included reactivating stored long-haul aircraft, rebuilding hub schedules and adding new-generation aircraft. These actions changed fleet availability over time; pre-pandemic type lists and registrations should not be assumed current.
Related pages
Sources
Lufthansa Group Annual Report 2025 — Lufthansa Group
Lufthansa Airlines: 2025 key figures — Lufthansa Group
Lufthansa Group chronicle — Lufthansa Group
Lufthansa legal notice — Deutsche Lufthansa AG
IATA member record: Lufthansa — International Air Transport Association
Alliances and partner airlines — Lufthansa Group