German airline Lufthansa on Monday marked 100 years since its first flights took off from Berlin’s Tempelhof airport, one bound for Zurich and the other for Cologne on April 6, 1926.
“Characterized by pioneering spirit and passion, it all started here in Berlin,” Lufthansa Airlines chief executive Jens Ritter said.
Two special flights, one a Boeing 787-9 and the other an Airbus A350-900, took off on Monday to retrace the first flights, with one of the planes having the name “Berlin.” The refuelling stopovers needed 100 years ago were not needed.
On April 15, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will be present at a ceremony in Frankfurt, where Lufthansa has its headquarters, to mark the occasion.
On Monday, Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner said that air travel linked people and continents. He added that when more people know each other better, “there would probably be fewer wars, fewer deaths and fewer bombs,”
Wegner expressed the wish for Lufthansa to expand its service from Berlin, “perhaps not only to Munich and Frankfurt.” Frankfurt is Germany’s main hub for long-haul air travel.
Lufthansa was founded as Deutsche Luft Hansa AG in January 1926, the “hansa” in the name recalling the mediaeval trading network of north-western Europe. The company has also acknowledged the dark period in its history when Tempelhof was a Nazi showpiece.