DLT German airline company

DLT Deutsche Luftverkehrsgesellschaft mbH
IATA code :	DW
ICAO code :	OL until 1975 DW 1976 to October 1987 DLT from November 1987
Call sign :	DLT
Founding:	1974
Operation stopped:	1992
Seat:	Kriftel , Germany
Home airport :	Frankfurt am Main
Company form:	GmbH
IATA prefix code :	683
Management:	Helmut Horn Gerhard Schmidt
Number of employees:	592 (1991)
Sales:	437.3 million DM (1991)
Passenger volume:	1,171,619 (1991)
Fleet size:	12
Aims:	National and international
DLT Deutsche Luftverkehrsgesellschaft mbH ceased operations in 1992. The information in italics refer to the last status before the end of operation.

The DLT Deutsche Luftverkehrsgesellschaft mbH , which appeared externally only as DLT , was an airline based in Kriftel am Taunus.

Its origins go back to the island airline OLT, which was founded in 1958: Not only was it able to assert itself in East Frisian coastal aviation for a period of 15 years, but also, in 1973, when it entered the domestic German regional flight business, it also prepared the ground for the later founding of DLT . The latter was created in 1974 after the regional flight service was split off from the swimming pool service. In the following years the DLT devoted itself to the further expansion of the regional routes, and although after several precipitous expansions in times of Europe-wide recessionary passenger numbers it had to fight repeatedly for its survival, a cooperation with Lufthansa was established and continuously expanded; they took over those routes that Lufthansa could only operate uneconomically with its own aircraft. With the use of aircraft of the types Shorts 330 , Hawker-Siddeley HS 748 , Fokker 50 and Embraer 120 , the DLT was given an integral role in the development of German regional air traffic. After extensive growth - the former island airline, run by two people, had become a Europe-wide scheduled airline with more than one million passengers - Lufthansa expanded its shares in the company to a majority stake, before finally moving from DLT on March 29, 1992 today's Lufthansa CityLine became.

history

1958-1973

OLT foundation and advancement as a coastal aviator

The origins of the DLT can be found in the aviation company founded on November 1st, 1958 as Ostfriesische Lufttaxi - Dekker und Janssen OHG . The owners of the company based at Emden Airport were Martin Dekker and Jan Jakobs Janssen . The former had worked as a flight instructor for the Air Force in Słupsk during the war and had helped Janssen to renew his sport pilot's license in the early 1950s. With their intention to operate commercial air traffic using a professional pilot's license in East Frisia, the two East Frisians took part in the evening classes at the Lufthansa Commercial Aviation School in Bremen as guest students . At that time, Dekker, as the owner of a newspaper distributor, had already considered a steady source of income with the delivery of newspapers. The OLT then began its flight operations with a machine of the type SAI KZ VII Lærke acquired from the Danish aerial photographer Palle Thomsen ; On June 27, 1959, the first official charter flight was carried out: Martin Dekker transported a passenger from Cologne-Wahn to Emden. A Cessna 172 soon joined the OLT fleet on August 4 and September 16 of the same year . In addition to newspaper flights, aerial photography, towing, sightseeing, advertising and whooping cough flights were also taken on . Based on these activities, the OLT counted a total of 509 flights and 286 passengers at the end of 1959, even though the small company quickly reached the limit of its capacity. Another Cessna 172 was added to the fleet in mid-1960. Thanks to charter orders from Erdölraffinerie Frisia AG and the ice emergency services and patient transports that became necessary in January 1961 - freezing coastal waters had brought shipping to a standstill - the OLT was faced with a steady increase in flights and passengers. At the end of 1961, counting 3,200 flights and 4,600 passengers, the OLT was concerned with the construction of its own terminal building at Emden airfield. In 1962 the fleet was expanded by a fourth Cessna 172, which was the first aircraft of this model in Germany to be equipped with an Automatic Direction Finder radio navigation device. At peak times, the free seats at OLT were booked out several months in advance.

Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander of the OLT, as used by the company from the beginning of the summer flight schedule in 1968. Here a plane at Bremen Airport, summer 1974.

In 1962, Martin Dekker made the decision to leave the company. In the future, he wanted to devote himself to his wholesale newspaper sales and so the OLT became the Ostfriesische Lufttaxi, owner Jan J. Janssen . Emden Airport, which has only limited use due to its grass runway, meanwhile ensured that Janssen also offered flights to the other East Frisian Islands from other mainland airports at the beginning of midsummer 1965. Using four Cessna 172s and one Cessna 205 , the company was able to transport a total of 15,000 passengers in 1966. When the expansion of Emden Airport was finally completed in 1968, after a Cessna 337 was put into service, OLT also started flights to Bremen and Düsseldorf airports. At the same time, two Britten-Norman BN-2 Islanders were also available; After advertising flights between Langenhagen Airport and the Hanover Fair , the manufacturer gave OLT the planes with STOL properties at attractive conditions, and the 1969 summer flight schedule included 121 flights a day.

Change of ownership and expansion offshore

However, the history of the OLT took an unexpected turn on April 13, 1970, when Janssen crashed his Cessna 402 on the way to Baden-Baden on the Großer Feldberg . The OLT owner had continued his flight, although thunderstorms and snow showers with their poor visibility prevailed over the Taunus; After this controlled flight into terrain and a lengthy search, Janssen could only be recovered dead. As a result of this event, Gertraud Janssen, as the deceased's widow, took over the maintenance of OLT flight operations. With the support of Janssen's brother Roelf, the aim was to sell the company, which had fourteen aircraft at the end of 1970. Frank Niethammer also found out about the accident at the same time - as a former deputy member of the management board of Frisia AG, which was cooperating with OLT at the time, he was able to establish contact with the now deceased Janssen. In his new role as chairman of the board of the Aktiengesellschaft für Industrie und Verkehrwesen , or AGIV for short, he was interested in taking over OLT, as AGIV had so far focused its investments solely on land-based, private railways and trams. Another positive effect was that Niethammer was able to fall back on the support of Heinrich Horstmann from his time at Frisia AG. The latter acted on behalf of the shipping company Fisser & van Doornum , which also wanted to get involved in air traffic, and so the company, which was taken over by Gertraud Janssen on December 11, 1970, became Ostfriesische Lufttaxi GmbH . While AGIV contributed DM 1.11 million in share capital, the shipping company Fisser & van Doornum took over the remaining DM 390,000. Due to the change in ownership, Kurt-Erich Slevogt was appointed general representative of OLT in 1972: Not only did he design all routes in this way, that they used the Emden airfield as a transfer point, he also increased the prices of the flight connections. Both changes were met with a negative response from passengers, so that the OLT had to bear considerable losses at the end of 1972. On the basis of these developments, the shipping company Fisser & van Doornum left as a partner after a short time and the OLT was therefore wholly owned by AGIV.

De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter of OLT at Bremen Airport, late summer 1974

But this situation did not last long either, because on December 29, 1972, Christian Ulrich Baron von Kaltenborn-Stachau , who had left the management of Germanair after a change of ownership , took over the former Fisser & van Doornum shares for one Price of 195,000 DM. The name of the company was again changed to Ostfriesische Lufttransport GmbH , before Kaltenborn finally held the position of sole managing director; he endeavored to convert the air traffic that had been carried out in recent years into pure scheduled connections at fixed times. Although a package tour program to the East Frisian Islands that had been introduced in the meantime had to be booked as a failure and the AGIV also became increasingly skeptical due to the lack of economic success, at the beginning of the summer season 1973 it was decided to purchase machines of the type de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter . In order to ensure the survival of society, however, one had to expand away from island aviation. Niethammer got the opportunity to do this a little later when a Bavarian ministerial director called: The Bavarian Air Service, which operates the Bayreuth - Frankfurt connection, wanted to withdraw from scheduled flight operations, and a replacement for the regional route subsidized by the state government had to be found as soon as possible. Niethammer agreed and within a weekend the OLT had penetrated into the interior of Germany. Other connections off the coast soon followed with Düsseldorf - Cologne / Bonn - Kassel, Friedrichshafen - Zurich and Friedrichshafen - Munich. Towards the end of 1973 the company counted 60,000 passengers with a turnover of 3 million DM. Although the project to take over part of General Air's island air traffic failed, Cimber Air, which was withdrawing from Germany, was able to use the Münster / Osnabrück - Frankfurt route take over; With this step, the OLT had not only come a little closer to its goal, the transition to the regional airline, it had also established a connection with the last-mentioned route, which despite the subsidy payments from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia that was discontinued shortly after the start, still today, as of January 2017 around 44 years later, will be continued by the DLT successor company.

1970s

The DLT is born

The logical consequence that had become necessary in the eyes of Niethammer on the basis of this development took place on September 13, 1974 when the OLT shareholders' meeting decided to rename the company to DLT Luftverkehrsgesellschaft mbH . Furthermore, the decision was made to outsource the bathing flight service to a newly founded subsidiary of the same name; Ostfriesische Lufttransport GmbH was established on October 17th . Kaltenborn remained managing director of the two companies, but was now confronted with problems relating to operating permits. While the newly founded OLT had no air traffic permit at all, the DLT only had a permit issued by the state of Lower Saxony, which was formally transferred correctly from the old OLT after the name change, but no longer under the current circumstances - destinations outside Lower Saxony as well as the operation of aircraft up to 5.7 tons. As a result, approval procedures were initiated for both companies at the Federal Aviation Office and Horst-Udo Ulbig, who previously worked as a pilot on a Nord 262 for the German Cimber Air GmbH , was assigned the role of flight operations manager. From the Münster / Osnabrück airport , they worked out regulations, load sheets and operating manuals for the 15 pilots.

De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter of the DLT at Frankfurt Airport, spring 1983

At the end of 1974 the fourth Twin Otter arrived and so the DLT and OLT together owned 15 aircraft with a total capacity of 148 seats. The airports in Düsseldorf, Cologne / Bonn, Münster / Osnabrück, Kassel, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Nuremberg, Hof, Bayreuth, Friedrichshafen and Zurich were now served. On September 1, 1975, the Paderborn - Frankfurt and Bremen - Düsseldorf routes were added, although on October 31, 1975, the Friedrichshafen hub and the associated Friedrichshafen - Zurich, Friedrichshafen - Stuttgart and Friedrichshafen - Munich - Nuremberg routes were withdrawn. Despite lucrative contracts with local companies, it was not possible to operate the routes without losses. The unwillingness of the state of Baden-Württemberg to make any subsidy payments had played a further important role. The connections were taken over by the Pleuger Flugdienst ; DLT had to fire four pilots.

First collaboration with Lufthansa and OLT sales

A little later, on November 1, 1975, the foundation stone for the cooperation between DLT and Lufthansa was to be laid. After General Air ceased operations, the latter received an order from the Saarland state government to take over the operation of the Frankfurt - Saarbrücken route. Since her own aircraft was too big for this, she signed a contract with DLT. With immediate effect, Lufthansa included the Frankfurt - Saarbrücken connection in its flight plan free of charge, in addition to providing the reservation system and a counter at the airport; all other DLT routes were also included for a fee and printed on a special page. At the end of the year DLT and OLT counted 83,648 passengers and a total turnover of 9.2 million DM, while in the previous year 71,273 passengers had been transported with a turnover of 6 million DM. Regardless of this, not all costs could be fully covered and the operation of DLT Extra Executive Travel Reiseflug GmbH , which was founded on October 1, 1975 and offered business flights from Düsseldorf and Frankfurt with a Learjet and two Aérospatiale SN 601 Corvettes , turned out to be a loss.

In 1976, in the course of the Olympic Winter Games, the Munich - Innsbruck connection was established and flight operations management was relocated from Münster / Osnabrück Airport to Frankfurt Airport . On January 10, 1977, Lufthansa’s CEO Herbert Culmann met for a meeting with AGIV, the main shareholder of DLT. Despite much different announcements beforehand, they agreed on a framework agreement that provided for Lufthansa to participate in DLT's regional and charter flights. The implementation of this framework agreement was associated with many conflicts of interest, as both AGIV and Lufthansa were concerned about their advantages. The flight plan of the DLT initially remained unchanged, while in contrast the operation of the OLT was greatly reduced; a sale was sought. At the end of 1977, with this intention, the majority of the OLT aircraft were sold and the staff reduced to three technicians and three employees in flight operations, until the company was finally taken over on December 22, 1977 by AG Ems under the management of Maximilian Graf von Spee was finally separated from the DLT. The island flight operations were then expanded again and after a further split in 2012 the company still exists today as OFD Ostfriesischer Flugdienst .

Relocation of the company's headquarters and commissioning of the Shorts 330

Shorts 330 of the DLT at Kiel-Holtenau airfield, February 1977

The DLT moved its headquarters to Frankfurt on May 26, 1977 and changed the name to Deutsche Luftverkehrsgesellschaft mbH - German Domestic Airlines . Previously, on February 28, it was the first European operator to add a Shorts 330 to its fleet. In order to evaluate the new aircraft beforehand, part of the DLT management had flown unannounced with the Time Air of Canada shorts that had already been delivered , and after the handover at Münster / Osnabrück Airport in the presence of Baron von Kaltenborn-Stachau, the aircraft was then, towards the end March 1977, used on the DLT connections from Frankfurt to Saarbrücken and Münster. At this point in time 93 people were employed with an annual turnover of 14.1 million DM. The further planning of the DLT aimed at a double strategy: on the one hand, they wanted to remain active in supplementary air traffic, but on the other hand they wanted to use several Boeing 737-200 Advanced in the charter area . As a result, Culmann decided for Lufthansa that cooperation should take place where it was possible and should not work where it was obstructive. For example, Peter Orlovius was named "Supplementary Air Traffic Project Coordinator" on the part of Lufthansa, while AGIV for its part increasingly insisted on a final decision by Lufthansa, if they wanted to get into the charter flight business as soon as possible. Culmann tried to dissuade Niethammer from doing so in a conversation with regard to possible competition for the then Lufthansa subsidiary Condor. Niethammer, however, did not want to make any firm commitments and left all options open for the purpose of a good negotiating position. Nevertheless, the plans for the charter flight were postponed by DLT until the end of summer 1979 in order to remove the deadline pressure that characterized the negotiations and to give Lufthansa time for a supervisory board meeting to decide on the upcoming cooperation.

In December 1977 the DLT submitted an application to the Federal Ministry of Transport for cross-border flights with the Shorts 330, including to Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Strasbourg and Basel. In addition, a Beech 99 was acquired from Pleuger Flugdienst in the same month - the latter had meanwhile had to cease operations itself. On January 25, 1978, AGIV increased DLT's capital from DM 1.5 million to DM 3 million, and on April 3, the newly announced flight plan was commenced. For Lufthansa, Hanover and Amsterdam as well as Bremen and Copenhagen were now connected five times a week under their flight numbers. Meanwhile, the DLT was forced to stop the flight operations of its subsidiary Extra Executive Travel Reiseflug; the aircraft were returned to the manufacturers.

Lufthansa participation and rapid expansion

Shorts 330 of the DLT at Frankfurt Airport, spring 1983

On June 29, 1978 the Lufthansa supervisory board decided to join DLT: They wanted to participate with 26% in the next capital increase from 3 to 6 million DM. Orlovius was appointed managing director together with Kaltenborn and took over the areas of budget, planning and sales. DLT had already withdrawn from its charter flight plans after Neckermann, as a tourism cooperation partner, canceled the collaboration at short notice. With the entry there was also another name change for DLT. It now appeared under the name DLT Deutsche Luftverkehrsgesellschaft mbH . At the same time it became clear that operating the Shorts 330 was not future-oriented due to its limited range and so Orlovius began looking for a suitable replacement. He announced the use of De Havilland Dash 7 or Fokker F-27 on April 1, 1980, on condition that the DLT be in the black by then.

Arrival of a Shorts 330 from Frankfurt at Basel-Mulhouse Airport. The occupation is received by the incumbent district president.

Although the DLT was now connected to the Lufthansa booking system and passengers were able to book DLT flights through the majority of IATA travel agencies , the economic situation was anything but rosy. Attempts were made to counter this with further expansion and so, with the start of the winter flight schedule on November 1, 1978, Lufthansa flight numbers also served twice daily Frankfurt - Basel and Stuttgart - Hanover and once daily Munich - Basel, Frankfurt - Rotterdam and Münster / Osnabrück - Frankfurt. The hoped-for economic effect did not materialize and at its meeting on November 20 of the same year the supervisory board found that the losses in the first half of the year amounted to 3 million DM, with an unsatisfactory number of 102,000 passengers. On the part of Lufthansa, DLT was asked to “reduce the hasty expansion to an acceptable level.” It was considered possible to cease operations and 20 employees were dismissed. As a result of these events, Baron von Kaltenborn, who had always described himself as a lone fighter, left the DLT on March 31, 1979 with a severance payment and directed his interests towards the development of Aero Lloyd . DLT canceled the routes to Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Basel that were operated with high losses.

Despite the continuing desire to renew the fleet, DLT felt compelled to continue to operate with its Shorts 330 as long as possible. An offer for six VFW 614s that had been received in November 1979 had to be turned down both because of the poor economy of the aircraft and because of their own poor economy. Until a final solution was found, the Westdeutsche Luftwerbung , WDL for short, temporarily rented the Fokker F-27.

1980s

With new aircraft on behalf of Lufthansa

At the beginning of 1980, AGIV and Lufthansa made the decision to increase the share capital to DM 16 million and to acquire three 48-seat Hawker-Siddeley HS 748s . Unlike the Shorts 330, the machines, which were often viewed critically by passengers, had a pressurized cabin in addition to the galley and passenger service units . With regard to the painting, the management of DLT decided on their own and contrary to the recommendations of the Lufthansa marketing department for a conspicuous red. With the acquisition of the aircraft on April 1, 1981, three Shorts 330 left the DLT fleet at the same time.

Meanwhile, the DLT tried repeatedly to expand. New international connections were followed by the expansion of the domestic network. In addition, Lufthansa ceded some routes to DLT that it could only operate uneconomically with its large aircraft. But as before, the hoped-for success did not materialize and instead of the planned 60 percent capacity utilization, it was only possible to achieve 45%. Furthermore, the cockpit crew made demands for higher salaries, which were accompanied by absenteeism. Although a collective agreement concluded at the beginning of 1980 was able to smooth things over, the burden on corporate finances grew even more in times of recessive passenger numbers across Europe. In view of this, the management announced at a shareholders' meeting on August 28, 1981 that they had lost 50% of DLT's share capital; Culmann did not want to rule out a liquidation again . Lufthansa then had an objective analysis carried out: Points such as a lack of punctuality, a service below Lufthansa standards and a lack of identification between Lufthansa and its subsidiary were mentioned. In addition, not only the bad reputation of the aircraft and the nicknames spread with them among the passengers such as “fire red toy mobile”, “red rocket”, “provincial Concorde”, “bedroom closet”, “shoe box” and “cigar box” were shown, but also criticized the lack of a core network apart from the Lufthansa routes. Marketing measures could not even be carried out because of a lack of funds.

HS 748 in a muted color scheme adapted to Lufthansa at Frankfurt Airport, spring 1988

In view of the results of the analysis, Lufthansa asked the DLT management to find ways of solving the problem with a deadline of April 1, 1982. AGIV, however, did not agree with this procedure and strongly urged Lufthansa to rent aircraft from DLT. After intensive negotiations, the AGIV was finally able to prevail and so Lufthansa chartered a not inconsiderable number of DLT connections at the beginning of the summer of 1982. As a result of the outcome of the negotiations, the red livery of the HS 748 was replaced at the end of the 1982 winter flight schedule by a blue-white-gray color that was adapted to the Lufthansa color scheme. Some technical improvement measures allowed the DLT to reduce the loud noises of the HS-748 engines. There were also far-reaching changes with regard to aircraft maintenance: Not only was this carried out centrally at Frankfurt Airport, but there was also a transition from fixed flight hour periods to variable maintenance intervals. However, since the sole use of type HS 748 aircraft turned out to be too inflexible, DLT again rented a Fokker F-27 from WDL for the Frankfurt - Saarbrücken route in the subcharter. In addition, the Nürnberger Flugdienst operated a Metroliner on the Hamburg - Nuremberg route for DLT; their economic situation improved significantly as a result, as market research and surveys again showed satisfaction among the passengers. Although the DLT still did not fully cover its costs, the new Lufthansa CEO Heinz Ruhnau decided on November 2, 1982 that all DLT connections, with the exception of the Saarbrücken, Twin Otter and Shorts flights, should be rented from January 1, 1983 wool. Any financial burdens in the amount of 6 million DM for the construction of a dense inner-German network should be exceeded by the expected benefits. In view of the emerging liberalization in regional air traffic, Ruhnau also indicated that slots had to be secured from foreign companies. This could be done better through a company related to Lufthansa than through Lufthansa itself.

Introduction of the Embraer 120 and the Fokker 50

Meanwhile, there was a growing interest in cross-border flights across Europe. These developments were supported by a survey carried out by the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 1982 , in which a large number of companies stated the need for fast and cheap flights with small aircraft. With a view to the results of this survey, Lufthansa concluded a new cooperation agreement with AGIV on November 2, 1983, after lengthy negotiations. Although the latter company even threatened the liquidation of DLT despite the improving business figures, Lufthansa was finally able to prevail and so it was stipulated in a contract that could be terminated at the end of 1987 at the earliest that a profit distribution had to be made only after the loss carryforward was offset . As a result of this agreement, the DLT decided to intensify the search for suitable new types of aircraft. Special attention was paid to machines with around 30 seats, as the management of the DLT had decided to rent 20-seater exclusively in order to avoid the displacement battle with the established, smaller companies; Companies like NFD, WDL, Contact Air and Delta Air were among the partners of DLT. First, however, the delivery of three more HS 748s was due, all of which were taken over into the company's own fleet in 1984 with buyback guarantees from the manufacturer. After the penultimate Shorts 330 had already been taken out of service in February of the same year, the last aircraft followed in October. Both were finally sold at the beginning of 1985, before Rolf Stüssel and Ernst Simon from the Lufthansa engineering department resumed the studies on fleet development and ultimately came to the conclusion that the Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia was the best for the 30-seater aircraft the DLT is suitable. For the machines with 50 seats, the decision was made to use the Fokker 50 . In February 1985, six Fokker 50s and six other options were ordered, while the signing of a contract for five Embraer 120s and five other options was announced as the first European customer on April 12 of the same year.

In the course of a DLT capital increase from 16 to 20 million DM on May 15, 1985, Lufthansa was able to expand its stake to 40%. Furthermore, the DLT was able to rise to the top of the German regional airlines with 342,370 transported passengers; For the first time the company was in the black again with an annual surplus of DM 2 million. At the end of 1985, including the 13 international connections, there were 27 destinations, while Reinhardt Abraham was appointed by Lufthansa as deputy chairman of the supervisory board of DLT. Although the latter complained about a low seat load factor of 54% and rising unit costs, DLT continuously increased its passenger numbers. This was due to the ongoing regional flight boom on the one hand and an agreement between Germany and Great Britain that allowed direct flights between Düsseldorf and some major British cities on the other.

Embraer 120 at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, summer 1989

In the meantime, however, there have been delays in the delivery of the newly ordered Embraer 120 machines. As a result, DLT was forced to lease two machines for the time being. The first use of the new aircraft type took place on the connection Münster - Frankfurt on February 3, 1986 in the presence of Heinz Ruhnau. However, the first start-up difficulties were discovered: Not only did the drive elements of the elevator trim freeze at temperatures below −40 ° C, there were also some problems with the folding tables in the cabin, for example. After various technical modifications, however, the aircraft enjoyed great popularity, especially with Peter Orlovius and the frequent business people who made up around 90% of DLT's passengers. The introduction of the new aircraft made it necessary to employ new pilots in addition to a capital increase to DM 40 million while retaining the same proportions; In April 1987, Barbara Mörl-Weidig was the first woman to be promoted to captain on the Embraer 120. Rita Maiburg preceded her on the Twin Otter as early as 1977 , but a short time later it had a fatal accident in a car accident on the way to Münster / Osnabrück Airport.

The DLT under fire

Furthermore, some malfunctions caused criticism of the DLT in the period from 1985 to 1986: Not only did the pilots of an HS 748 shut down the wrong engine after reporting an engine fire, which was only due to a malfunction of the responsible warning system, but some had HS -748 crews completed their land approaches despite insufficient visibility and strong winds. In another case, the crew of an HS 748 turned out the light bulb for the warning about open doors after checking the exit concerned, even though this warning system had been placed on the minimum equipment list by the manufacturer after the crash of Dan Air Flight 20 . In addition, another incident occurred on the DLT-Flug-135 carried out by the WDL on January 10, 1986: When the deployed Fokker F-27 experienced strong vibrations shortly after take-off , the pilot decided to abort the take-off , so that the machine slumped onto the runway from a height of 15 meters; 5 people were injured. While the last-mentioned incident was justified by the flight operations difficulties that arose in the course of a comprehensive WDL operational expansion, both the DLT and the Federal Aviation Office took measures to prevent such incidents.

On August 7, 1987, the first Fokker 50 arrived at DLT; By the end of the year there were seven of the machines. Peter Orlovius left DLT on January 31, 1988 to switch to Lufthansa Commercial Holding. Konrad Liessmann followed his role as Chairman of the Management Board; Authorized signatory Richard Heideker took over the role of the deputy managing director. Lufthansa said the expansion of the decentralized air travel to the next destination, you wanted to bottlenecks at the junctions prevent and relieve airspace. In the summer of the same year, DLT, which had meanwhile acquired a 24.8% stake in Stuttgart-based Contact Air, headed for around 42 flight destinations with 19 aircraft, from the Embraer 120 to the HS 748 to the Fokker 50. As a result, around 40% of German regional air traffic could be combined. In view of the high costs for the external training of pilots, Lufthansa and the briefly revived Condor subsidiary Südflug participated in the establishment of Airline Transport Training International in Arizona. The increasing number of passengers and the growing acceptance of the turboprop aircraft had also contributed significantly to this decision, even though the DLT began looking for a jet-powered replacement for these turboprop aircraft as early as June 1989. The use of the Canadair Regional Jet , or CRJ for short, announced in March of the same year was evaluated .

In the course of the emerging investments, AGIV decided to give Lufthansa the majority stake in DLT - it was feared that concentrating solely on DLT would not be compatible with its own role as a conglomerate and the will of the investors. The Bundeskartellamt had already given its approval to this decision in June 1989, so that Lufthansa was finally able to increase its shares to 52% in the course of a capital increase to DM 50 million. As a result Reinhardt Abraham took over the chairmanship of the supervisory board of DLT, his deputy was Karl-Hermann Krauss.

1990-1992

Jet aircraft in the face of growth and the effects of war

Later formed the backbone of the Lufthansa CityLine fleet: Canadair Regional Jet aircraft.

On May 15, 1990, the European launch customer ordered 13 Canadair Regional Jet aircraft worth US $ 250 million at the ILA, which was then held in Hanover . there were also 12 other options. The jet-powered 50-seater aircraft convinced the DLT management with its range, speed, head-up display and the possibility of CAT III landing . In contrast to the previous fleet decisions, the construction of a CRJ flight simulator center at Berlin-Schönefeld Airport was initiated after the order was completed, in cooperation with Canadair and CAE . The situation was different with the Embraer 120s that were acquired five years ago: They turned out to be too small and, given the rapidly growing regional flight market, not forward-looking. In the summer of 1990, the decision was made to retire the machines. In cooperation with Dornier , they were leased to Midway Airlines in Chicago via the DLT subsidiary DLT of USA , where they were to bridge the time until the arrival of the new Dornier 328 . This was followed by an order for five more Fokker 50s. In the course of reunification, DLT also started flights to Berlin-Tegel Airport from October 18, 1990, and so there were a total of 52 domestic German and 152 cross-border connections at that time.

The effects of the Second Gulf War put a strong damper on the prosperous DLT in 1991, however, as more and more people resorted to cars and trains for fear of terrorist attacks. DLT countered this sharp drop in passenger numbers by cutting 20 percent of its connections, temporarily shutting down two Fokker 50s and bundling the technical centers represented at the Hamburg and Munich locations together with their administration at Cologne / Bonn Airport. The Alzey-based subsidiary DLT AERO Services , which dealt with the maintenance of engines, remained an exception . In addition, short-time working was introduced and the number of flight attendants on board the Fokker 50 was reduced to one person; the Luftfahrt-Bundesamt (Federal Aviation Office) had granted the DLT a special permit after a previous evacuation exercise. In the same year, Niethammer left the DLT after asking the AGIV to be relieved of his duties in order to continue an old family business in Saxony and to switch to the board of directors of the Treuhandanstalt . Although these measures contributed to the survival of society, at the end of 1991 - after the fighting had ended - the company was confronted with a growth rate that had fallen by half, the utilization of the fleet and a balance sheet loss of more than DM 8 million. Nevertheless, the measures taken in 1991 contributed to rationalizing the cost structure of DLT and aligning it with increasing international competition. As a consequence of these extensive restructuring measures, the Lufthansa Executive Board decided on October 8, 1991 to rename the company; the approval of the DLT Supervisory Board followed ten days later.

Change of name

On March 29, 1992, the DLT became the Lufthansa CityLine for the new summer flight schedule . The day marked the result of several years of development: the former island airline had become a scheduled airline operating throughout Europe. In the near future it should be the first airline to operate the Canadair Regional Jet, one of the world's largest operators of the Fokker 50 and expand its route network again. After a transitional phase in which the Lufthansa CityLine aircraft operated with a different logo from that of the parent company for reasons of collective bargaining law, Lufthansa finally took over the remaining shares in the company from AGIV towards the end of 1992; the latter left the company after almost 22 years, although Horst-Udo Ulbig of Lufthansa CityLine remained in his original role as flight operations manager and authorized signatory until his departure in December 2005 even after the DLT change of name.

Destinations

In addition to a network of numerous domestic German regional connections, DLT also maintained routes to larger cities in various parts of Europe. At the time of the name change, the company operated 200 flights a day to 55 destinations in 15 countries.

The two tables below allow a comparison between the airports served in winter 1974/75 and summer 1988:

Flight plan winter 1974/75

country	Airport
Germany	Bayreuth Dusseldorf Frankfurt Friedrichshafen Hof-Plauen Kassel-Calden Cologne / Bonn Münster / Osnabrück Nuremberg Stuttgart
Switzerland	Zurich

Cover of the DLT winter flight plan from 1974/75 with a graphical representation of the route network

Timetable summer 1988

country	Airport
Germany	Bremen Dusseldorf Frankfurt Hamburg Hanover-Langenhagen Cologne / Bonn Munich-Riem Münster / Osnabrück Nuremberg Saarbrücken Stuttgart Sylt
Belgium	Brussels-Zaventem
Denmark	Copenhagen Kastrup
France	Bastia Lyon Marseille Nice Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle Toulouse-Blagnac
Italy	Bologna Milan Linate Turin Trieste Venice Tessera
Croatia	Zagreb
Netherlands	Amsterdam Schiphol Eindhoven
Norway	Mountains
Austria	Graz Linz Vienna-Schwechat
Sweden	Gothenburg / Landvetter
Switzerland	Geneva Zurich
United Kingdom Guernsey Jersey	Birmingham Bristol Glasgow guernsey jersey London Gatwick Manchester

fleet

The DLT used the following aircraft until its name was changed to Lufthansa Cityline on March 29, 1992; the twelve machines in the fleet on this date are highlighted in gray, while the aircraft of the DLT subcontractors can be found under the black dividing line:

Aircraft type	number	Aircraft registration	Commissioning of the first aircraft	The last aircraft was taken out of service	Remarks
Beechcraft Model 99	1	D-IBPF	1978	1978
De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter	6th	D-IBFD	1974	1981
		D-IDCT
		D-IDLT
		D-IDOT
		D-IDWT
		D-IKST
Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia	14th	PH-SIH	1986	1987	Leased from Embraer.
		PH-SIJ
		D-CEMA	1986	1990	Leased to Midway Airlines via subsidiary DLT of USA after decommissioning. Then worldwide sales.
		D-CEMB
		D-CEMC
		D-CEMD
		D-CEME
		D-CEMF
		D-CEMG
		D-CEMH
		D-CEMI
		D-CEMJ
		D-CEMK
		D-CEML
Fokker 50	12	PH-DMO	1989	1991
		D-AFKA	1987	1997	Some of the machines were handed over to Contact Air after they were taken out of service .
		D-AFKB
		D-AFKC
		D-AFKD
		D-AFKE
		D-AFKF
		D-AFKG
		D-AFKX
		D-AFKY
		D-AFKZ
Hawker-Siddeley HS 748 2 B	8th	G-BCDZ	1981	1991	Leased from British Aerospace.
		G-BGJV
		D-AHSA			Leased to British Airways before decommissioning.
		D-AHSB
		D-AHSC
		D-AHSD
		D-AHSE
		D-AHSF
Shorts 330	7th	D-CBVK	1977	1984
		D-CDLA
		D-CDLB
		D-CDLC
		D-CDLD
		D-CDLT
		D-CODO
ATR 42-300					Operated by Cimber Air .
British Aerospace Jetstream 31					Operated by Contact Air .
De Havilland Canada DHC-8-100					Operated by Air Ontario and Contact Air.
De Havilland Canada DHC-8-300					Operated by Contact Air.
Fokker F-27-100 Friendship					Operated by WDL .
Fokker 50					Operated by Maersk Air .
Fairchild Metroliner					Operated by Nürnberger Flugdienst and City-Flug .

annotation

1. ↑ In the case of the Fokker 50, further copies of this type were received after the name was changed to Lufthansa CityLine. They have not been included in the table above.

Appearance

The DLT, which during its existence mainly only appeared under this abbreviation, used the following four logos until the complete takeover by Lufthansa towards the end of 1992:

logo	Usage period	annotation
	until the end of 1974	original OLT company logo
	1975-1981	Towards the end of 1974, the former OLT company logo was modified by sharpening the first letter so that outsiders could interpret it on the one hand as a "D" for DLT and on the other hand as an "O" for OLT. As a result, all OLT and DLT aircraft could be used among each other without loss of reputation, as many passengers reacted with laughter when they heard the name Ostfriesische Lufttransport.
	1981-1992	The upright “DLT” letters were initially used in inverted white for the red vertical tail of the HS 748, before they were finally given a shade of blue as part of the adaptation to the Lufthansa color scheme.
	1992	On March 29, 1992, the CityLine logo with a wing symbol, used on an interim basis, dispensed with the crane and the addition Lufthansa for reasons of collective bargaining law , but already suggested the later company logo. The Lufthansa CityLine CRJs still carry this logo in a reduced size next to their entrance door.

Basic data

• Diagrams
• 
• 

The table below gives an overview of the DLT data from 1974 to 1991:

year	Passengers	Sales in million DM	Employee
1974	21,622	6.0	59
1975	37,049	9.2	89
1976	52,848	12.1	57
1977	72,821	14.1	96
1978	160,078	19.7	192
1979	141,594	19.4	156
1980	146.922	22.8	186
1981	257.250	48.0	218
1982	235.614	49.2	186
1983	256,620	48.6	186
1984	342,370	62.0	206
1985	489,589	83.9	270
1986	556,550	102.6	363
1987	687,577	134.3	465
1988	850,450	161.4	505
1989	936,643	157.1	556
1990	1,097,335	383.7	575
1991	1,171,619	437.3	592

See also

• List of former airlines

literature

• Karl-Dieter Seifert: OLT - in 40 years from island air taxi to regional air traffic . OLT Ostfriesische Lufttransport GmbH, Emden 1998.
• Karl-Dieter Seifert: From OLT to Lufthansa CityLine - 40 years in air traffic . Lufthansa CityLine GmbH, Cologne 1999.
• Karl-Dieter Seifert: German air traffic 1955–2000, world traffic, liberalization, globalization (=  German aviation . No. 29 ). Bernard & Graefe, Bonn 2001, ISBN 3-7637-6121-7 .
• Joachim Wölfer: German passenger aviation from 1955 until today . Mittler, Berlin / Bonn / Hamburg 1995, ISBN 3-8132-0477-4 .
• Rolf Wurster: By plane to the provinces. The long way of regional air traffic . Self-published, Battenberg 2001, ISBN 3-8311-1637-7 .

Web links

Commons : DLT Luftverkehrsgesellschaft  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Brief overview of the history of OLT and DLT in the Lufthansa Issue Archive (English)
• Photos of the DLT on Airliners.net
• DLT Deutsche Luftverkehrsgesellschaft on Planespotters.net

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ulrich Klee, Frank Bucher et al .: jp airline fleets-international 1978 . Editions JP, Zurich Airport 1978, p. 375 (English).
2. ↑ Ulrich Klee, Frank Bucher et al .: jp airline fleets-international 1975 . Editions JP, Zurich Airport 1975, p. 46 (English).
3. ↑ Ulrich Klee, Frank Bucher et al .: jp airline fleets-international 1976 . Editions JP, Zurich Airport 1976, p. 49 (English).
4. ↑ Ulrich Klee, Frank Bucher et al .: jp airline fleets-international 1987/88 . Editions JP, Zurich Airport 1987, p. 95 (English).
5. ^ World Airline Directory . DLT (German Air Transport Company). In: Flight International . tape 139 , no. 4260 . Reed Business Publishing, April 2, 1991, ISSN  0015-3710 , p. 86 (English, flightglobal.com [accessed September 1, 2016]).
6. ^ Jack Carr et al. (Ed.): International Corporate 1000 Yellow Book: 1990 . Deutsche Lufthansa AG. Graham & Trotman, London 1991, ISBN 978-1-85333-309-5 , pp. 103 , doi : 10.1007 / 978-94-009-0793-5 (English).
7. ^ Rüdiger zu Klampen, Karl Morgenstern: Anniversaries: East Frisians fly Werder kickers. In: NWZ Online. Nordwest-Zeitung Verlagsgesellschaft, September 9, 2008, accessed on December 29, 2016 . 
8. ↑ Seifert, 1999, pp. 9-17.
9. ↑ Seifert, 1999, pp. 17-24.
10. ↑ Seifert, 1999, pp. 25-27.
11. ↑ Seifert, 1999, pp. 29-38.
12. ↑ Linked to the Lufthansa hub in Frankfurt for 40 years. In: Osnabrück newspaper. May 2, 2012, accessed September 1, 2016 . 
13. ↑ Winter flight schedule 2016/2017 - Münster Osnabrück International Airport. (PDF) (No longer available online.) In: fmo.de. November 2016, archived from the original on November 4, 2016 ; Retrieved November 3, 2016 . 
14. ↑ Seifert, 1999, pp. 38-39.
15. ↑ Seifert, 1999, p. 41.
16. ^ Winfried Krieger: Case study Friedrichshafen on planning problems of a regional aviation company (=  writings on the business administration of traffic ). Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1980, ISBN 3-428-04698-6 , pp. 27 .
17. ↑ Wölfer, 1995, p. 115.
18. ↑ DLT leases Corvette . In: Flight International . tape 110 , no. 3524 . IPC Transport Press, September 25, 1976, ISSN  0015-3710 , p. 963 (English, flightglobal.com [accessed September 1, 2016]).
19. ↑ Seifert, 1999, pp. 42-43.
20. ↑ Seifert, 1999, pp. 44-46.
21. ↑ Europe's first Shorts SD3-30 delivered . In: Flight International . tape 111 , no. 3548 . IPC Transport Press, March 12, 1977, ISSN  0015-3710 , p. 628 (English, flightglobal.com [accessed September 1, 2016]).
22. ↑ Seifert, 1999, pp. 47-52.
23. ↑ Seifert, 1999, pp. 54-55.
24. ↑ Seifert, 1999, pp. 57-58.
25. ↑ DLT begins to lurch . In: Der Spiegel . No. 6/1979 , February 5, 1979, pp. 113 ( spiegel.de [accessed on August 29, 2016]).
26. ↑ Seifert, 1999, pp. 58-60.
27. ↑ ^{a b} Seifert, 1999, p. 61.
28. ↑ Like the queen . In: Der Spiegel . No. 17/1981 , April 20, 1981, pp. 74–76 ( spiegel.de [accessed August 29, 2016]).
29. ↑ Seifert, 1999, pp. 62-65.
30. ↑ Heinz Michaels: Manager and Markets . In: The time . March 12, 1982 ( zeit.de [accessed August 29, 2016]).
31. ↑ Seifert, 1999, pp. 66-73.
32. ↑ Market Place . In: Flight International . tape 127 , no. 3957 . IPC Transport Press, April 27, 1985, ISSN  0015-3710 , p. 7 (English, flightglobal.com [accessed September 1, 2016]).
33. ↑ Seifert, 1999, pp. 75-80.
34. ↑ Seifert, 1999, pp. 80-86.
35. ↑ Seifert, 1999, pp. 86-89.
36. ↑ Ernst Probst: Queens of the air . Diplomica, Hamburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-8428-7296-7 , p. 60-62 .
37. ↑ Love the adventure . In: Der Spiegel . No. 16/1985 , April 15, 1985, pp. 132–133 ( spiegel.de [accessed August 29, 2016]).
38. ↑ Take out the bottle . In: Der Spiegel . No. 9/1986 , February 24, 1986, pp. 120–122 ( spiegel.de [accessed August 29, 2016]).
39. ^ Written questions with the answers of the federal government received in the week of March 3, 1986 . Printed matter 10/5157, March 7, 1986, p. 47–48 , question 100. ( bundestag.de [PDF; accessed on August 29, 2016]).
40. ↑ Fokker 50 in service . In: Flight International . tape 133 , no. 4117 . Reed Business Publishing, June 11, 1988, ISSN  0015-3710 , p. 46-48 (English, flightglobal.com [accessed September 2, 2016]).
41. ↑ Wölfer, 1995, p. 117.
42. ↑ Seifert, 1999, pp. 89-91.
43. ↑ Seifert, 2001, p. 186.
44. ↑ ^{a b} Canadair 'active' on 70-seat RJ . In: Flight International . tape 138 , no. 4233 . Reed Business Publishing, September 12, 1990, ISSN  0015-3710 , p. 31 (English, flightglobal.com [accessed October 31, 2016]).
45. ↑ DLT doubles Canadair RJ order . In: Flight International . tape 137 , no. 4217 . Reed Business Publishing, May 23, 1990, ISSN  0015-3710 , p. 9 (English, flightglobal.com [accessed on October 31, 2016] The number of firm orders and options is reversed. Will be corrected both by Seifert and in a later edition of Flight International.).
46. ↑ Flight Dynamics wins RJ HUD contract . In: Flight International . tape 140 , no. 4291 . Reed Business Publishing, October 30, 1991, ISSN  0015-3710 , p. 11 (English, flightglobal.com [accessed November 3, 2016]).
47. ^ DLT technicians start Canadian training . In: Flight International . tape 140 , no. 4291 . Reed Business Publishing, October 30, 1991, ISSN  0015-3710 , p. 26 (English, flightglobal.com [accessed November 3, 2016]).
48. ↑ Seifert, 1999, pp. 94-95.
49. ^ Regional Jet Gets Okay . In: Flying Magazine . tape 119 , no. 11 . Hachette Magazines, November 1992, ISSN  0015-4806 , pp. 26 (English).
50. ↑ Seifert, 1999, pp. 96-103.
51. ↑ Born in East Frisia - Lufthansa CityLine began more than 50 years ago as an air taxi. In: airportzentrale.de. May 25, 2011, accessed January 6, 2017 . 
52. ^ Directory: World Airlines - Lufthansa CityLine . In: Flight International . tape 165 , no. 4926 . Reed Business Publishing, March 23, 2004, ISSN  0015-3710 , p. 102 (English, flightglobal.com [accessed January 4, 2017]).
53. ↑ Joint register portal of the federal states (register type HRB , register number 31095 , register court Cologne ; activate the checkbox also find deleted companies ; announcement of December 27, 2005), accessed on January 4, 2017.
54. ↑ Seifert, 1999, p. 103.
55. ^ DLT (Deutsche Luftverkehrsgesellschaft) Germany. Timetable November 1, 1974. In: timetableimages.com. Retrieved December 9, 2016 . 
56. ^ DLT (1988). DLT, long experience on short routes, with a flight plan for summer '88. In: airline-memorabilia.blogspot.de. February 22, 2011, accessed December 9, 2016 (Spanish). 
57. ↑ Seifert, 1999, pp. 132-135.
58. ↑ Seifert, 2001, pp. 372-375.
59. ^ Tony Eastwood, John Roach: Turbo Prop Airliner Production List . The Aviation Hobby Shop, West Drayton 2007, ISBN 978-0-907178-83-5 (English).
60. ↑ ^{a b c d} Operators: Deutsche Lufttransport - West Germany. In: rzjets.net. Retrieved September 6, 2016 . 
61. ↑ Registration Details for D-CONU (Contactair) Jetstream 31-3103. In: planelogger.com. Retrieved December 4, 2016 . 
62. ↑ D-BEAT Lufthansa CityLine De Havilland Canada DHC-8-311 Dash 8 - cn 210. In: rzjets.net. Retrieved December 4, 2016 . 
63. ↑ Fokker 50 - cn 20153. In: planespotters.net. Retrieved October 20, 2016 . 
64. ↑ Seifert, 1999, p. 41.
65. ↑ Seifert, 1999, p. 38.
66. ↑ Seifert, 1999, p. 62.
67. ↑ Seifert, 1999, p. 131.

This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on January 21, 2017 .