Come fly with Lufthansa! – Photo: Robert Schadt & Lufthansa
Roughly sixty years ago, on June 7, 1955, Lufthansa commenced long-haul service with a flight from Hamburg, Germany to New York City. To celebrate the anniversary, Lufthansa recreated a series of classic photos from throughout the years.
Safety first! Demonstrating life jackets – Photo: Robert Schadt & Lufthansa
How much has changed over the intervening six decades? Here are some fun facts, according to the airline:
- What began as two long-haul flights a week from Germany to New York, taking 20 hours for the trip (including a stop in Dusseldorf and a refueling stop in Ireland), has evolved and expanded over the years into the present 104 Lufthansa long-haul flights to 77 destinations worldwide, per day.
- With its four Super Constellations, Lufthansa carried 74,040 passengers in its first year of long-haul operations, with 18,420 of them crossing the North Atlantic. Today, Lufthansa’s long-haul fleet consists of more than 130 state-of-the-art aircraft, which carry over 15 million passengers per year – more than two-and-a-half million of them to and from the U.S.
- At the equivalent of approximately three month’s salary, the price of a transatlantic Economy Class ticket, back then, kept the experience of flying with Lufthansa exclusive, only possible for a small and affluent circle of people. Today, a round-trip Economy Class ticket for a flight with Lufthansa to the eastern United States can cost as little as one-third of a monthly salary.
Check out some additional historical photos, brought more up-to-date…
Onboard service with a smile – Photo: Robert Schadt & Lufthansa
Ramp workers unloading baggage – Photo: Robert Schadt & Lufthansa
Keeping up the log books – Photo: Robert Schadt & Lufthansa
View from the flight deck – Photo: Robert Schadt & Lufthansa
Modeling the latest in uniform design – Photo: Robert Schadt & Lufthansa
Taxiing to the gate – Photo: Robert Schadt & Lufthansa
Helping customers at the ticket counter (check out that sweet computer) – Photo: Robert Schadt & Lufthansa
I love the idea of recreating old photos. As much as I laugh at seeing the old computer terminals, all of the “then vs. now” scenes do make me think about the old adage, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” Congratulations on 60 years, Lufthansa!
Want more? Of course you do. Here are the rest on Lufthansa’s website.
Ahhh the god ol’ Days of flying !
Short clip of a Boeing 707 Lufthansa and a few others !!
Video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGr_RdCJVik
1967 Lufthansa 707 Commercial
Video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsGDkLqrSxA
The Best Lookin’ Boeing 707 Lufthansa I’ve ever seen !
from my friends Video Archives Kristens YOU TUBE Video archives out of Seattle !
Video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r3fEpRbwXQ
Ja mei…… damals ist man auch noch à¼berall mitgekommen, gell?
Wenn man sich die Bilder anschaut, hat sich eigentlich gar nicht so viel veraendert. Natuerlich gibt es jetzt moderneres equipment, aber der Ablauf im Flieger scheint doch (fast) der gleiche zu sein.
“As little as one-third of a monthly salary.” Hmm. Depends on whose monthly salary you’re talking. How about converting that factoid into dollars and cents? I’m guessing among the vast majority of working Americans, that 1/3 of a monthly salary wouldn’t get you overseas.
Blair,
You bring up a good point. In this context, it is using average US salary, but really, it is more about comparing. You can read it as, “it costs about 1/9th of what it used to back then,” instead.
Cheers,
David | AirlineReporter