Lufthansa CityLine

Early years

The origins date back to 1958, the year OLT-Ostfriesische Lufttaxi (OLT) was founded. Through some transformations DLT Lufttransport GmbH was founded on October 1, 1974, with registered office in Frankfurt, and began flying on the following 17. The initial fleet consisted of three DHC 6s, later joined by a total of six Short 330s, delivered from 1977. In 1976 the company shifted its operational focus towards feeder connections to more important airports. However, the activities were not profitable and the company began looking for a partner who was able to invest. In June 1978 Lufthansa took a 26% stake in the company which immediately began cooperating with Lufthansa on short-range international routes such as Bremen-Copenhagen, Bremen-Amsterdam, and Hanover-Amsterdam. On 29 June 1978 the company was legally renamed DLT-Deutsche Luftverkehrs GmbH. The philosophy was to fly all routes where Lufthansa's basic Boeing 737s (100 seats) had excess capacity. In fact, in the early 1980s, DLT had a network that included 10 domestic destinations and Basel, Switzerland. In spring 1981 the first of six HS.748s (800 nautical miles range) entered service.

On 29 March 1982 DLT started flying from Zurich to Hannover and Nurnberg on Lufthansa and Swissair behalf, and Basel-Dusseldorf and Geneva-Munich routes pooled with Swissair. The entire network included 17 domestic and international destinations. The expansion required additional aircraft, and as a stop-gap solution, the airline leased Fokker 27s, Swearingen Metroliners, and Jetstream 31s. After careful evaluation, six Fokker 50s were ordered in February 1985, with an option for another six. Just two months later another purchase contract: five Embraer EMB-120 Brasilias and as many options (later increased to 9 + 6). Almost simultaneously, Lufthansa increased its stake to 40%. In 1984 the Shorts were retired and the 748s leased out in 1989. In August 1987 the Fokker 50 entered service while the Brasilias, operational from October 1986, were not welcomed by jetliners-accustomed passenger and were entirely leased out from 1989.

From 1988 till 1991 passenger figures climbed at a rate of 20% a year, meaning 1/3 of the interregional air traffic out of Germany, only 3% feeder, 80% routes with LH flight numbers. Business travellers comprised 85% of the total. In the summer of 1989, Lufthansa further increased its stake to 52% of the shares. In 1990 DLT became the launch customer of Bombardier CRJ100 regional jet with 13 firm orders and 12 options. This decision was also influenced by the fact that the company's network now covered eight major German cities. On December 26, 1990, the milestone of one millionth passenger was celebrated.

Lufthansa CityLine

In March 1992, DLT became a wholly owned subsidiary of Lufthansa and was renamed Lufthansa CityLine GmbH. In the following years other aircraft, common to the Lufthansa family, such as Avro RJ85 and other Avro RJ models entered the fleet. Parent company Lufthansa placed an order on 17 April 2007 for 30 Embraer E190/E195 and 15 Bombardier CRJ900 aircraft to directly replace CityLine's fleet of BAe 146s and Avro RJ aircraft. The last one took off from Cologne Bonn Airport on 27 August 2012 as LH1985. As of 31 December 2011 Lufthansa CityLine employed 2,332 people, of whom 664 were cockpit crew, 849 cabin crew and 819 work in the technical and administrative areas.

Development since 2014

In late 2014, Lufthansa announced it would begin transferring eight of its Airbus A340-300 aircraft to CityLine. After reconfiguration to a high-density configuration, these aircraft would be owned by CityLine and operated by its pilots but wet-leased back to Lufthansa and serviced by Lufthansa cabin crews starting in 2015 for use on leisure routes. The Bombardier CRJ-700s left CityLine's fleet by March 2015. In October 2017, a new labour agreement between Lufthansa and its pilot unions was reached. As part of this agreement, the wetlease operations of CityLine on behalf of the parent, consisting of eight Airbus A340 aircraft, were gradually terminated.

As part of Lufthansa's new corporate design introduced in early 2018, Lufthansa Regional branded aircraft operated by Lufthansa CityLine also received the new livery, with the Lufthansa Regional titles being removed from the fuselage and replaced by just Lufthansa.

In August 2020, Lufthansa CityLine handed back six Airbus A340-300 longhaul aircraft as part of their revised leisure route strategy. In spring 2022, the airline transferred their last two remaining Embraer 195 to sister Air Dolomiti from Italy. In the same time, they were given operations of two Airbus A321P2F converted freighter aircraft on behalf of Lufthansa Cargo as well as several Airbus A319-100 aircraft to be flown for Lufthansa mainline.