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…
Can you see Mount Adams, Mount Rainier and Mount St Helens in this photo taken from an Alaska Airlines flight? Photo by Rita Harvey.
Rita, a friend of mine, recently flew from Seattle to Chicago on Alaska Airlines. Every time one of my friends fly I tell them to get pictures of the flight (I don’t care about the destination). Most roll their eyes and say, “sure David,” and get me nothing (I’m talking to you Colton — who just came back from Hawaii).
One of the first photos she sent was an amazing photo of Mount Rainier from the plane. I thought it was great, but there was no plane. A true aviation nerd photo will have a plane part in it. Oh, she delivered.
I have spoken with a few different people,including my mother, to determine what mountains we are looking at and I am pretty sure it is Mount Adams, Mount Rainier and Mount Saint Helens (arrows showing where the mountains are). After talking to a few people and looking at maps, I am 98.5% sure those are the right mountains. If they aren’t let me know, but does it matter? It is amazing.
The the other great photos Rita took (be sure to look at the one with the moon)
An Airbus A380, A340 and a few A320's hanging out at Toulouse Blagnac Airport
The Airbus A380 is big. Very big. You can even see it from space (ok with Google Maps, you can see almost anything from space). But I was messing around on and was checking out Toulouse Blagnac Airport, where Airbus and ATR aircraft are made. I found it interesting seeing the size difference of the Airbus A380 compared to an A340 and A320’s.
Here is the link to the Google maps, what other planes can you find?
Can you find all 16 US Airways tails in this photo? (there is a bigger version in the links). Photo by Drew V.
Last week I put the challenge out to find photos with lots of airline tails. When I put the photos of a bunch of Qantas Airline’s tails, I only saw nine. However a reader smartly pointed out that there are really ten. Here are the photos I was sent:
* My original Qantas with TEN tails
* 10 Delta Air Lines tails from Daniel
* Aireal shot of 20 Delta tails from Daniel
* Who wants to count all these tails up? from Daniel
* 16 US Airways tails (with markings showing all 16) from Drew V
* 40 FedEx tails sent in from Rowen
* Five Qantas Airlines Boeing 747 tails at LAX by daeguowl
* A whole load of old US Airways Shuttle photos (even though I said Mojave wouldn’t work, but I can break my own rules) by @FlyInsider
* 12 Lufthansa tails from @FlyInsider
* Go ahead and count them in this satellite shot of Mojave forwarded by @BinkyAirways
* I count 15 Northwest Airlines tails, which will soon be going away – from @TerminalWanderer
So who is the winner? That is hard to tell since I am not counting them for all the photos. I will say EVERYONE is a winner for finding such great photos.
UPDATE: I have added a few more photos. It is not too late to send them on in to me, if you want them posted.
Boeing had this ad stating that the Boeing 727 is the best-selling air bus
Yesterday I posted the corner of the ad showing “World’s best-selling airbus,” and asked what ad did it go to. A few people guessed (mostly via Twitter) that it was an Airbus A300, Boeing 737 or Boeing 747. Only two people (@CraigSymons and @SkippysCage) guessed it correctly: the Boeing 727. This was the best quality of the ad I could find and it is difficult to read the text, but I am pretty sure it says:
“More than 1,000 Boeing 727s have been sold to date. It is the best-selling jetliner in aviation history.
And it has been the best-selling jetliner during the past two years — the years when the new airbuses were supposed to dominate the industry.
Why?
Because the Boeing 727 is the original airbus.
It has the lowest investment, cost per seat of any airbus. And you can buy two 727-200s for the price of one of the bigger airbuses.
The 727-200 gives more flexibility than the bigger airbuses. Its capacity of 125, up to 189 (all coach), passengers makes it ideal for ??? on intermediate routes and in scheduled services where frequency is essential.
The 727s passenger appeal and operating reliability and efficiency are well known. Everyday, Boeing 727s are earning profit for more airlines than any other jetline.
That’s why it is the world’s best-selling airbus.”
Obviously a jab at the new Airbus Industry, but I find it quite humorous.
Thanks David for showing this to me!
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