Lufthansa

Deutsche Lufthansa AG (German: [ˌdɔʏtʃə ˈlʊfthanzaː ʔaːˈɡeː] ), trading as Lufthansa Group, is a German aviation holding company. Its principal airline, Lufthansa German Airlines (branded as Lufthansa) is the flag carrier of Germany. Lufthansa Group is the second-largest airline group in Europe by passengers carried, as well as largest in Europe and fourth largest in the world by revenue. Lufthansa Airlines is also one of the five founding members of Star Alliance, the world's largest airline alliance, established in 1997. Lufthansa Group owns several other airlines, including Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Discover Airlines, Eurowings, ITA Airways, and Swiss International Air Lines. The group also owns several aviation-related companies, including Global Load Control, Lufthansa Consulting, Lufthansa Flight Training, Lufthansa Systems and Lufthansa Technik. The modern Deutsche Lufthansa AG was founded as Aktiengesellschaft für Luftverkehrsbedarf (Luftag) on 6 January 1953 by staff of the former Deutsche Luft Hansa, Germany's national airline founded in 1926. While Deutsche Luft Hansa played a significant role in the development of commercial aviation in Germany, it was liquidated in 1951 due to its association with the Nazi regime during World War II. Luftag adopted the branding of the former flag carrier by acquiring the Luft Hansa name and logo in 1954. The corporate headquarters of Deutsche Lufthansa AG are in Cologne, Lufthansa's main operations base, the Lufthansa Aviation Center, is located at Frankfurt Airport, the airline's primary hub. The airline also maintains a secondary hub at Munich Airport, along with its Flight Operations Centre.