Interflug - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Interflug was the state airline

Airline

An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit...

of East Germany from 1963 to 1991, when it ceased operations following German reunification

German reunification

German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...

. Originally, the East German national airline was called Deutsche Lufthansa (officially Deutsche Lufthansa GmbH der DDR), but this met opposition from West Germany

West Germany

West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....

, with a court case in Bern awarding the Lufthansa

Lufthansa

Deutsche Lufthansa AG is the flag carrier of Germany and the largest airline in Europe in terms of overall passengers carried. The name of the company is derived from Luft , and Hansa .The airline is the world's fourth-largest airline in terms of overall passengers carried, operating...

trademark to the West German company. The head office was located in Berlin Schönefeld Airport in Schönefeld, Brandenburg

Brandenburg

Brandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...

, near East Berlin

East Berlin

East Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin that was established in 1945. The American, British and French sectors became West Berlin, a part strongly associated with West Germany but a free city...

History

Interflug (shortened form of Internationaler Flug, "international flight") was founded in 1958 as a second East German airline to operate charter flights, so in 1963 when the Lufthansa name was lost, Interflug provided its identity for East Germany's "new" flag carrier

Flag carrier

A flag carrier is a transportation company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given country, enjoys preferential rights or privileges, accorded by the government, for international operations. It may be a state-run, state-owned or private but...

.

Interflug was based at Schönefeld airport near East Berlin

East Berlin

, and for most of its existence (1963–1989) used exclusively Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

aircraft. This was due partly to the demise of the domestically-designed Baade B-152

Baade B-152

|-See also:-External links:* * Air & Space Magazine February/March 1996* Brunolf Baade at Wikipedia Germany* Alexejew / Samoljot 150 at Wikipedia Germany* East German promotion movie ,...

, which was the first German-designed jet-airliner (in either East or West Germany). However, the Baade B-152

Baade B-152

|-See also:-External links:* * Air & Space Magazine February/March 1996* Brunolf Baade at Wikipedia Germany* Alexejew / Samoljot 150 at Wikipedia Germany* East German promotion movie ,...

was only ever built in prototype form (the first example of which crashed during testing) and the project was cancelled in 1961. Planes in service with Interflug between 1963 and 1991 included the prop-driven Ilyushin Il-18

Ilyushin Il-18

The Ilyushin Il-18 is a large turboprop airliner that became one of the best known Soviet aircraft of its era as well as one of the most popular and durable, having first flown in 1957 and still in use over 50 years later. The Il-18 was one of the world's principal airliners for several decades...

(one of the major civilian aircraft of its era, and one that is still in use today), the Ilyushin Il-62

Ilyushin Il-62

The Ilyushin Il-62 is a Soviet long-range jet airliner conceived in 1960 by Ilyushin. As successor to the popular turbo-prop Il-18 and with capacity for almost 200 passengers, the Il-62 was the largest jet airliner when it first flew in 1963. It entered Aeroflot service on 15 September 1967 with...

(the first long-range jet airliner to be put into service by a number of countries including East Germany) and the Tupolev Tu-134

Tupolev Tu-134

The Tupolev Tu-134 is a twin-engined airliner, similar to the American Douglas DC-9 and the French Sud Aviation Caravelle, and built in the Soviet Union from 1966–1984. The original version featured a glazed-nose design and, like certain other Russian airliners , it can operate from unpaved...

medium-range jet. Interflug claimed to have been the largest non-Russian user of the Il-62 with 24 examples owned by the airline (the first was delivered in April 1970) including 6 Il-62s, 16 Il-62Ms and 2 Il-62MKs, with 21 of the planes for civilian use and 3 for airforce use (in fact other airlines did operate greater numbers of the Il-62 if they included leased examples in their totals). The Il-62 featured prominently in Interflug's promotional material throughout the 1970s and '80s. Interflug was a major operator of the Tu-134 with no fewer than 39 examples of this ubiquitous Russian jet (the first being delivered in July 1968) with which it developed an extensive network of routes to Europe, the USSR, the Middle East and North Africa. A number of Tu-134s were also used for government service.

In June 1989 Interflug introduced the first Western-built aircraft in the form of three Airbus A310

Airbus A310

The Airbus A310 is a medium- to long-range twin-engine widebody jet airliner. Launched in July 1978, it was the second aircraft created by Airbus Industrie,a consortium of European aerospace companies, Airbus is now fully owned by EADS and since 2001 has been known as Airbus SAS. the consortium of...

s as its director at the time, Dr. Klaus Henkes, successfully appealed to the then leader of the GDR, SED

Socialist Unity Party of Germany

The Socialist Unity Party of Germany was the governing party of the German Democratic Republic from its formation on 7 October 1949 until the elections of March 1990. The SED was a communist political party with a Marxist-Leninist ideology...

General Secretary Erich Honecker

Erich Honecker

Erich Honecker was a German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic as General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party from 1971 until 1989, serving as Head of State as well from Willi Stoph's relinquishment of that post in 1976....

, to purchase Western aircraft in order to position Interflug as a modern airline http://ddr-interflug.de/Geschichte/Luftfahrt-Rueckblick/Luftfahrt-Rueckblick.htm. This proved to be difficult for a Communist state due to a lack of hard currency on their part, and the deal went through after Franz Josef Strauß

Franz Josef Strauß

Franz Josef Strauss was a German politician. He was the leader of the Christian Social Union, member of the federal cabinet in different positions and long-time minister-president of the state of Bavaria....

, the then minister-president of the state of Bavaria

Bavaria

Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

in the then West Germany

West Germany

West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....

and a founding member of Airbus Industrie, helped negotiate the purchase with West German state loans. After reunification and before its final liquidation, Interflug wet-leased one De Havilland Canada Dash 8 aircraft from Tyrolean Airways to cover the remainder of contractual obligations of flying to Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

after liquidation was announced. Long-term fleet renewal plans were considered, such as purchasing Boeing 767

Boeing 767

The Boeing 767 is a mid-size, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It was the manufacturer's first wide-body twinjet and its first airliner with a two-crew glass cockpit. The aircraft features two turbofan engines, a supercritical wing, and a conventional tail...

for long-haul routes and Boeing 737

Boeing 737

The Boeing 737 is a short- to medium-range, twin-engine narrow-body jet airliner. Originally developed as a shorter, lower-cost twin-engine airliner derived from Boeing's 707 and 727, the 737 has developed into a family of nine passenger models with a capacity of 85 to 215 passengers...

for European routes, for which feasibility studies were made while the GDR was still a Soviet satellite state http://ddr-interflug.de/Geschichte/IF-Boeing/IF-Boeing.htm, but the airline was liquidated before anything concrete materialized.

Interflug operated mainly in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, particularly Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...

an countries in the Soviet bloc, although it also operated flights to Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

, Beijing

Beijing

Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

in the People's Republic of China

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

, some countries in Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

aligned with the Soviet Union, Hanoi

Hanoi

Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...

in Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

, Pyongyang

Pyongyang

Pyongyang is the capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea, and the largest city in the country. Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River and, according to preliminary results from the 2008 population census, has a population of 3,255,388. The city was...

in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and in the late 1980s, to non-Communist parts of Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...

including Bangkok

Bangkok

Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...

and Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

, both via Dubai

Dubai

Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...

. Domestically, Interflug carried 250,000 passengers in 1969. However, increasing traffic on the GDR's national railway, the Deutsche Reichsbahn

Deutsche Reichsbahn of the GDR

The Deutsche Reichsbahn or DR was the operating name of state owned railways in the German Democratic Republic ....

, led to a noticeable decrease in passenger numbers. By 1971, the airline was flying between five East German cities, having discontinued all flights to Karl-Marx-Stadt (Chemnitz). The airline was also responsible for the running of the nation's airport

Airport

An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...

s. Following reunification, the airports in the former GDR were sold off separately. The airline first offered regular scheduled service to West Germany

West Germany

West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....

in August 1989, from Leipzig

Leipzig

Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

to Düsseldorf

Düsseldorf

Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...

, overflying Czechoslovak

Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

airspace.

For years, similar to some other Communist countries' flag carrier

Flag carrier

s, Interflug had been a financial liability for the GDR government, constantly running deep into debt. This was due in part to operating 1960s era aircraft, running the airline within the rigid constraints of a planned economy, and bureaucratic interference in daily operations. The fatal blow to the airline came in the form of disappearance of its sponsor, the GDR government, following German reunification. In March 1990 when reunification was still not at all certain, the then still-West German flag carrier

Flag carrier

Lufthansa

agreed to take a 26 percent stake in Interflug with the aim of an eventual merger Reunification proceeded rapidly and the newly reunified Germany's Federal Cartel Office rejected this proposal on the grounds of creating a monopoly in the aviation sector after the European Commission

European Commission

The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....

raised concerns of open market access http://www.oxan.com/display.aspx?g=gp&ItemID=DB29610. The German government agency originally hoped Interflug would stand on its own and become a second flag carrier

Flag carrier

to compete with Lufthansa as part of the liberalization of the intra European Community aviation industry that occurred at the same time as German reunification

German reunification

. British Airways

British Airways

British Airways is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom, based in Waterside, near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport. British Airways is the largest airline in the UK based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations...

, which enjoyed the privilege of one of the Allied countries' airlines operating from West Berlin

West Berlin

West Berlin was a political exclave that existed between 1949 and 1990. It comprised the western regions of Berlin, which were bordered by East Berlin and parts of East Germany. West Berlin consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors, which had been established in 1945...

to the cities in West Germany

West Germany

West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....

when Germany was divided, submitted a bid to acquire Interflug to continue having a foothold in Germany after reunification http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=MH&s_site=miami&p_multi=MH&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB342171754CC72&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM http://search.lesechos.fr%2Farchives%2F1991%2FLesEchos%2F15799-57-ECH.htm%3Fxtor%3DAL-4001&ei=xCSLR-iTPJqkqgP1zOyTBg&usg=AFQjCNHelMyqy3gU0bdz0S2ONaGJZni5TA. The Lufthansa deal fell through but government's hopes did not materialize as British Airways

British Airways

sought shares in Delta Air Lines instead. Similarly, other airlines showed lukewarm interests in gaining a foothold in Germany's aviation sector by propping up the money-losing Interflug.

In March 1991, Interflug was liquidated by the government and Lufthansa

Lufthansa

was selected as the agent for liquidation. Its 32 aircraft were sold for US$

United States dollar

The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

192.3 million. The bulk of its Tu-134 jets were bought by Russia, with 17 going to the Aeroflot

Aeroflot

OJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines , commonly known as Aeroflot , is the flag carrier and largest airline of the Russian Federation, based on passengers carried per year...

division that later became Komi Avia

Komiaviatrans

Komiaviatrans is an airline based in Syktyvkar, Komi Republic, Russia. It operates charter services within Russia and wet leases in Asia, Africa and Europe. - Code data :*ICAO Code: KMA*Callsign: Komi Avia - History :...

. Others went to Aeroflot-Russian International Airlines

Aeroflot

OJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines , commonly known as Aeroflot , is the flag carrier and largest airline of the Russian Federation, based on passengers carried per year...

and 12 were acquired by Vietnam Airlines

Vietnam Airlines

Vietnam Airlines Company Limited, trading as Vietnam Airlines , is the national flag carrier of Vietnam. Founded in 1956 under the name Vietnam Civil Aviation, the airline was established as a state enterprise in April 1989. Vietnam Airlines is headquartered in Long Bien, Hanoi, with hubs at Noi...

and used for domestic and regional flights until 1997. The airforce Il-62s (11+20, 11+21, 11+22) were acquired by the united German airforce and sold some years later. Interflug's trio of Airbus A310

Airbus A310

aircraft were acquired by the Federal Government of Germany for use as VIP transports. A number of former Interflug employees gained employment at Lufthansa and its subsidiary companies, including Condor

Condor Airlines

Condor Flugdienst GmbH, usually shortened to Condor, is an airline based in Germany, operating scheduled leisure flights to the Mediterranean, Asia, Africa, North America and the Caribbean as part of Thomas Cook Group...

and Lufthansa Technik, while employees in the airport operations divisions became employees of the new respective municipal-owned airport corporations, but many others became unemployed.

Although Interflug itself did not survive German unification, some of its Soviet era planes were later preserved, with original liveries, in open air collections that have become popular public attractions. The most famous is the Il-62 registered DDR-SEG that was intentionally landed on a 900m grass strip of the Stölln/Rhinow hilltop in an extremely risky manoeuvre on 23 October 1989 to commemorate the fatal crash of Otto Lilienthal

Otto Lilienthal

Otto Lilienthal was a German pioneer of human aviation who became known as the Glider King. He was the first person to make well-documented, repeated, successful gliding flights. He followed an experimental approach established earlier by Sir George Cayley...

(1848–1896) at Gollenberg Hill. Nicknamed Lady Agnes (after Lilienthal's wife), DDR-SEG is now a museum and popular wedding registry.

External links

Interflug - Airliners.net
Airliners.net
Airliners.net is an aviation website founded by Johan Lundgren, Sweden, in 1997, evolving from his previous Pictures of Modern Airliners site started in 1994...
Airline Timetable Images
"COMPANY NEWS; East German Airline Closed," The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

DDR-Interflug.de Interflieger.de Interflug.biz

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