Lufthansa

Deutsche Lufthansa AG () () is the largest airline in Europe in terms of overall passengers carried, and the flag carrier of Germany. The name of the company is derived from Luft (the German word for "air"), and Hansa (after Hanseatic League, the powerful medieval trading group).

The airline is the world's fifth-largest airline in terms of overall passengers carried, operating services to 18 domestic destinations and 183 international destinations in 78 countries across Africa, Americas, Asia and Europe. Together with its partners Lufthansa services around 410 destinations. It has the third-largest passenger airline fleet in the world when combined with Lufthansa CityLine, Lufthansa Italia, Air Dolomiti, Eurowings, Germanwings, Augsburg Airways, Contact Air, SWISS, Brussels Airlines, Austrian Airlines and Lauda Air operating over 531 aircraft.

Lufthansa's registered office and corporate headquarters is in Cologne, with its main operations base (Lufthansa Aviation Center (LAC)) and primary traffic hub at Frankfurt Airport in Frankfurt am Main with a second hub at Munich Airport."Imprint." Lufthansa. Retrieved on 25 August 2009."We hereby invite our shareholders to attend the 51st Annual General Meeting." Lufthansa. Retrieved on 25 August 2009."How to get there." Lufthansa. Retrieved on 30 July 2009."Lufthansa opens new office complex in Frankfurt (Lufthansa eroffnet neue Konzernzentrale in Frankfurt)." Europe Intelligence Wire. 19 July 2006. Retrieved on 25 August 2009. The majority of Lufthansa's pilots, ground staff, and flight attendants are based out of Frankfurt."Lufthansa Flies to 50-Year Milestone." Deutsche Welle. January 4, 2005. Retrieved August 25, 2009.

Lufthansa is a founding member of Star Alliance, the world's largest airline alliance. Star Alliance was formed in 1997 together with Thai Airways, United Airlines, Air Canada and Scandinavian Airlines System. The Lufthansa Group operates more than 500 aircraft and employs worldwide 105,261 people of 146 nationalities (31 December 2007). In 2008, 70.5 million passengers flew with Lufthansa (not including Germanwings, BMI, AUA, Brussels Airlines).