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Lufthansa, with its hubs in Frankfurt and Munich, dominates the market, alongside leisure airlines such as Condor, low-cost carriers and cargo airlines.
32 airlines
Scheduled airlines with a hub and connecting flights – usually on short-, medium- and long-haul routes.
Air Berlin
AB / BER
Historic airline from Berlin: founded in 1978 as a US charter company for Mallorca flights from Tegel, later Germany’s second-largest airline with oneworld membership – and insolvent in 2017.
dba
DI / BAG
Historic airline from Munich: Delta Air became Deutsche BA in 1992 with a British Airways stake, dba in the early 2000s – and in 2008 it was finally absorbed into Air Berlin.
Deutsche Luft Hansa
Historic German state airline from 1926 to 1945: Berlin-Tempelhof hub, the Ju 52 as workhorse, the Fw 200 Condor for record flights, catapult mail across the South Atlantic – and legally not a predecessor of today’s Lufthansa.
Interflug
IF / IFL
Historic state airline of the GDR: founded in 1958, sole civil air carrier of East Germany from 1963 with Il-18, Tu-134 and Il-62 out of Berlin-Schönefeld – and wound down in 1991 after the end of the GDR.
Lufthansa
LH / DLH
Germany’s largest airline and the core of the Lufthansa Group: a network carrier with hubs in Frankfurt and Munich and a founding member of Star Alliance.
Cheap point-to-point flights, often with a single-type fleet, many bases and short turnaround times.
Eurowings
EW / EWG
The point-to-point airline of the Lufthansa Group: Eurowings flies A320-family jets from Düsseldorf and other German bases across Europe – and gets the Boeing 737 MAX 8 from 2027.
Germanwings
4U / GWI
Historic low-cost airline from Cologne: launched in 2002 as an offshoot of Eurowings, part of the Lufthansa Group from 2009, operating flights for Eurowings from 2015 – and shut down in 2020.
Hapag-Lloyd Express
X3 / HLX
TUI’s historic low-cost airline from Hanover: Hapag-Lloyd Express flew yellow Boeing 737s in the look of a New York taxi from December 2002 and merged into the TUIfly brand in January 2007.
Airlines focused on vacation destinations – in scheduled service and for tour operators.
Aero Lloyd
YP / AEF
Historic leisure airline from the Frankfurt area: founded in 1979, grew big with the Caravelle and MD-80, later flew A320s and A321s – and was grounded overnight in October 2003.
Condor
DE / CFG
One of Germany’s best-known leisure airlines: Condor flies from Frankfurt and other German airports to vacation destinations on short-, medium- and long-haul routes.
Discover Airlines
4Y / OCN
The leisure airline of the Lufthansa Group: Discover Airlines has flown Airbus A320s and A330s from Frankfurt and Munich to vacation destinations on short-, medium- and long-haul routes since 2021 – the A350 joins from mid-2027.
Germania
ST / GMI
Historic Berlin charter and leisure airline (1986–2019): grew out of Cologne-based SAT of 1978, and in the end flew more than 30 Airbus A319s, A321s and Boeing 737-700s from many regional airports – until insolvency in February 2019.
Hamburg International
4R / HHI
Historic charter airline from Hamburg (1998–2010): full charters for tour operators and ad hoc flights, first with Boeing 737s, from 2008 with Airbus A319s – until the LBA suspended its operating license in October 2010.
Hapag-Lloyd Flug
HF / HLF
Historic leisure airline from Hanover (1972–2007): founded by the shipping line Hapag-Lloyd, known for orange and blue, the Airbus A300/A310 and as the world’s launch customer of the Boeing 737-800 – absorbed into TUIfly in 2007.
LTU International Airways
LT / LTU
Historic airline: the red-and-white leisure airline from Düsseldorf flew under its own name from 1956 to 2009, was Germany’s only TriStar operator and was fully absorbed into Air Berlin after the 2007 takeover.
Marabu Airlines
DI / MBU
The leisure airline from Condor’s orbit: based in Tallinn, aircraft with Estonian registrations, departures from German airports like Hamburg, Nuremberg and Leipzig/Halle – and a fleet of Airbus A320neos.
Sundair
SR / SDR
Small German leisure airline based in Stralsund with a focus on Berlin: a handful of Airbus A320s and A319s, charter flights to the Mediterranean and a Croatian sister airline that flies under Sundair flight numbers.
TUIfly
X3 / TUI
The TUI Group’s leisure airline from Hanover: an all-Boeing 737 fleet, bases at five German airports and a history that began in 1973 as Hapag-Lloyd Flug.
Short routes with turboprops and regional jets, often as feeders to the big hubs.
Augsburg Airways
IQ / AUB
Historic regional airline from Bavaria (1980–2013): from the corporate flight service of a paper group in Augsburg to Lufthansa’s last independent feeder in Munich – with Dash 8, Q400 and Embraer 195.
Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter
HE / LGW
Historic regional airline from Dortmund: grew out of a flight school in 1980, later a turboprop partner of Air Berlin, a wet-lease operator for Eurowings and insolvent in 2020 after the COVID slump.
Lufthansa City Airlines
VL / LHX
The youngest airline in the Lufthansa Group: feeder flights from Munich and Frankfurt under the “Lufthansa City” brand, with the A320neo, the A319 and the Airbus A220-300 as its next type.
Lufthansa CityLine
CL / CLH
Lufthansa’s former regional and feeder subsidiary: roots going back to 1958, operating as CityLine from 1992, with CRJs, Avro RJ85s, Embraers and even A340s – flight operations ended in April 2026.
OLT Ostfriesische Lufttransport
OL / OLT
The historic regional airline from East Frisia began in 1958 with air taxi flights from Emden to the North Sea islands, grew with the Islander, Metro, Saab and Fokker 100 all the way to Bremen – and ended in 2013 as OLT Express Germany in insolvency.
All-cargo airlines, cargo subsidiaries and express services with their own freighters.
AeroLogic
3S / BOX
The cargo airline from Leipzig is a joint venture of DHL Express and Lufthansa Cargo and flies only Boeing 777Fs – some in DHL yellow, some in its own white look.
European Air Transport Leipzig
QY / BCS
DHL’s cargo airline based at Leipzig/Halle Airport: yellow A300-600Fs, A330 freighters and 757Fs, lots of night operations and an ICAO code that reveals who is really flying in the DHL network.
Lufthansa Cargo
LH / GEC
The cargo subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group: Boeing 777F fleet based in Frankfurt, ICAO code GEC from German Cargo days, plus belly cargo in the group’s passenger jets and a stake in AeroLogic.
Companies that fly aircraft with crew for other airlines, tour operators or sports teams.
Air Hamburg
VJH
From island hopper to major business jet charter operator: Air Hamburg last flew over 40 jets, mostly from Embraer. Since the takeover by Vista the brand is history – the aircraft are not.
Avanti Air
4A / ATV
A small charter and wet-lease airline with roots at Siegerland Airport: Avanti Air once flew Fokker 100s for HOP! and tour operators, and today operates two Dash 8 Q400s – a true rarity for your logbook.
German Airways
ZQ / GER
Wet-lease specialist from Cologne with roots back to 1955: German Airways flies only Embraer E190s – mostly for KLM Cityhopper, since 2026 also for Condor – and wears black, red and gold on the tail.
Hahn Air
HR / HHN
An airline whose code you find on millions of tickets but whose aircraft you hardly ever see: Hahn Air of Dreieich sells other airlines’ flights under HR-169 and operates only two Cessna business jets itself.
WDL Aviation
WDL
Historic Cologne ACMI airline with roots in the Westdeutsche Luftwerbung of 1955: WDL Aviation flew the BAe 146 on wet lease for airlines across half of Europe, switched to the Embraer E190 in 2019 and lives on today as German Airways.
Government flight services and state carriers that fly government members and delegations.
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