DELAG: The Pioneers of Air Transport and the Rise of the Zeppelin Era

On November 16, the world’s first air transport company celebrated its 115th anniversary. On that day in 1909, in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-Aktiengesellschaft (DELAG) was established, specializing in the commercial operation of airships.

The company's founding capital amounted to 3 million marks, with 2.6 million contributed by the cities of Frankfurt am Main and Düsseldorf. Another 400,000 marks came in the form of airships provided by Luftschiffbau Zeppelin. Alfred Colsman, DELAG’s commercial director, took the helm of the company.

The first airship of the company was the LZ 7 Deutschland, which was 148 meters long and could carry up to 24 passengers. Starting on June 19, 1910, it began conducting promotional flights, often hosting journalists onboard. There were plans to establish regular routes between Frankfurt and Düsseldorf, but on June 28, the airship was damaged in a storm and had to be decommissioned.

The company faced further setbacks with its next two airships. In September 1910, the LZ 6, which had been converted from a military Zeppelin into a passenger airship, burned down in its hangar. In May 1911, a hurricane destroyed the brand-new LZ 8 Deutschland II.

It seemed as though DELAG would cease to exist before launching regular flights. However, things began to improve in July 1911 when the company acquired the LZ 10 Schwaben. Initially, the airship offered scenic flights over the spa town of Baden-Baden and its surroundings. Later, it started ferrying passengers to Baden-Baden from Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, and eventually Berlin. In less than a year, the airship carried 1,553 paying passengers, but it too was destroyed in a hangar fire in June 1912.

DELAG went on to acquire three more airships and, by 1913, had established an entire network of air routes. In addition to the previously mentioned cities, passengers could now fly to Hamburg, Dresden, and Leipzig. By the outbreak of World War I, the company had completed 1,588 flights and transported 34,028 passengers. With the start of the war, its fleet was requisitioned for military use.

After the war, DELAG had two airships and began rebuilding its air network. However, in 1921, both airships had to be handed over to the victorious nations as war reparations.

The story of DELAG did not end there. In September 1928, the company began operating the giant LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin, which was 236 meters long. It became renowned as the most successful rigid airship, completing 590 flights and covering a total of 1.7 million kilometers. Starting in 1931, it offered transatlantic flights between Germany and South America.

After the Nazis came to power, DELAG underwent several reorganizations and was eventually transformed in 1935 into the state-controlled Deutsche Zeppelin-Reederei. This company primarily conducted flights for propaganda purposes rather than commercial passenger transport.