DELAG

DELAG, acronym for Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-Aktiengesellschaft (German for "German Airship Travel Corporation"), was the world's first airline to use an aircraft in revenue service.^[1] It operated a fleet of zeppelin rigid airships manufactured by the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin Corporation. Its headquarters were located in Frankfurt, Germany.

DELAG was founded on 16 November 1909 as a commercial passenger-carrying offshoot of Zeppelin Luftschiffbau. While the notion did not have the support of Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the inventor of the zeppelin, Alfred Colsman, the business manager of Zeppelin Luftschiffbau, gained both funding and promotion for passenger flights from Albert Ballin, the head of the Hamburg America Line. On 19 June 1910, DELAG's first zeppelin, designated LZ 7 and named Deutschland, performed its first flight. Despite its loss on 28 June 1910, the company launched the improved Deutschland II and the LZ 10 Schwaben during the following year. It carried 1,553 paying passengers during its commercial career. By July 1914, one month prior to the start of the First World War, DELAG's Zeppelins had transported a total of 34,028 passengers on 1,588 commercial flights; over these trips, the fleet had accumulated 172,535 kilometres across 3,176 hours of flight.^[2]

The company's zeppelins were requisitioned by the German Army for military use during the First World War. Shortly after the conflict, DELAG quickly set about relaunching commercial zeppelin operations, however, it was delivered a major setback when two of its airships were surrendered during 1921 as a part of Germany's war reparations. During 1925, restrictions imposed on zeppelin construction under the Treaty of Versailles were relaxed by the Allies, enabling the development of an advanced zeppelin suitable for intercontinental air passenger service. This airship, the LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin, was flown for the first time on 18 September 1928. Its introduction enabled DELAG to launch regular, nonstop, transatlantic flights several years before airplanes would be capable of sufficient range to cross the ocean in either direction without stopping. The airship also performed numerous record-breaking flights, including a successful circumnavigation of the globe.^[3]

DELAG's fortunes were badly damaged by the rise of the Nazis to power in Germany during 1933. During 1935, a rival company, the German Zeppelin Transport Company (DZR) was established with state sponsorship, and political interference led to Zeppelin Luftschiffbau being unable to continue operating DELAG.