Deutsche Zeppelin-Reederei (), abbreviated DZR, is a German
limited-liability company
A limited liability company (LLC) is the United States-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of a ...
that operates commercial passenger
zeppelin
A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp. 155� ...
flights. The current incarnation of the DZR was founded in 2001 and is based in
Friedrichshafen
Friedrichshafen ( or ; Low Alemannic: ''Hafe'' or ''Fridrichshafe'') is a city on the northern shoreline of Lake Constance (the ''Bodensee'') in Southern Germany, near the borders of both Switzerland and Austria. It is the district capital (''K ...
. It is a
subsidiary
A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...
of
Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik and operates
Zeppelin NT "Next Generation" airships. By 2009 the DZR had transported over 55,000 passengers.
[Sascha Hissler: ''Lighter Than Air Concepts: LTA-crafts. An overview''. GRIN Verlag, 2010, . p. 6] As of 2012 the DZR flies a schedule of 12 tour routes between March and November in
Southern Germany
Southern Germany (, ) is a region of Germany that includes the areas in which Upper German dialects are spoken, which includes the stem duchies of Bavaria and Swabia in present-day Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, and the southern portion of Hesse ...
. The company also operates flights to other selected cities as well as
charter flight
Air charter is the business of renting an entire aircraft (i.e., chartering) as opposed to individual aircraft seats (i.e., purchasing a ticket through a traditional airline).
Regulation
Charter – also called air taxi or ad hoc – flights ...
s.
In the mid-1930s, the DZR was a commercial
airline
An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines ...
based in
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
that operated zeppelins in regular
transatlantic
Transatlantic, Trans-Atlantic or TransAtlantic may refer to:
Film
* Transatlantic Pictures, a film production company from 1948 to 1950
* Transatlantic Enterprises, an American production company in the late 1970s
* ''Transatlantic'' (1931 film) ...
revenue service, including the famous
LZ 129 ''Hindenburg''. Following the
''Hindenburg'' disaster in 1937 the DZR stopped transatlantic service, although it
launched a new airship in 1938 and had another on order. Plans for more operations ended at the outbreak of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
and its remaining two zeppelins were dismantled and scrapped in 1940. Today's DZR sees itself as the successor of this original airline and is incorporated under the same name.
History
DELAG (1909–1935)
DELAG (; English: ''German Airship Transportation Corporation Ltd'') was founded on 16 November 1909 as a subsidiary of the
Luftschiffbau Zeppelin
Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH is a German aircraft manufacturing company. It is perhaps best known for its leading role in the design and manufacture of rigid airships, commonly referred to as ''Zeppelin, Zeppelins'' due to the company's prominence ...
Corporation to commercialize airship travel. It became the world's first passenger airline in revenue service with the launch of LZ 7 ''Deutschland'' in 1910.
[Dan Grossman: "DELAG: The World’s First Airline", November 16, 2009 a]
airships.net
retrieved June 30, 2012. While DELAG's initial flights were primarily sightseeing tours, by 1919 it was operating a regular schedule between
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
and
Friedrichshafen
Friedrichshafen ( or ; Low Alemannic: ''Hafe'' or ''Fridrichshafe'') is a city on the northern shoreline of Lake Constance (the ''Bodensee'') in Southern Germany, near the borders of both Switzerland and Austria. It is the district capital (''K ...
with a stop at
Munich
Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
. Between 1910 and the outbreak of
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
DELAG transported over 34,028 passengers on 1,588 commercial flights.
The first DZR (1935–1940)
Founding
The creation of the DZR as successor to DELAG occurred for both political and business reasons.
Luftschiffbau Zeppelin
Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH is a German aircraft manufacturing company. It is perhaps best known for its leading role in the design and manufacture of rigid airships, commonly referred to as ''Zeppelin, Zeppelins'' due to the company's prominence ...
(LZ) chairman
Hugo Eckener, who had intended to run against
Hitler
Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
in the
1932 presidential election, was already disliked by the Nazis. When Eckener later resisted the new Nazi government's efforts to use zeppelins for propaganda purposes, Reich Minister of Aviation
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician, aviator, military leader, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which gov ...
insisted that a new agency be created to extend
Party
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will oft ...
control over LZ Group.
[Guillaume De Syon: ''Zeppelin!: Germany and the Airship, 1900–1939.'' Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007, . pp. 186–7] A personal rivalry between Göring and Propaganda Minister
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and philologist who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief Propaganda in Nazi Germany, propagandist for the Nazi Party, and ...
also played a role.
[Dan Grossman: "Deutsche Zeppelin-Reederei (DZR)", 25 January 2010 a]
airships.net
retrieved June 30, 2012. To complicate matters further, the Luftschiffbau was a loss-making concern and needed cash investment, in particular to complete construction of the ''Hindenburg''.
''Deutsche Zeppelin-Reederei'' was therefore incorporated on 22 March 1935 as a joint venture between
Zeppelin Luftschiffbau, the
Ministry of Aviation
The Ministry of Aviation was a department of the United Kingdom government established in 1959. Its responsibilities included the regulation of civil aviation and the supply of military aircraft, which it took on from the Ministry of Supply. ...
, and
Deutsche Luft Hansa
''Deutsche Luft Hansa A.G.'' (from 1933 styled as ''Deutsche Lufthansa'' and also known as ''Luft Hansa'', ''Lufthansa'', or DLH) was a German airline. It served as flag carrier of the country during the later years of the Weimar Republic and t ...
. The LZ Group's capital contribution came primarily from its two airships LZ 127 ''Graf Zeppelin'' and LZ 129 ''Hindenburg'', the latter of which was not yet complete on the date of incorporation. Nearly all of the rest was an infusion of cash by the Air Ministry and DLH. In exchange for this, the DZR agreed to ownership apportioned as follows:
[
The first ]chief executive officer
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization.
CEOs find roles in variou ...
of DLZ was Ernst Lehmann and Hugo Eckener was appointed chairman, a position he accepted because it left him with a degree of influence over the zeppelins. Despite Nazi pressure, the DZR's operating routine was businesslike. The board of directors included Albert Hofmann Mühlig (RLM), Carl August Freiherr von Gablenz (DLH) and Martin Vronsky (DLH).[ One of their first tasks was a complete reorganization of the transatlantic travel agency system in Germany, which was then a monopoly run by the ]Hamburg America Line
The Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft (HAPAG), known in English as the Hamburg America Line, was a transatlantic shipping enterprise established in Hamburg, in 1847. Among those involved in its development were prominent Germ ...
(HAPAG).[A.C. Bergmann: ''CargoLifter: Wie alles begann'', Berlin, 2001. p 59.]
Early success (1935–1937)
The DZR took over the South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...
n service of the LZ 127 ''Graf Zeppelin'' on 22 March 1935. On 19 March 1936 the airship LZ 129 ''Hindenburg'' was licensed to carry passengers and handed over to the DZR, allowing the airline to maintain regular South and North American routes. Construction began at the new Frankfurt Airport
Frankfurt Airport ( ) , is Germany's busiest international airport by passenger numbers, located in Frankfurt, Germany's fifth-largest city. Its official name according to the German Aeronautical Information Publication is Frankfurt Main Airpor ...
on a second airship hangar as well as special housing for employees. On 30 June 1936 the DZR ordered a sister ship to the ''Hindenburg,'' LZ 130 ''Graf Zeppelin II'', for 5.5 million Reichsmark
The (; sign: ℛ︁ℳ︁; abbreviation: RM) was the currency of Germany from 1924 until the fall of Nazi Germany in 1945, and in the American, British and French occupied zones of Germany, until 20 June 1948. The Reichsmark was then replace ...
. Completion was scheduled for October 1937. Between 1935 and 1936 the company's share of revenues rose from 47 to 57 percent, allowing the Reich government to decrease financial support from 53 to 43 percent. At the start of the 1937 fiscal year, the Supervisory Board and shareholders' meeting of 16 December 1936 voted to order yet another airship (LZ 131) for the price of 6.3 million RM, demonstrating high confidence in the future.[Manfred Bauer, John Duggan: ''LZ 130 Graf Zeppelin und das Ende der Verkehrsluftschiffahrt.'' Zeppelin-Museum, Friedrichshafen 1998, .]
Hindenburg disaster (1937)
On 6 May 1937 the LZ 129 ''Hindenburg'' caught fire and exploded while mooring in Lakehurst, New Jersey
New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
, killing 35 people as well as CEO Ernst Lehmann. The disaster dramatically changed the fortunes of the DZR. ''Hindenburg'' was covered by insurance of 6 million RM, which was paid in full, but the loss of future passenger revenue was not. Public confidence in Zeppelin travel had also been shattered and the LZ 127 ''Graf Zeppelin'' was immediately grounded on its return flight from Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
on 8 May 1937.
The obvious solution was to switch the Zeppelins' lifting gas from highly flammable hydrogen
Hydrogen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol H and atomic number 1. It is the lightest and abundance of the chemical elements, most abundant chemical element in the universe, constituting about 75% of all baryon, normal matter ...
to inert helium
Helium (from ) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol He and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, non-toxic, inert gas, inert, monatomic gas and the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table. Its boiling point is ...
. However, helium was only produced in the United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, was extremely expensive and had been embargo
Economic sanctions or embargoes are commercial and financial penalties applied by states or institutions against states, groups, or individuals. Economic sanctions are a form of coercion that attempts to get an actor to change its behavior throu ...
ed since 1927. American airships equipped with helium were also forced to conserve it at all costs, which hampered their operational characteristics. Finally, a delay by the DZR to apply for an import license during a politically favorable moment in 1938 meant that it was deprived of the gas when relations between the US and Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
deteriorated soon after. In any event, helium's high cost would probably have made future operations of the huge zeppelins unprofitable, particularly in competition with the new flying boat
A flying boat is a type of seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in having a fuselage that is purpose-designed for flotation, while floatplanes rely on fuselage-mounted floats for buoyancy.
Though ...
s.
Last operations (1938–1939)
The LZ 130 ''Graf Zeppelin II'' was finally launched in September 1938. The DZR Board concluded in its annual report for 1939 that public interest in zeppelins remained strong, if they could be shown to be safe, and a series of demonstration and airmail
Airmail (or air mail) is a mail transport service branded and sold on the basis of at least one leg of its journey being by air. Airmail items typically arrive more quickly than surface mail, and usually cost more to send. Airmail may be th ...
flights were authorized by the Air Ministry
The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force and civil aviation that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the ...
and the Reichspost
''Reichspost'' (; "Imperial Mail") was the name of the postal service of Germany from 1866 to 1945.
''Deutsche Reichspost''
Upon the outbreak of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 and the break-up of the German Confederation in the Peace of P ...
. One of its first flights was a medium-distance trial to Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
following the Anschluss
The (, or , ), also known as the (, ), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938.
The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "German Question, Greater Germany") arose after t ...
. Over the next 11 months ''Graf Zeppelin II'' made 30 test, promotional, and propaganda tours around Europe. With the advent of World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
it flew for the last time on 20 August 1939 and never entered the transatlantic passenger service for which it was built. The fate of the DZR was decided on 4 March 1940, when Air Minister Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician, aviator, military leader, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which gov ...
ordered LZ 127, LZ 130, and the unfinished LZ 131 melted down for reuse in German military aircraft manufacturing.[ On 6 May 1940, a ]Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...
demolition team destroyed the hangar complexes at Frankfurt Airport
Frankfurt Airport ( ) , is Germany's busiest international airport by passenger numbers, located in Frankfurt, Germany's fifth-largest city. Its official name according to the German Aeronautical Information Publication is Frankfurt Main Airpor ...
, ending the fortunes of the DZR.
The new DZR (2001–present)
''Deutsche Zeppelin-Reederei GmbH'' (DZR) was re-established in January 2001 as a direct descendant of the original airline.[ The first Zeppelin NT (SN 01), a prototype registered as D-LZFN ''Friedrichshafen'', flew a series of demonstration flights for the DZR. On 2 June 2001 it carried collector's mail, the first airship postal flight in over 70 years.][History of the Zeppelin NT]
, Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik GmbH & CO KG GmbH, 2011
The first production Zeppelin NT airship (SN 02) was christened ''Bodensee'' on 10 August 2001 by HRH Carl, Duke of Württemberg, bearing the same name as the LZ 120 from the 1920s. Registered as D-LZZR, the ''Bodensee'' was certified for flight by the German Federal Office of Civil Aeronautics () on 14 August and began commercial service the next day over Lake Constance
Lake Constance (, ) refers to three bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein (). These ...
. Additional tour routes were added, and flights to Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
and Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...
followed in 2002.[
On 8 February 2003 the second production NT airship (SN 03), registered as D-LZZF ''Baden-Württemberg'', was certified for passenger flight. In June 2003 the DZR flew to ]Thuringia
Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area.
Er ...
for the first time and in July it visited the city of Bad Homburg
Bad Homburg vor der Höhe (, ) is the district town of the Hochtaunuskreis, Hesse, Germany, on the southern slope of the Taunus mountains. Bad Homburg is part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. The town's official name is ''Bad Homburg ...
90 years after the first imperial airship stopped there in 1913. In October the DZR added new scheduled destinations: Ravensburg
Ravensburg ( or ; Swabian: ''Raveschburg'') is a city in Upper Swabia in Southern Germany, capital of the district of Ravensburg, Baden-Württemberg.
Ravensburg was first mentioned in 1088. In the Middle Ages, it was an Imperial Free City and ...
, Salem and Neuschwanstein Castle
Neuschwanstein Castle (, ; ) is a 19th-century Historicism (art), historicist palace on a rugged hill of the foothills of the Alps in the very south of Germany, near the border with Austria. It is located in the Swabia (Bavaria), Swabia regio ...
.[
In May 2003 the DZR was certified for operations under night visual flight rules (NVFR) and in March 2004 it became the first company in the world to receive certification as an airship pilot flight school. The D-LZZF ''Friedrichshafen'' prototype, used in training and charter service, went on a survey mission to ]South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
for de Beers
The De Beers Group is a South African–British corporation that specializes in the diamond industry, including mining, exploitation, retail, inscription, grading, trading and industrial diamond manufacturing. The company is active in open-pi ...
in 2005. It was irreparably damaged by a tornado while moored in Botswana
Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...
in 2007 and is no longer in service.[ The D-LZZR ''Bodensee'' was sold to Nippon Airship Corporation in 2004 and renamed JA101Z ''Yokoso! Japan''. That commercial service was ultimately unsuccessful and the ship was resold to the DZR in 2011. It resumed operations the under its original name in 2012.Erste Teile für neuen Zeppelin NT montiert]
, Press release from the DZR , 13 July 2011
DZR fleet
See also
* Airship Ventures
References
External links
DZR official website
Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH official website
{{Authority control
Airlines of Germany
Airship transport in Germany
Companies based in Friedrichshafen