Lufthansa

Deutsche Lufthansa is the flag carrier of Germany and the largest airline in Europe in terms of overall passengers carried. The name of the company is derived from Luft(the German word for "air"), and Hansa (after the Hanseatic League, a 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. With over 722 aircraft it has the third-largest passenger airline fleet in the world when combined with its subsidiaries.

Lufthansa's registered office and corporate headquarters is in Deutz, Cologne, with its main operations base (Lufthansa Aviation Center (LAC) and primary traffic hub at Frankfurt Airportin Frankfurt am Main with a second hub at Munich Airport. The majority of Lufthansa's pilots, ground staff, and flight attendants are based in Frankfurt.

Lufthansa is a founding member of Star Alliance, the world's largest airline alliance, formed in 1997. The Lufthansa Group operates more than 500 aircraft and employs 105,261 people worldwide of 146 nationalities (31 December 2007). In 2010, 77 million passengers flew with Lufthansa (not including Germanwings, BMI, AUA, or Brussels Airlines)