Det Danske Luftfartselskab
Encyclopedia
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
's flag carrier airline
Airline
An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit...
since 1918, and is the oldest airline still in existence. DDL has, since 1946, been a part of the SAS Group
SAS Group
Scandinavian Airlines System Aktiebolag , trading as SAS Group and SAS AB, is a holding company based in Solna, Sweden. It is the parent company of the airlines Scandinavian Airlines, Blue1 and Widerøe, and the aviation services companies SAS Business Opportunities, SAS Cargo Group, SAS Ground...
.
DNL was established on 29 October 1918, but started its first scheduled route on 7 August 1920.
History
In 1920, the first airplane, a Flugzeugbau FriedrichshafenFlugzeugbau Friedrichshafen
Flugzeugbau Friedrichshafen GmbH was a German aircraft manufacturing company. It was founded in 1912 in Friedrichshafen, Germany by Theodor Kober who had previously worked for the Zeppelin company. The town, which was located by the Bodensee, was already famous in aviation circles as the place...
49c
Friedrichshafen FF.49
|-See also:...
, was acquired from the Deutsche Luft-Reederei
Deutsche Luft-Reederei
Deutsche Luft-Reederei , founded in 1917, wasthe first German airline to use heavier than air aircraft. DELAG was the first airline in the world, but flew lighter than air airships supplied by the Zeppelin company...
(D.L.R.) in Germany. The airplane, with the previous German navy registration 1364, was almost new, and had been refitted for passenger transport before being delivered from Germany. It received the Danish registration letters T-DABA, and was used for the Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
-Malmö
Malmö
Malmö , in the southernmost province of Scania, is the third most populous city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg.Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County...
-Warnemünde
Warnemünde
Warnemünde is a sea resort and northmost district of Rostock in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, situated on the Baltic Sea in the northeast of Germany at the estuary of the river Warnow.- History :...
route in cooperation with the D.L.R. This plane was later returned to Germany, apparently because the transfer was not in accordance to the Versailles treaty.
In 1921 another F.F.49c plane from D.L.R. was acquired as a replacement for the first, with the previous German navy registration 3078. For unknown reasons this airplane used the same Danish registration T-DABA.
In the early 1920s, the airline relied on four chartererd Fokker-Grulich F.III aircrafthttp://www.airliners.net/photo/Untitled-(DDL-Det/Untitled-(DDL-Det/1283828/L/, but also Dornier Komet
Dornier Komet
-External links:...
,
Junkers F.13
Junkers F.13
The Junkers F.13 was the world's first all-metal transport aircraft, developed in Germany at the end of World War I. It was an advanced cantilever-wing monoplane, with enclosed accommodation for four passengers. Over 300 were sold...
s and the Airco D.H.9http://www.edcoatescollection.com/ac5/ROW%20Europe/T-DOFB.html.
In 1926 the first of a total of four Farman F.121 Jabiru 4-engined commercial airliners, seating nine passengers, were acquiredhttp://www.europeanairlines.no/Airlines_FarmanF121_310704.htm. It was registered as T-DOXB, and was used on the Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
to Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
line. Amsterdam was a hub with connections to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. The aircraft were withdrawn from use in 1928 and 1929, and broken up by 1931.
In the late 1920s, Fokker F.VII
Fokker F.VII
The Fokker F.VII, also known as the Fokker Trimotor, was an airliner produced in the 1920s by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker, Fokker's American subsidiary Atlantic Aircraft Corporation, and other companies under licence....
Trimotor three motor airliners replaced the somewhat problematic and expensive to operate Farmans.http://www.edcoatescollection.com/ac5/ROW%20Europe/T-DOFB.htmlhttp://www.airliners.net/photo/KLM---Royal/KLM---Royal/0277979
In 1933, the airline got the first of two 16 passenger Fokker F.XII
Fokker F.XII
-External links:* *...
airliners. They were built under license by Orlogsværftet. Both aircraft were scrapped in 1947.http://www.edcoatescollection.com/ac5/ROW%20Europe/OY-DAJ.htmlhttp://library.thinkquest.org/C002752/fokker.cgi?page=db/f12
In 1938, two Focke-Wulf Fw 200
Focke-Wulf Fw 200
The Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor, also known as Kurier to the Allies was a German all-metal four-engine monoplane originally developed by Focke-Wulf as a long-range airliner...
Condor 26 passenger airlinershttp://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/dd3904i.htm were acquired. One, Dania, was seized by the British after Denmark was invaded by German forces in 1940, and damaged beyond repair in 1941. The other, Jutlandia, survived the war and continued in DDL service until damaged beyond repair at Northolt
Northolt
Northolt is a town in the London Borough of Ealing, England. The town has London Underground and Network Rail stations and is on the A40 road...
in 1946.
In 1946, the airline started intercontinental traffic in cooperation with Det Norske Luftfartselskap
Det Norske Luftfartselskap
Det Norske Luftfartselskap A/S or DNL, trading internationally as Norwegian Air Lines, was an airline and flag carrier of Norway. Founded in 1927, it operated domestic and international routes from 1935 to 1941 and from 1946 to 1951...
and Svensk Interkontinental Lufttrafik
Svensk Interkontinental Lufttrafik
Svensk Interkontinental Lufttrafik AB, SILA, Swedish Intercontinental Airlines, was an airline and is today a part of the SAS Group.SILA was established in 1943 under the name Svensk Interkontinental Lufttrafik AB by the Wallenberg family to start a flight between Sweden and England. The first CEO...
in an SAS Agreement. On October 1, 1950 representatives from the three airlines signed a consortium agreement where they appointed SAS to run the airline operations. DDL thus changed status from being an active airline into becoming a holding company for the Danish interests within SAS.