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The Fifties:
1955
The present-day Condor was founded as "Deutsche Flugdienst GmbH" on December 21
in the year Germany was allowed to resume air traffic following World War II.
The four shareholders: Norddeutscher Lloyd (27.75%), Hamburg-Amerika-Linie
(27.75%), Deutsche Lufthansa (26%) and Deutsche Bundesbahn (18.5%). The share
capital totaled three million D-Marks. The fleet consisted of three
British-built twin-engine Vickers Viking propeller-powered aircraft, seating 36
passengers.
1956
The young airline began tourist traffic with a pilgrimage flight to the Holy
Land on March 26. Flight time: ten hours. Majorca, still the "magnet" for German
tourists, was among the destinations in the very first year of operation as is
Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Revenue from 2,400 sold flight hours, totaled
about 1.7 million D-Marks.
1957
The fleet was appreciably expanded: With the addition of five US twin-engine
Convair 240s (40 seats) and a fourth Vickers Viking.
1958
Revenue rose to 10 million D-Marks. The Deutsche Flugdienst GmbH, based at
Frankfurt airport, employed a workforce of 168 people.
1959
The signposts are set for the future: Lufthansa raises its stake to 95.5% in the
young carrier's equity.
The Sixties:
1961
With the takeover of the Condor Luftreederei, set up by the Hamburg-based Oetker
Group in 1957, the "Condor" name resumed its traditional place in the Lufthansa
fold. It owes its origins to the Condor Syndicate subsidiary, founded by the
prewar Lufthansa in 1927: As a Brazilian airline, the Condor Syndicate played a
major part in the evolution of air traffic in the South Atlantic in harness with
Lufthansa.
Simultaneously, on November 1, the airline began operating with its first
Vickers Viscount 814 turboprop. A second of the type joined the fleet in March
1962 and a third in the spring of 1963. The old Convair fleet was retired
gradually, two Vickers Vikings were assigned to cargo traffic.
1962
Condor Flugdienst GmbH, the airline as now known, secured a 63.3% share of
German tourist flight traffic, a one-off peak never attained again. As the
industry grew rapidly and other airlines expanded, its share later dropped to a
more normal level of around 20%. All in all, Condor carried about 32,000
passengers, among them 18,400 to the ever-popular Majorca.
1963
German air tourist traffic showed a marked upturn after years of heavy losses
and spectacular setbacks. In 1959, passenger numbers had slumped from 60,000 to
30,000.
1965
Condor entered the jet age, beginning services with its first Boeing 727. Its
fleet still numbered four Vickers Viscount 814's and two Fokker F27's. Revenue
increased to about 45 million D-Marks, Condor carried 40% of German air traffic
tourists.
1966
The network included the first long-haul flights to Bangkok, Ceylon, the
Dominican Republic and Kenya.
1967
The airline began operating its first long-haul jet, a Boeing 707. The US
Federal Aviation Agency grants traffic rights for the North Atlantic, although
these were first exercised in 1972.
1969
A final farewell to propeller aircraft. The Condor fleet is now all-jet: six
Boeing 727's (125 seats) and three Boeing 737's (99 seats). In service on
long-haul routes is a Boeing 707 and a DC8 taken over temporarily from Sėdflug.
The Seventies:
1970
By now, the summer timetable lists 146 flights weekly to tourist resorts. At
year-end, Condor begins funding its fleet for a transition period (up to 1975)
through newly-formed finance companies, which acquire ownership of the previous
fleet. Lufthansa and Deutsche Bank are shareholders in these finance companies:
Jumbo Finance GmbH & Co KG, Dėsseldorf, Jumbo Flug Mėnchen GmbH & Co KG and
Jumbo Flug Hamburg GmbH & Co KG. New aircraft are financed by these companies.
1971
Condor is the world's first holiday carrier to begin operating with a Boeing 747
jumbo. The wide-body's first flight to Palma de Mallorca in May was followed by
services to Ceylon and East Africa. The passenger total rose to 1.18 million, an
increase of 49%. The year's profit, including 5.6 million D-Marks from flight
operations, rose to 47.9 million D-Marks.
1972
A Condor jumbo touched down for the first time in New York. Between April and
October, it completed 24 round-trip flights between Frankfurt and New York.
Further sensational bankruptcies among German holiday carriers (Air Commerz,
Atlantis, Calair, Paninternational) triggered a second shakeup in the industry.
1973
Condor topped the ranks of the world's charter carriers, with annual revenue
totaling 291 million D-Marks. The fleet meantime consists of 14 Boeing jets: two
747's, two 707's, ten 727's.
1974
The oil crisis added an additional 24 million D-Marks to fuel costs for the
Condor fleet, enlarged by a further three Boeings 727's. Fuel prices continued
rising up to the end of the decade by an overall 515%.
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