Lufthansa has celebrated 75 years since the operation of the first transatlantic flight

On 10 August 2013, Lufthansa celebrated 75 years since the operation of the first transatlantic flight with a passenger plane. Between August 10-11, 1938, a Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor (D-ACON) Lufthansa flew on the route Tempelhof, Berlin - Floyd Bennett Field, New York.

The 6,437 km were traveled in 24 hours, 56 minutes and 12 seconds, at an average speed of 263 km / h. This was the first transatlantic commercial flight by non-stop passenger aircraft. The return flight took off on 13 August 1938 and lasted 19 hours and 47 minutes, at an average speed of 330 km / h.

Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor it had a capacity of 26 of seats. It was designed under the leadership of Kurt Tank, technical director at Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau, Bremen. Although built as a civilian aircraft, in World War II, the Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor was a bomber dedicated to long and reconnaissance flights. In 1939, a Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor named "Immelmann III" (D-2600) became Adolf Hitler's first personal plane.

Returning to those 75 years since the first non-stop transatlantic flight, on 10 August 2013, Condor was flying, but in the form of a postcard aboard a Lufthansa plane. On the LH400 flight, wishers were able to purchase these illustrations. In New York, postcards received a special stamp and were sent to shippers in Germany.

Lufthansa currently operates the Frankfurt - New York route by plane Boeing 747-400, and the distance is traveled in about 8 hours and 30 minutes, three times faster than 75 years ago. Lufthansa operates seven daily flights to New York from Frankfurt, Munich and Düsseldorf.