Interflug GmbH (; ) was the national airline of East Germany (officially the “German Democratic Republic”) from 1963 to 1991. Based in East Berlin, it operated scheduled and chartered flights to European and intercontinental destinations out of its hub at Berlin Schönefeld Airport, focusing on Comecon countries. Interflug also had significant crop dusting operations. Following German reunification, the company was liquidated.

History

Founding years

thumb|right|An [[Ilyushin Il-14 of Interflug at Schönefeld Airport in 1961, when the terminal building was under construction]]

thumb|right|upright|Interflug office Haus des Reisens near [[Alexanderplatz in central East Berlin, 1971, now FITX building]]

Until 1945, Deutsche Luft Hansa had served as German flag carrier. Following the end of World War II and the subsequent allied occupation of Germany, all aircraft in the country were seized and the airline was liquidated. In 1954, a West German company acquired the Lufthansa trademark. In 1955, Deutsche Lufthansa was founded as a rival East German flag carrier. It soon became obvious that the East German airline would likely lose a lawsuit over the use of the Lufthansa branding. As a result, Interflug was set up on 18 September 1958 as a "backup" company, initially intended to complement the East German aviation industry by operating chartered flights. In 1963, the East German Lufthansa was liquidated, officially due to poor profitability (though this step foreclosed the imminent stripping of the Lufthansa name). Its staff, aircraft fleet, and route network were transferred to Interflug, which henceforth served as the East German flag carrier.

East German national airline

As a state-owned airline, Interflug and its approximately 8,000 employees were under the control of the National Defense Council, in supreme command of the East German armed forces. The majority of Interflug pilots were reserve officers of the National People's Army (and as such were required to be members of the Socialist Unity Party), and its aircraft could be requisitioned for military purposes at any time. Klaus Henkes, who became General Director of the airline in 1978, had previously served as General of the East German Air Force. Applicants for flight attendant jobs had to be approved of by the Stasi, which assessed their political reliability, in an attempt to minimize espionage and defection to Western countries. Interflug crews who associated with employees of airlines from non-socialist countries risked suspension. Each flight crew was assigned a political officer who gave political lectures during flights. Its development never went beyond the prototype phase and was abandoned in 1961. In 1969, the Tupolev Tu-134 was introduced, the first jet airliner operated by Interflug, used on European routes. The long-range Il-62 joined the fleet in 1971. That same year, the number of Interflug passengers reached 1 million. At its peak, Interflug flew to destinations such as Havana, Cuba, Singapore and Conakry, Guinea.

As a result of the 1970s energy crisis and increasing fuel prices, Interflug gradually dismantled its domestic route network. The last scheduled domestic flight, to transport prisoners from East Berlin to Erfurt, took place in April 1980.

Late 1980s and German reunification

During the 1980s, Interflug's aging fleet caused increasing difficulties: fuel efficiency was inferior to that of contemporary western airliners, and noise pollution regulations meant the airline had to pay higher landing fees and was even banned from operating at some airports. The deal was secured with the support of Franz Josef Strauss, then Minister-President of Bavaria, chairman of the Airbus supervisory board and responsible for West German loans to East Germany.

Interflug's first Airbus A310 was delivered on 26 June 1989. The East German crews for the new aircraft type were trained in West Germany; aircraft maintenance was also performed there. The A310 enabled non-stop flights to Cuba (flights had previously required a fuel stop at Gander International Airport in Canada). but the offer was blocked by Germany's Federal Cartel Office. Plans for a takeover by British Airways did not materialize either (the UK airline instead founded Deutsche BA in 1992). On 1 July 1990, Interflug became a member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

As a consequence of German reunification on 3 October 1990, Interflug came under the administration of the Treuhandanstalt, along with all other East German state property. As no buyers could be found, the liquidation of Interflug, which had 2,900 employees and 20 aircraft at the time, was announced on 7 February 1991.

Legacy

Following the liquidation, a group of former Interflug employees acquired five of the company's Ilyushin Il-18 airliners and set up Il-18 Air Cargo, which soon became known as Berline, operating chartered cargo and leisure flights out of Schönefeld Airport. The company went bankrupt and ceased operations in 1994.

The three Airbus A310 purchased by Interflug in 1988 were handed over by the Treuhandanstalt to the Federal Republic of Germany and became part of the German Air Force, used for VIP transport of high-ranking politicians like the German president or chancellor.

Several former Interflug aircraft have been preserved in different places in Germany.

Route network

thumb|Interflug [[Tupolev Tu-134 at Amsterdam Airport in 1977]]

thumb|right|Interflug [[Ilyushin Il-18 during chartered service at Gatwick Airport, United Kingdom, 1985]]

thumb|Interflug [[Ilyushin Il-62 at Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport, 1988]]

thumb|Interflug [[Airbus A310 at Schönefeld Airport, 1990]]

As the national airline of East Germany from 1963 to 1991, Interflug operated scheduled passenger flights to the following destinations.

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|+

|-

!Country

!City

!Airport

!Commenced

!Ceased

|-

|Albania

|Tirana

|Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza

| align=center | 1963

|

|-

|Algeria

|Algiers

|Maison Blanche Airport

| align=center | ca. 1966

|

|-

|Austria

|Vienna

|Vienna International Airport

| align=center | ca. 1970

|-

|Bangladesh

|Dhaka

|Tejgaon Airport

| align=center | ca. 1977

|

|-

|Belgium

|Brussels

|Brussels Airport

| align=center | ca. 1982

|

|-

|rowspan=3|Bulgaria

|Burgas

|Burgas Airport

| align=center | ca. 1982

| align=center | 1977

| align=center | ca. 1978

| align=center | 1991

During the annual Leipzig Trade Fair, at that time considered the most important meeting place for businesspeople and politicians from both sides of the Iron Curtain, Lufthansa and Interflug were granted special permits to operate flights between Leipzig and West Germany. In 1986, Lufthansa and Interflug applied for joint traffic rights for year-round scheduled intra-German flights over the Iron Curtain, which were initially rejected by the Western Allies (likely due to concerns that their unique market position for flights to and from Berlin might be weakened), and only granted in August 1989. Interflug was then able to launch flights on the Leipzig-Düsseldorf route, while Lufthansa began serving the Frankfurt-Leipzig leg.

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"

|+

|-

!Aircraft

!Introduced

!Retired

|-

|align=left|Aero Ae-45

| 1956

| 1961

|-

|align=left|Airbus A310

| 1989

| 1991

|-

|align=left|Antonov An-2

| 1957

| 1962

|-

|align=left|Antonov An-24

| 1966

| 1975

|-

|align=left|Dash 8-100

| 1990

| 1991

|-

|align=left|Let 410UVP

|

| 1991

|-

|align=left|Ilyushin Il-14

| 1955

| 1967

|-

|align=left|Ilyushin Il-18

| 1961

| 1991

|-

|align=left|Ilyushin Il-62

| 1970

| 1991

|-

|align=left|Tupolev Tu-124

|

|

|-

|align=left|Tupolev Tu-134

| 1969

| 1991

|-

|align=left|Tupolev Tu-154M

|

| 1991

|-

|}

Accidents and incidents

Fatal

  • On 26 July 1964, an Interflug Antonov An-2 (registered DM-SKS) crashed near Magdeburg; the two occupants died.
  • Interflug Flight 450, the deadliest to date in Germany with 156 fatalities (and second-deadliest in the world at the time, only surpassed by All Nippon Airways Flight 58) occurred on 14 August 1972, when an Interflug Ilyushin Il-62 (registered DM-SEA), then one of the world's largest passenger jets, crashed during an emergency landing attempt near Schönefeld Airport. The aircraft, registered DM-SEA, was the first Il-62 operated by Interflug. Shortly into the Berlin-Burgas flight, the aircrew encountered problems with the elevators caused by a fire in the cargo bay, which destroyed part of the rear fuselage. The aircrew subsequently tried to return to the airport, ultimately sending the airplane into an uncontrolled descent.
  • On 1 September 1975, an Interflug Tupolev Tu-134 (registered DM-SCD) crashed during its approach into Leipzig/Halle Airport; 27 of the 34 people on board died (three crew and four passengers survived). The aircraft had been travelling from Stuttgart, West Germany, to Leipzig (such flights were only operated during the Leipzig Trade Fair). It was later determined that the pilots had not properly checked the aircraft's altitude, leading to a descent below the glide slope and a collision with an antenna mast.
  • On 26 March 1979, a cargo-configured Interflug Ilyushin Il-18 (registered DM-STL) overshot the runway at Luanda Airport in Angola following an engine failure during the take-off run. The aircraft broke up and erupted into flames; all ten people on board died.
  • On 17 June 1989, an Ilyushin Il-62 (registered DDR-SEW) operating Interflug Flight 102 to Moscow overshot the runway during a take-off attempt at Schönefeld Airport and caught fire; 21 of the 103 passengers on board and one person on the ground died (all ten crew members survived). The accident started when a rudder jammed because of a locking tab that had been left in place during maintenance. When instructed to apply reverse thrust, the flight engineer mistakenly switched the engines off. Because the accident occurred on the anniversary of the 1953 East German uprising, the resulting tense atmosphere in the GDR initially led to suspicions of sabotage, delaying medical assistance to survivors.

Non-fatal

  • On 7 December 1963, an Interflug Ilyushin Il-14 (registered DM-SBL) belly-landed near Königsbrück following total electrical failure; all 33 on board survived.
  • On 22 November 1977, an Interflug Tu-134 (registered DM-SCM) on a flight from Moscow was damaged beyond repair in a landing accident at Schönefeld Airport. The aircraft, with 74 people aboard, crashed into the runway due to an excessive sink rate caused by faulty handling of the autopilot.
  • On 11 February 1991, Interflug's scheduled Berlin-Moscow flight was involved in a go-around incident at Sheremetyevo Airport. The captain of the Airbus A310 (registered D-AOAC) disagreed with the flight computer settings for the go-around, and the resulting opposite control inputs from the flight computer caused a total of four stalls, including one that pitched the aircraft up to 88 degrees (nearly vertical). The pilots eventually recovered control and landed the aircraft. Taking place after the crash of an Airbus A320 during a 1988 demonstration flight, the incident further demonstrated the danger of aircrews inadvertently or deliberately countermanding automatic safety protocols built into modern jetliners.

Criminal incidents

  • On 10 March 1970, a hijacking attempt occurred on an Interflug flight from East Berlin to Leipzig. Armed with pistols, a young husband and wife, Eckhard and Christel Wehage, demanded the pilot fly the Antonov An-24 – which had 15 other passengers on board – to Hanover in West Germany to escape the Iron Curtain. The pilot claimed not to have enough fuel, and the Wehages agreed to fly to Tempelhof Airport in West Berlin. The plane returned to Schönefeld Airport instead, leading the Wehages to kill themselves.
  • A similar hijacking attempt failed during an Interflug flight from Erfurt to East Berlin on 30 January 1980.
  • On 20 December 1980, Interflug Flight 302 from East Berlin to Budapest was subjected to a bomb threat. En route, a handwritten note was discovered claiming a bomb was hidden on the Tupolev Tu-134 and would be triggered once the aircraft descended below . The crew decided to divert to Poprad, a Czechoslovak airport located at an elevation of . Upon landing a backpack was discovered which did not belong to any of the passengers. No information was released about its contents.
  • The East German TV series Treffpunkt Flughafen was produced between 1985 and 1986. In eight episodes, it deals with the fictional crew of an Interflug Ilyushin Il-62, and their (often negative) experiences and adventures in foreign countries, which the average East German citizen either could not afford or was not allowed to visit.
  • The intentional landing of a former Interflug Ilyushin Il-62 on a long grass runway in Gollenberg on 23 October 1989 received widespread media attention. The aircraft, donated by the airline, was commanded by and has been preserved there ever since to commemorate aviation pioneer Otto Lilienthal.

InterCondor

  • After West and East Germany reunited, Interflug planned to start a joint-venture airline with Condor Flugdienst named InterCondor. InterCondor's fleet was to consist only of Boeing 757s. Due to the liquidation of Interflug in 1990, the project airline was abandoned.

Notes

References

Further reading

  • Braunburg R. The Interflug story. ADV. Augsburg
  • Schmitz S. Interflug. Astral Horizon Press. 2020
  • Ticket of Interflug