History of aviation in Hamburg
The history of aviation in Hamburg goes back to 1911, when an aerodrome was an aerodrome was founded in Hamburg. Initially, the aerodrome was designed to operate airships by the Zeppelin company. Today, this site is home to Hamburg Airport, the fifth largest airport in Germany.
Another milestone was set in 1933, when the ship designer Blohm und Voss founded the Hamburger Flugzeugbau GmbH (HFB) was founded. An aircraft construction plant was established in Finkenwerder on the southern bank of the river Elbe.
In 1954, the first maintenance hangar for Deutsche Lufthansa is completed next to Fuhlsbüttel Airport. The building is still in operation today. Lufthansa Technik has developed into the world market leader in aircraft repair and maintenance. The company is headquartered in Hamburg.
The first passenger jet, the Hanse-Jet HFB-320, was developed and built in Finkenwerder in the 1960s. In 1969, the company merged with other German aircraft construction companies to form Messerschmitt-Bölkow GmbH. This later merged into today's Airbus Group in several stages.
The introduction of the A320 in the 1980s is also a milestone in Hamburg. Half of all A320s are built in Finkenwerder. The A380 also plays a major role in the history of aircraft construction in Hamburg: every aircraft is handed over to the end customer at the delivery centre in Finkenwerder. After the programme was discontinued, the production halls were rededicated to the assembly of the A321XLR.
The opening of the Centre for Applied Aeronautical Research (ZAL) in 2016 marked another important step towards the future. One of the aviation industry's leading global innovation platforms, the ZAL is at the centre of Hamburg's civil aviation research landscape.
More Information
We would like to thank the Walther Blohm Stiftung, Airbus, Lufthansa Technik and Hamburg Airport for their support.
For more about the history of aircraft manufacturing in Hamburg, we recommend the website of the Walther Blohm Foundation (German). For more on the history of Lufthansa Technik, you can download a detailed history here (PDF, 13MB). The official Hamburg Airport website offers more on our airport's long and interesting history; you can reach it here.
