The first Condor flight took off from Frankfurt in 1956

Germany’s most popular leisure airline celebrates its 60 year anniversary this year. On May 29, 1956, the first <link https: www.condor.com de index.jsp _blank external-link-new-window external link in new>Condor plane took off in Frankfurt am Main. At that time, the airline was still operating under the name Deutsche Flugdienst GmbH. Since then, Condor has made aviation history and has developed from the very first, into the most popular leisure airline in Germany.

The year 2016 will be the main focus of this great anniversary. Aside from there being a Condor plane painted especially for the anniversary, the airline will be celebrating all year round. For example, the special 60th anniversary page on the blogging platform, <link http: _blank external-link-new-window external link in new>Tumblr is an invitation to browse. Users can expect historical picture galleries, short videos, information on activities and competitions and reports from past witnesses.

“In the last 60 years, Condor has grown to be a strong brand, which has established itself firmly on the market”, said Ralf Teckentrup, chairman of Condor’s executive board. “Much has changed over the decades, but one thing has remained the same: we take people to the best holiday destinations. We now offer around 75 dream destinations – quite a bit more than we offered in the 1950s.”

The airline‘s first flight in 1956 provided a round trip in a Vickers Viking into the Holy Land, Jerusalem and Egypt. During the first year of operations, Mallorca and the Canary Island, Tenerife were already included on the flight programme. In the following decades the number of destinations on offer continued to expand, and as a result, the steadily increasing demands of the population continued to be served. The next milestone followed in 1966, leading to the first longhaul flights to Thailand, Sri Lanka, Kenya and the Dominican Republic.

The expansion of the route network will resume during this anniversary year. As well as four new Greek destinations – Araxos-Patras (GPA), Volos (VOL), Zakynthos (ZTH) and Kavala (KVA) – flights from Frankfurt to Austin, Texas will be added in June. Moreover, offers from Munich will also be expanded: Halifax (YHZ), Canada; Windhoek (WDH), Namibia; Havana (HAV), Cuba as well as Zanzibar (ZNZ), Tanzania and Mombasa (MBA), Kenya will be added as new destinations with one flight per week from Munich, from summer 2016.