Millions of Germans flew with them to Saarbrücken or Sylt, but also to Shanghai or Sydney. With Atlantis and Air Berlin, with LTU and General Air. Dozens of airlines, some with illustrious names, some with long-forgotten names, were in the skies over Germany, but also on long-distance routes – all pioneers of German post-war aviation, all long gone.

For years, the aviation author Andreas Spaeth interviewed contemporary witnesses, combed through archives and evaluated old flight plans. This has resulted in a fascinating illustrated book that provides competent information about German passenger aviation beyond the top dog Lufthansa and revives the zeitgeist of the time with rare photos. Spaeth presents the six most exciting airlines here in short texts.

Atlantis, with its planes in bright orange and the stewardesses in chic red and black uniforms with pillbox hats, was a feat: In 1968 Lufthansa had bought the first post-war German airline Südflug (founded in 1953) as a competitor from the market. However, their sales manager and chief pilot could not be taken on and preferred to set up on their own.

They founded Atlantis – the myth-shrouded name seemed just right for a quasi-reborn company. With seven aircraft, Atlantis rose to become the second largest German airline at the time, with charter routes mainly to North American metropolises and the Mediterranean region, but also to Tokyo, Hong Kong, Nairobi and Sydney.

Lufthansa increased the pressure and fought the competition hard. She pushed through that Atlantis did not get a permit for scheduled flights across the North Atlantic. In 1972 Atlantis went bankrupt; today the airline is almost completely forgotten.

Even if hardly anyone knows them – General Air from Hamburg was one of the most dazzling German airlines. It started in 1962 with sea resort traffic in propeller aircraft. The company later took over routes for Lufthansa with large Convair machines.

1972 saw the most unusual aircraft deal ever made by an airline in West Germany: General Air ordered five three-engine Soviet Yak-40 mini-jets with 27 seats on extremely favorable terms. It used the noisy Ostflug aircraft until 1975 in domestic German scheduled services, including to Westerland on Sylt. Then there were accidents and financial difficulties, and in 1976 it was over.

The Lufttransport Union, LTU for short, founded in 1955, flew from Düsseldorf all over the world – it became a symbol for the booming German air tourism. “Flying is for everyone” was the motto, but it was tedious: in 1956, for example, a flight to Tenerife took almost eleven flight hours, plus a nightly stopover in Morocco.

LTU has been using bright orange-red since 1968, making its aircraft unmistakable. Innovations such as the Club Lounge on the lower deck of their TriStars or North Pole sightseeing flights gave the company its own profile. In the mid-1990s, it traveled the world to Vancouver, Beijing and Cape Town. Air Berlin took over LTU in 2007, and the popular brand disappeared in 2009.

Aero Lloyd is an old brand – there was an airline company by that name as early as 1923. From 1979, the modern Aero Lloyd flew initially as an operator-independent pure charter airline, positioning itself as “the small, the reliable, the amiable”. In 1988, Aero Lloyd challenged Lufthansa and launched domestic German scheduled flights that were 15 percent cheaper.

The offer and avant-garde uniforms could not prevent the scheduled service from becoming a million dollar grave. Nothing came of plans to enter the long-haul business in 1992. In 2001, Aero Lloyd was the first airline to enter into a football partnership – with FC Bayern. The downward trend could not be stopped, however, and bankruptcy came in 2003.

After reunification, the British secured access to the German market from 1992 through the Deutsche BA (DBA). In the beginning it was noble with service in white gloves and warm food in business class, later as a better low-cost airline – there was never a real plan, nor were there any profits.

But the DBA was a cheeky young company, always ready to annoy the big Lufthansa. And no airline in Germany has ever had such attractive aircraft as the DBA, which introduced trendy painted tail units by artists in 1997, analogous to the English mother company British Airways.

Above all, the DBA invented the chocolate hearts on board. They were so popular that Air Berlin offered them after purchasing DBA in 2006 and gave them to passengers at the end of a flight.

It’s an unbelievable story of how a small leisure airline from walled West Berlin gained worldwide recognition and rose to become the second largest German airline – but then suddenly disappeared. It began with the former Pan Am pilot Kim Lundgren, who founded AirBerlin USA in Miami in 1979 in order to fly holidaymakers from West Berlin in old Boeing 707s to the Mediterranean for German tour operators.

It ended with mismanagement and over-expansion through far too many acquisitions from other airlines. In 2011, Air Berlin was still seeking refuge under the umbrella of Etihad from Abu Dhabi. But the hoped-for rescue did not materialize – when the Golf line finally cut off the money supply in 2017, the end came before Air Berlin’s planned new aircraft livery (with a bear logo on the tail unit) could celebrate its premiere.

“Unforgotten – Legendary German Airlines” by Andreas Spaeth, published by Motorbuch-Verlag, 192 pages, 32 euros