1960s
Jets replace propellers: Time savings on all routes
The principle is deceptively simple: Air is sucked into the engine, compressed and burned with kerosene; the backward thrust of the hot exhaust gases propels the aircraft forward.
These new jet aircraft, with their higher speeds, increased capacities and improved ranges, revolutionized world air transport as never before.
Like night and day. And passengers were not the only ones to feel the difference.
Starting in 1960, the fourengined Boeing B707s flew on Lufthansa‘s long-haul routes; The airline restructured its entire route network. Fares dropped as capacities rose sharply, especially on the North Atlantic routes. These were challenging times for the young company, the more so as the world was shaken by political turmoil in the early 1960s, and even found itself briefly on the brink of a new war.