Lufthansa Airlines

A pistol-wielding, masked Ethiopian hijacked a Lufthansa Airbus with 104 people aboard Thursday, threatening the pilot, crew and passengers during an 11-hour drama that ended peacefully at John F. Kennedy International Airport. No one was injured in the incident, the first transatlantic hijacking in more than 16 years. Officials said late in a confusing day that the hijacker, identified as Nebiu Demeke, 20, had personal reasons for wanting to come to the United States.

Jatropha? Camelina? Animal fats? That's what Germany's Lufthansa Airlines is using to help power four daily flights between Hamburg and Frankfurt that began Friday. Although other carriers, such as Virgin Atlantic and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, have used biofuel on demonstration flights , Lufthansa claims it's the first passenger airline to use biofuel for scheduled daily flight operations. KLM last month said it plans to start using biofuel on more than 200 flights between Amsterdam and Paris in September.

United, Lufthansa to Form Alliance: United Airlines Inc. and Lufthansa Airlines will announce Monday that they are joining forces for travel between the United States and Germany, a move that could boost the role of Washington's Dulles International Airport as a European gateway, industry sources said. The accord was made possible by the recent U.S.-German bilateral aviation agreement.

More planes began taking off from airports across Europe on Tuesday after days of enforced idleness, but a new cloud of volcanic ash moving toward the continent has thrown into doubt any resumption of normal service. Air France said it would operate all of its regularly scheduled long-haul flights out of Paris on Tuesday, as well as some shorter hops within the country and to destinations in southern Europe. Lufthansa Airlines said it would go ahead with dozens of intercontinental flights out of various German airports, many of them bound for the U.S. The carrier said it would run some domestic routes and intra-European journeys also.

A bomb scare on a West German airliner led to the discovery of 600 contraband tropical birds in the plane's cargo hold, airport officials said Tuesday. The birds, including parrots and parakeets from the Amazon jungle, were discovered when police searched a Lufthansa airlines jet that landed in Rio de Janeiro on Monday during a flight from Buenos Aires to Frankfurt, they added.

West Germany's Lufthansa airlines landed in West Berlin on Sunday for the first time since the end of World War II, picking up Soviet children who had spent their vacation in East Germany and returning them to the Soviet Union. The airline, which had not been allowed to fly into Berlin since 1945, needed special permission to land in the long-divided city from the victorious World War II Allies--France, Britain, the United States and Soviet Union.

Jatropha? Camelina? Animal fats? That's what Germany's Lufthansa Airlines is using to help power four daily flights between Hamburg and Frankfurt that began Friday. Although other carriers, such as Virgin Atlantic and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, have used biofuel on demonstration flights , Lufthansa claims it's the first passenger airline to use biofuel for scheduled daily flight operations. KLM last month said it plans to start using biofuel on more than 200 flights between Amsterdam and Paris in September.

In another move toward the reunification of Germany, the West German airline Lufthansa said Wednesday that it plans to buy 26% of Interflug, its East German counterpart. Lufthansa Airlines spokesman Stefan Herscher said in a telephone interview from Frankfurt that a letter of intent has been signed by the two carriers but that a final agreement has not been reached. The preliminary agreement was signed last week, he said, but details have not been made final.

Frankfurt and Hamburg airports will be the hardest hit today when 52,000 employees of Lufthansa go on strike, a union official said Sunday. All other German airports served by Germany's biggest airline will also be affected by the massive walkout, union spokesman Harald Reutter said. The airline advised U.S. passengers to check their flight status by calling (800) 399-5838 or (800) 645-3880, or by going online to www.lufthansa.com.

In a blow to Airbus, German airline Lufthansa said Wednesday that it would order 20 Boeing 747-8s, becoming the first airline to order the new long-haul jet for passenger service. The Cologne-based airline said it would start taking delivery of the jumbo jets in 2010 as it expands into North America and Asia. The airline also approved an order for seven Airbus A340-600 long-haul jets, due for delivery by 2008.

German airline Deutsche Lufthansa has agreed to pay $85 million to settle U.S. class-action lawsuits stemming from allegations of cargo price fixing and has received conditional immunity from antitrust investigators, the carrier said Monday. The settlement is subject to court approval. Lufthansa also said it had applied for leniency to the U.S.

German airline Lufthansa said Sunday that it was negotiating with Swiss International Air Lines about a possible takeover of the money-losing carrier. Lufthansa issued a statement saying the companies had agreed on a plan to integrate Swiss into its operations. The German carrier said it would maintain Swiss' brand name as well as its "infrastructure" in Switzerland.

Taking Web surfing to new heights, passengers aboard Lufthansa jumbo jets will soon be able to flip open their laptops and browse the Internet, becoming the first air travelers to have a direct network connection from the sky. In a boost to Boeing Co., which developed the computer system at considerable cost, Lufthansa will begin offering the high-speed Internet service in late April or early May on flights between Germany and the U.S.

German airline Lufthansa is closing its Los Angeles reservation office, effective Oct. 31. An airline spokeswoman could not say how many employees would be let go. The company plans to shift operations to a center in Peterborough, Canada, to cut costs, she said. The Los Angeles call center is one of nine Lufthansa offices around the world operated by the carrier's wholly owned subsidiary, Global Telesales, the spokeswoman said. Global Telesales representatives could not be reached for comment.

Were the guys with the knife and toy pistol attempting to hijack a Lufthansa airliner, or were they undercover police conducting a security test? No one in the German government was willing Friday to say for sure. Officials revealed that last Saturday morning at the Frankfurt airport, two men appeared on the runway beside a Lufthansa jet bound for Tel Aviv. According to German media, the men attempted to walk up the gangway and into the plane.

Lufthansa averted more damaging strikes by sealing a pay deal with its disgruntled pilots. But the contract could bruise the German company's finances and drew venom from other union leaders who say the pilots got too much. The three-year, three-month pact, which includes a raise of 28.7% in the first year, ends a dispute that proved an embarrassment and financial liability to Europe's second-biggest airline. Pilots staged two 24-hour strikes in May, costing the company more than $23 million.