DELAG operated the first scheduled commercial airline service using zeppelins, beginning in 1910. The company’s name was short for Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-Aktiengesellschaft, or German Airship Travel Corporation.
Founded on November 16, 1909, DELAG was created as a commercial passenger-carrying offshoot of the Zeppelin airship company. Its first airship, LZ 7 Deutschland, made its first flight on June 19, 1910. Although that airship was lost only days later, DELAG continued with improved vessels, including Deutschland II and LZ 10 Schwaben.
DELAG’s service was a major step in turning powered flight into a transport business. Its rigid airships carried paying passengers on sightseeing and intercity flights at a time when airplanes were still experimental and unreliable for regular passenger operations. By July 1914, DELAG had transported 34,028 passengers on 1,588 commercial flights.
The company’s operations were interrupted by World War I, when its zeppelins were requisitioned for military use. DELAG later resumed passenger flying and eventually operated the famous Graf Zeppelin, which began regular scheduled South American service in 1931. DELAG ceased operations in 1935 after state-backed German airship services took over.