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HE BER
LGW Frequent-flyer program topbonus Destinations see Air Berlin Headquarters Dortmund, Germany Fleet size 20 | BER
LGW AIR BERLIN
WALTER Alliance none Parent company Air Berlin Founded 1980 Parent organization Air Berlin | |
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Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter mbH, commonly abbreviated LGW, is a German regional airline headquartered in Dortmund. Originally an independent provider of scheduled and chartered low-volume passenger flights, LGW started cooperating with Air Berlin in 2007, later became a full subsidiary and subsequently ceased to operate under its own name and airline code. Today, it operates exclusively in Air Berlin's route network and corporate design.
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Independent company
Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter was founded in 1980 by Bernd Walter, the owner of a flying school at Dortmund Airport. Initially, LGW offered on-demand charter and air taxi services. During the 1990s, the airline grew a network of scheduled domestic flights. At that time, it had 25 employees and the Dornier Do 228 with its capacity of 19 passengers was the largest airliner in its fleet.
Cooperation with Air Berlin
In 2007, LGW went into a partnership with Air Berlin, the second largest German airline. Effective 12 October of that year, LGW flights into Düsseldorf Airport and Berlin Tegel Airport were sold via the Air Berlin booking engine. In the following year, Air Berlin introduced the Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 into its fleet. The ten aircraft of that type were leased to LGW and operated on regional routes henceforth.
Subsequently, LGW discontinued its independent corporate identity. It no longer offers any chartered services, but fully concentrates on scheduled flights on behalf of Air Berlin, all of which are operated under Air Berlin flightnumbers and branding. The website lgw.de was shut down and replaced with a redirect to airberlin.com. On 2 March 2009, Air Berlin notified the Federal Cartel Office that it would become the controlling shareholder of LGW.
As staff employed by LGW do not have a collective agreement, salaries are considerably lower than at Air Berlin. To save costs, Air Berlin transferred a large amount of its staff to LGW (especially those whose fixed-term contracts had expired). By the end of 2011, LGW had 110 employees. By early 2013, this number had grown to 480. Since that year, LGW also employed jet pilots, as a number of Embraer 190 aircraft were transferred to the airline from Niki (another Air Berlin subsidiary), the first of which arrived on 14 March leaving the fleet again in November 2013.
By spring 2015, LGW increased their fleet of Bombardier Dash 8 Q400s from 12 to 17.
Current operations
LGW's fleet operates throughout Air Berlin's domestic and European network. The majority of flights depart from Air Berlin's hubs at Düsseldorf Airport and Berlin Tegel Airport.
Former destinations
During the 1990s and 2000s, LGW served the following domestic destinations on scheduled flights under its own name and branding:
During the summer months, LGW additionally offered on-demand charter flights to the German seaside resorts of Borkum, Heringsdorf, Juist, Norderney, Rügen, Sylt and Wangerooge.
Current fleet
As of February 2017, the Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter fleet consists of the following aircraft:
Historical fleet
Over the years, LGW operated the following aircraft types: