by Horst Zoeller, 1996 - 2020, 67th Edition, 22 Nov 2020

LURAG

Crashed LURAG F13 D-372


Founded:
11th January 1925 at Essen

Shareholders:
Local Industrials and Bankers of Ruhrgebiet Region
Rheinisch-Westfälische Elektrizitaetswerke - RWE
Sueddeutsche Eisenbahngesellschaft
Local Cities of Ruhrgebiet Region (i.e. Essen, Dorsten)
Hugo Junkers (11%)

Management Positions:

Network:
Dorsten - Frankfurt - Stuttgart - Zurich (20.04.1925)
Dorsten - Cassel - Erfurt - Leipzig (July 1925)
Amsterdam - Dorsten (21.07.1925 with NWM)
Essen - Muenster - Hamburg (01.09.1925)
feeder services from Crefeld, Duesseldorf, Duisburg
in late 1925 LURAG moved from Dorsten to Essen

Company Development:

At the industrial zone of the Ruhrgebiet Luftverkehrsgesellschaft Ruhrgebiet AG (LURAG) was founded on January, 11th 1925 at Essen. Shareholders again were Junkers, who took 11% of the company, local cities of the Ruhrgebiet area and industrials and bankers from the region. The total capital worth of the company was 2.050.000 Marks. On February, 24th 1925 LURAG joint the Transeuropa Union and on April, 20th 1925 operations were started from Dorsten to Munster, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Zurich, where connections to the Transeuropa Union existed. In July 1925 the route from Dorsten via Cassel, Erfurt and Leipzig was established, where it was connected to the Silesian routes of Schlesische Luftverkehrs AG, which was operating to Erfurt and Leipzig by then. On 30th August 1925 LURAG moved from Dorsten to Essen, after the French occupation of the Ruhrgebiet was finished. LURAG operated a total of five F13 and further five G24 aircraft. These ten aircraft transported more than 4000 passengers during the first year of operations in 1925. On 23rd December 1925 the annual flight service of LURAG was closed.


LURAG Share of 500RM

When Luft Hansa was founded in January 1926, LURAG's services were integrated into the new airline including the ten LURAG aircraft. In exchange LURAG received shares of the newly formed Luft Hansa airline. The airport services at Essen were handed over to Flughafengesellschaft Essen-Muehlheim GmbH - FEM, which was founded in 1927. Finally LURAG just remained as a financial holder of the Luft Hansa shares. On April 1st 1936 LURAG was finally dissolved.

Further Reading:
AG Essener Geschichtsinitiativen (Story about LURAG) Flugplatz Dorsten 1925 (about initial air traffic in Ruhrgebiet)

 

introduced Jul 2005, transfered Dec 2017
http://hugojunkers.bplaced.net/
contents last updated 8 Jul 2005