DELAG - Transatlantic Service

Transatlantic Service

In September 1928, DELAG began operating the successful rigid airship LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin, which made regular, nonstop, transatlantic flights possible before airplanes had flight ranges sufficient to cross the ocean in either direction without stopping. For DELAG's first transatlantic trip, Dr. Eckener commanded the Graf Zeppelin airship leaving Friedrichshafen, Germany, at 07:54 on October 11, 1928, arriving at Lakehurst Field, New Jersey, on October 15. In 1931, the airship Graf Zeppelin began offering regular scheduled passenger service between Germany and South America which continued until 1937. Over its career Graf Zeppelin crossed the South Atlantic 136 times. In 1936, the airship Hindenburg entered passenger service and successfully crossed the Atlantic 36 times before crashing at Lakehurst, New Jersey on May 6, 1937.