Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter

IATA	ICAO	Callsign
AB HE	BER ~~LGW~~	AIR BERLIN ~~WALTER~~

Founded

1980

Operating bases

Frequent-flyer program

topbonus

Alliance

none

Fleet size

Destinations

see Air Berlin

Parent company

Air Berlin

Headquarters

Dortmund, Germany

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.

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.

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.

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Wikipedia