Twenty Years of Regular German Airmail Service
The establishment of a regular German airmail service was preceded in many individual cases, dating back to 1912, by the transport of mail on experimental and sport flights. Twenty years ago, on February 6, 1919, the first regular German airmail connection between Berlin and Weimar was opened. Lines from Berlin to Hamburg, Gelsenkirchen, Warnemünde, and Swinemünde, as well as from Hamburg to Westerland, formed an air network with a route length of 1,515 km in the first year. By 1938, German aviation had a route network used for mail transport with a route length of 72,000 km. Airmail lines maintained by foreign countries are also used for mail transport in all cases where this allows for faster delivery of the shipments. The first airmail connection with a foreign country was established with Sweden in 1920. The British Cairo-Baghdad route was the first non-European route made available to senders in 1923. Since 1928, German airships and since 1929, German airplanes have successfully participated in developing global airmail services. The service on the important German route to South America has experienced significant growth and will soon be increased to two flights per week. A route to the Far East is also under development and is already being used to transport mail to Baghdad. In 1929, Deutsche Reichspost began developing a German night airmail network. A number of neighboring countries have joined the network. Mail delivered in the evening to the locations served by this network is transported to its destination by the following morning with considerably faster delivery times compared to rail transport. The volume of mail transported by airmail has steadily increased, especially since the National Socialist seizure of power. While the transport volume in 1919 was approximately 10,000 kg and in 1932 approximately 64,000 kg, it has now risen to 6,000,000 kg. 83% of this mail volume is ordinary letter mail for which no airmail rates have been paid. Further improvements to the night airmail service are planned for 1939. It is hoped that in 1939 the negotiations for the opening of a regular airmail service on the important transatlantic route to North America can also be successfully concluded. The feasibility of a regular service on this route has been demonstrated by the fifty transatlantic crossings of Deutsche Lufthansa.
From February 1, 1939, a reduction in airmail surcharges for parcels to many European countries will take effect.
Even in the third decade of regular German airmail service, the German Reichspost will continue to actively pursue the path it has embarked upon to improve the airmail service
and to promote German aviation.
