Old bird Lufthansa

One of the world&rsquos classic airlines is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its flights to India. Lufthansa launched the service in November 1959 as the penultimate stop on a 38-hour voyage from Hamburg to D&uumlsseldorf, Frankfurt, Rome, Cairo, Karachi, Calcutta and Bangkok by Lockheed Super Constellation. Though this flight inaugurated the airline&rsquos scheduled service to the subcontinent, Lufthansa had been here before, in September 1934, when a 16-seater Junkers Ju 52 landed in Jodhpur on an exploratory flight, before continuing to Rangoon, Bangkok, Hanoi, Canton and Shanghai. That distinctive aircraft, with its corrugated &lsquoDuralumin&rsquo skin has become something of a mascot for the German flag carrier which still offers enthusiasts flights on a restored and reverentially maintained Ju 52. The joyrides are just an hour long but the waiting list stretches back for months.