DLH/Interflug Ilyushin Il-18 Fleet History (1960-1991)

Pre-80s photos of Eastern bloc airlines are quite scarce on the internet :/

Eyo and welcome to my Fleet Histories series where we take a look at the operational history of aircraft fleets both active and retired. Passenger airliners are normally featured, although freighter and government aircraft will be covered occasionally. This series was inspired by the videos of elmauriplatense, Ibirdball, Scaring Crab, and many other aviation Youtubers.

Deutsche Lufthansa (DLH) was founded as the airline of East Germany in 1955 and commenced operations on September 16 that year with a fleet of Ilyushin Il-14s. The Il-18 later entered service with the airline in 1960 on their Berlin-Moscow route. Because of the use of the Lufthansa brand, the company was sued by the West German Lufthansa and liquidated in September 1963. Its aircraft, staff, and route network were transferred to Interflug, which was founded as a state-owned charter airline in 1958 and used as a backup airline in the event of DLH's shutdown. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the reunification of Germany the following year, Interflug was put under the Treuhandanstalt and ceased operations in 1991 when no investors could be found.

Intro/outro video: Interflug Iljuschin IL-18 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzUKc5rlLbI

Image sources: Google Images, Wikimedia Commons, planes.cz, Airliners.net, ABPic

Song: Flamingosis - Sunset Park

Видео DLH/Interflug Ilyushin Il-18 Fleet History (1960-1991) канала Retro Aviator