Southern Flight: Südflug Seven Seas

Südflug International was a pioneer of aviation in Germany. It was the first airline in West Germany after the war, was instrumental in the development of the Canary Islands as a tourist destination and was the first German airline to operate transatlantic charters. Nonetheless today it is largely forgotten and so it was a pleasure that Aeroclassics recently saw fit to release an example of its fleet as it lets me explore their history a little.

Südflug Douglas DC-7C D-ABAC Aeroclassics 1:400 Scale Model Airliner

Südflug was founded on November 24, 1952 by Rul Arnold Bückle. Bückle already had had quite an adventurous life. Her was recruited into the Luftwaffe and served in Auxerre until 1943 when he retrained as a pilot and flew a  Messerschmitt Bf 109 until the wars end. Following the surrender he illegally made it back to Germany using the cover of an ambulance. Back in his hometown he steup a radio production workshop but aviation obviously asserted a greater pull as he sold the business in 1950 and returned to aviation, acquiring a Swiss private pilot license.

D-CASE - one of a trio of Herons operated on the scheduled network until 1963

It wasn't until 1955 that the carrier could proudly be known as a German airline and take the new name Südflug - Süddeutsche Fluggesellschaft. Re-equipped with De Havilland Herons Südflug operated scheduled services on the behalf of Lufthansa  until Autumn 1963.

In 1952 it was still illegal for Germans to operate airlines but Bückle got around this law using Swiss  Strohmänner (literally straw men i.e. someone acting as the founder and owner on Bückle's behalf). The airline took the name of Süddeutsche Bedarfsflug and began operations from Stuttgart initially with Swiss crews and staff. The first equipment was a twin engine Cessna UC-78 (a militarised version of the T-50).

D-ABAS wearing the original DC-7 scheme. Photo by Dietrich Eggert from dusinfo.net

Bückle was obviously not content with operating feeder services and rather audaciously acquired a trio of Douglas DC-7Cs from KLM. The aircraft were only 5 years old and no doubt had seen relatively light service. Initially it appears the DC-7Cs wore a variant of the standard scheme worn by the Herons but later several other variants seem to have been worn.

D-ABAD wearing a KLM style cheatline in 1968. Photo by Ralf Manteufel from Wikipedia

The cheatline arrangement seems to have varied but been mainly dark blue. Superimposed over the tail was a golden version of the earlier bird logo now surrounded by stars. Later D-ABAC had her cheatlines repainted with a thick blue stripe as is displayed  on the Aeroclassics model.

Bückle had by 1963 entered into an agreement with the tour operators Scharnow and Touropa who had both purchased 25% shares in the airline. These helped Südflug successfully use the DC-7Cs on IT charter services to the Mediterranean and Canary Islands. In particular Südflug was instrumental in developing the latter, especially Fuerteventura, into tourist destinations. The success of these activities can be seen in the addition to the fleet of extra DC-7Cs.

Three more were added from sources as diverse as Overseas National and Caledonian Airways. They opened up long haul charters to Asia and Africa however the real coup came in early 1965 when Südflug became the only German airline able to operate charters to the USA. The initial permit ran until April 29, 1968 and the first charter services to New York were priced at about half the standard fare.

D-ABAC in May 1968. Photo by Ralf Manteufel from Wikipedia

Even though the last DC-7C didn't join the fleet until 1966 it must have been clear that the type's obsolescence was becoming an issue especially against Condor's new 727s, which had entered service in February 1965. The Frankfurt-New York charter was a major success and expanded to four times weekly and deserved more modern equipment. Towards the end of 1966 a deal was arranged with Swissair for the purchase of a pair of DC-8-32s. Unfortunately this deal would become something of a poisoined chalice for Südflug as the aircraft were not released at the appropriate time (due to delays to Swissair's own new Douglases) and missed the all important 1967 summer season. This proved costly and led to the short-term lease of an Inflight DC-8 and a Standard Airways 707 to cover for their absence.

N108RD in temporary service with Sudflug. Photo by G Jones from the Gatwick Aviation Society website

Nonetheless the DC-8s once in service provided the needed upgrade. From Friday-Monday they worked IT charters to the Med and from Tuesday-Thursday they flew the US services. Perhaps unwisely a pair of new DC-9-32s were also ordered and again bad luck led to costly delays. At the time Douglas was going through something of a production bottleneck and the nine's didn't enter service until mid-1968 either, necessitating the lease of an ONA aircraft.

Outwardly Südflug appeared a successful airline having grown its passengers from a meagre 23,500 in 1963 to over a million in 1967. Indeed it briefly became Germany's largest charter airline. However the new aircraft and delays had cost the carrier heavily and it was struggling. Lufthansa was also less than happy with the competition that Südflug was providing across the Atlantic. With Südflug at its weakest Lufthansa was able to mount a hostile takeover for only DM8 million. This went through on January 2, 1968 so it appears that the DC-8s only saw very brief service with an independent Südflug and the DC-9s none.

Sudflug's jets

Lufthansa kept the airline operating independently until January 2, 1969 when its assets were folded into Condor. By then both the DC-8s had been acquired by the new startup Atlantis Airways which had been formed by a pair of ex-Südflug employees. Atlantis survived for 4 years in the face of intense competition from Lufthansa. Both of Südflug's DC-9s rather ironically joined Swissair.

D-ACEB one of the short-lived DC-9-32s

Rul Bückle himself remained in aviation and went on to form several leasing companies and aviation consultancies with some success. Considering the highly regulated era in which it operated and the rampant protectionism in favour of national airlines it is impressive that Südflug achieved as much as it did. It certainly deserves to be remembered for its many successes especially introducing the West German public to the wonders of the Canary Islands and low cost long haul charters to the USA.

References

Sudflug. German Wikipedia
Rul Arnold Bückle. German Wikipedia
2001. Vomhof, Klaus. Leisure Airlines of Europe. Scoval Publishing
Sudflug. RZJets.net