Luftfartsselskabets

Luftfartsselskabets, also known as Airline Companies in Danish, refers to a type of Danish air transport business that operates scheduled passenger and cargo services. The term is not indicative of a specific airline or company, but rather a general category of enterprises.

The establishment of Luftfartsselskaber was governed by the Danish government's 1926 "Luftfartslovens fororcalsning" (Act on Air Navigation), which required all air transportation entities to register and obtain a license. Under this legislation, companies were granted permission to operate scheduled services, providing a framework for the air transportation industry in Denmark.

Danish airline companies employed a variety of aircraft, including Fokker, Junkers, and de Havilland planes, with routes connecting Copenhagen and other major Danish cities to neighboring countries such as Sweden, Norway, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Many of these airlines also operated as subsidiaries or subsidiaries-in-part, receiving financial assistance from the Danish government.

Luftfartsselskaber played a significant role in expanding Denmark's economy and facilitating international trade. Their services helped link the country to regional and global markets, helping establish Denmark's status as a major producer of trade goods. However, these airlines faced significant financial challenges during World War II, particularly in the war years, due to battling wartime restraints on air traffic.

The industry's general decline began in the post-war period, as larger international carriers began assuming Danish domestic market traffic of passenger traffic and the applied pre-war Luftfartslovs law was abandoned.