LTU was founded on October 20, 1955 in Frankfurt, and has been based in Düsseldorf since 1961. It was famous for being one of the last frontline operators of the Lockheed L1011 Tristar. Since retiring them in the late 1990s, it has converted to an all-Airbus fleet. LTU was once largely a charter carrier but now runs many very scheduled flights including US routes from DUS, competing on some of them with Lufthansa The airline is majority owned by dba (60%). LTU and DBA are currently planning to link their operations, and DBA flying inside Germany and LTU serving international destinations.