The ''Luftfahrt-Bundesamt'' (LBA, "Federal Aviation Office") is the national civil aviation authority of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

headquartered in Braunschweig.Imprint
." Luftfahrt-Bundesamt. Retrieved 22 January 2012. "Luftfahrt-Bundesamt President Hermann-Blenk-Straße 26 38108 Braunschweig" It maintains regional offices in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second- ...

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

(

Raunheim Raunheim is a town in Groß-Gerau district in Hesse, Germany and a part of the Frankfurt Urban Region as well as the Frankfurt Rhein-Main Region. Geography Location Raunheim lies in the Frankfurt Rhein-Main Region between Frankfurt am Main (2 ...

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

(

Airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

), Stuttgart, and

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

and reports directly to the

Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure The Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (german: Bundesministerium für Digitales und Verkehr, ), abbreviated BMDV, is a cabinet-level ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany. Its main office is located in Berlin, while the majority ...

. The LBA is responsible for developing and maintaining

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot a ...

safety standards Safety standards are standards designed to ensure the safety of products, activities and processes, etc. They may be advisory or compulsory and are normally laid down by an advisory or regulatory body that may be either voluntary or statutory. In ...

, as well as certifying airlines, airports, and training devices such a simulators and Flight Training Devices (FTDs). Some of these tasks are fulfilled on behalf of the

European Aviation Safety Agency The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is an agency of the European Union (EU) with responsibility for civil aviation safety. It carries out certification, regulation and standardisation and also performs investigation and monito ...

(EASA). Investigation of accidents is not a responsibility of the LBA but of the

German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation The German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation
" ''German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation ...

History

In 1918, when the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is ...

had been established, matters of aviation were provisionally assigned to the ''Reichsamt des Inneren'' (Imperial Ministry of the Interior). Later, the ''Reichsluftamt'' (Imperial Agency of Aviation) was established. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, matters of aviation were initially handled by the administration of the Allied occupation powers. Some matters of aviation were transferred to the '"Vorläufige Bundesstelle für Luftfahrtgerät und Flugunfalluntersuchung'" (Provisional Federal Office for Avionic Devices and Investigation of Aviation Accidents) established on 15 September 1953 in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

. Eventually, the Luftfahrt-Bundesamt was established by the ''Gesetz über das Luftfahrt-Bundesamt'' (Act on the Luftfahrt-Bundesamt) of 30 November 1954 (BGBl. I 354) and commenced operation on 1 February 1955. In

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

, the ''Hauptverwaltung der Zivilen Luftfahrt'' (Central Administration for Civil Aviation) was established on 1 January 1961. It was replaced by the ''Staatliche Luftfahrt-Inspektion der DDR'' (Public Department of Aviation of the GDR) on 1 January 1968, from which the ''Luftfahrt-Bundesamt'' took over all operations and most of the staff on 4 October 1990, the day after

German re-unification German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

. On 28 September 2003, substantial competences were formally transferred to the

established by

Regulation (EC) 1592/2002 Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. Fo ...

References

External links

Luftfahrt-Bundesamt

Luftfahrt-Bundesamt
{{Authority control

Organisations based in Braunschweig Government of Germany Civil aviation in Germany Aviation organisations based in Germany German federal agencies