Deutsche Post stops carrying letters by air after 63 years

After more than 63 years, Deutsche Post has stopped carrying letters by plane to cut costs and reduce its carbon footprint, and the last plane took off from Berlin shortly after midnight and flew to Stuttgart.

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Among the last flights, the early hours of March 28 saw the last overnight flights by Eurowings and Tui Fly transporting letters to and from northern and southern Germany on the routes Stuttgart-Berlin, Hanover-Munich and Hanover-Stuttgart.

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Marc Hitschfeld, Chief Operations Officer of DHL Group’s Post & Parcel Germany division : “We conclude the era of overnight letter airmail with mixed feelings.

“In times of climate change, airmail for domestic letters within Germany can no longer be justified – also because there is no longer the same urgency associated with letter mail as in decades past.

“So on the one hand, the end of domestic airmail is good news for the environment. On the other hand, the end of overnight airmail closes a chapter of postal history which many Deutsche Post employees have identified with for decades.”