A time of growth was seen during the 20’s in German air transportation. This was accompanied by development and growth in aerial photography, survey techniques and commercial considerations.

The wellspring: the German Luftreederei (1919). This company merged with a number of other air transport companies to form Deutsche Aero Lloyd (1923) and established the subsidiary Aero Lloyd Luftbild GmbH, which subsequently was given the name Hansa Luftbild after Junkers Luftverkehr AG and Deutsche Aero Lloyd AG merged to become Deutsche Lufthansa.

With the merger of the companies ‘Deutscher Aero Lloyd AG’, ‘Junkers Luftvwerkehrs AG’ and ‘Deutsche Luft Hansa AG’ in 1926 the new business acquires the name Hansa Luftbild. The name has been retained to this day in full awareness of the tradition and accompanying obligations it entails.

In the succeeding years Hansa Luftbild working closely with the instrument manufacturing industry develops into a progressive service company. The development of new aircraft, aerial cameras, and photogrammetric stereoplotters, as well as progress in photochemical processing and reproduction techniques leads to the rapid establishment of a new technology – photogrammetry.

Tasks taken on by Hansa Luftbild during this time, amongst others, included cartographic mapping for official agencies and participation in large overseas development projects.

The director of the company Wilhelm Gessner, managed Hansa Luftbild until his death in 1945.