The WDL group was founded in 1955 by Theodor Wüllenkemper, who remains its CEO today. This aviation company's headquarters continues to be Essen/Mülheim airport, which is also the home of the WDL Luftschiff airship subsidiary, while WDL Aviation operates passenger and freight services from Cologne/Bonn airport. The group's administration is organized within WDL Flugdienst.

WDL Aviation was founded in 1974, and is based at Cologne/Bonn airport, under managing director Walter Böhnke. The company's fleet currently includes five British Aerospace (Fehler im deutschen Text!) (BAe) 146 regional jets, two Learjet 55s and twenty Fokker F27 turboprops, all of which are almost constantly in the air on behalf of renowned aviation companies.

Since 1972, WDL Luftschiff - the WDL airship division - has been taking advertising to previously unknown altitudes from Essen/Mülheim airport. Barbara Majerus heads this WDL subsidiary, which nowadays uses four non-rigid airships - so-called blimps - that carry advertising to dizzy heights (and are also used for filming) around the globe.