The company finally succeeded in gaining a foothold with a landplane in commercial air transport when it developed the Ro VIII. This was designed as a three-engine aircraft with capacity to transport ten passengers. When designing the Ro VIII, Adolf Rohrbach followed the design principles he had used in the past. He designed a shoulder-wing, cantilever-type aircraft and landing gear with telescopic suspension. The contoured metal-skinned rib boxes attached to the box spar on the wing were a special feature and some of them acted as fuel tanks. BMW IV engines each delivering power of 169 kW were fitted. Although two aircraft were ordered immediately after Deutsche Lufthansa was established in January 1926, the fledgling airline objected to what it believed was the excessive wing loading. The rib boxes meant that the depth of the wing could be increased at a reasonable cost to reduce the loading on the wing. However, this increased the drag and the speed of the aircraft was reduced as a result. The solution was to design an enclosed cockpit, but pilots successfully resisted covering up the cockpit for some considerable time.
The first public demonstration of the aircraft was on 5 September 1926 and before the end of the year, Lufthansa had brought its first Roland into service. Five other aircraft followed in 1927. The excellent climb rate made the Ro VIII ideal for national and international routes and another three aircraft of the improved Ro VIIIa version were ordered in 1928. These aircraft were not only fitted with more powerful BMW Va 6.0 engines, each delivering power of 235 kW, they also had an enclosed cockpit as standard. In the same year, an Ro VIII which was nominally part of the German Air Transport School (Deutsche Verkehrsfleigerschule) was flown to Lipezk in Russia to undergo secret military tests and fitting with military equipment.
The success of the aircraft persuaded Lufthansa to place another order for nine improved Ro VIIIb Roland II aircraft in 1928. These aircraft were also fitted with three BMW Va 6.0 engines, although they were all converted to Junkers L-5 engines at different points. The numerous improvements included a high wing mounted on top of the fuselage with a less pronounced V-shape and an extended passenger cabin.
The Rohrbach Roland provided outstanding service, particularly flying across the Alps, for example from Munich to Milan. The aircraft were in service with Lufthansa until 1934 when the remaining aircraft were passed on to other companies. Between 1927 and 1933, Lufthansa loaned a total of five Roland aircraft of various version to the Spanish airline Iberia and all these aircraft were later returned to Lufthansa by 1934 with one exception.
