Luxembourg Airport

Luxembourg Airport (IATA: LUX, ICAO: ELLX) is the main airport in Luxembourg. Previously called Luxembourg Findel Airport due to its location at Findel, it is Luxembourg's only international airport and is the only airport in the country with a paved runway. It is located 3.25 NM (6.02 km; 3.74 mi) east[1] of Luxembourg City. In 2019, it handled 4.4 million passengers.[3][4] It is a major cargo airport, ranking as Europe's fifth-busiest by cargo tonnage and the world's 28th-busiest in 2010. Luxair, Luxembourg's international airline, and cargo airline Cargolux have their head offices on the airport property.[5][6]

"ELLX" redirects here. For the London railway engineering project, see East London line extension.

Luxembourg Airport

Fluchhafe Lëtzebuerg

Aéroport de Luxembourg

Flughafen Luxemburg
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorLuxembourg Airport Company S.A. lux-Airport
ServesLuxembourg City, Luxembourg
LocationSandweiler
Hub for
Elevation AMSL1,234 ft / 376 m
Coordinates49°37′24″N 006°12′16″E
Websitelux-airport.lu
Map
ELLX is located in Luxembourg
ELLX
ELLX
Location in Luxembourg
ELLX is located in Europe
ELLX
ELLX
ELLX (Europe)
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
06/24 4,002 13,130 Asphalt
Statistics (2018)
Passengers3,988,224
Cargo821,000 tons
Sources: Belgian AIP at Belgocontrol[1]
Statistics from Eurostat[2]

History
Terminal interior

Early years

The airport was originally known as "Sandweiler Airport", and was opened in the 1930s as a small grass airfield with a relatively short, 3,400 ft (1,000 m) runway.

World War II

Neutral Luxembourg was invaded by Germany on 10 May 1940, and on 21 May the Luftwaffe assigned Jagdgeschwader 53 (JG 53), a Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter unit, to the airport. JG 53 was engaged in combat against the French and British Expeditionary Force in France during the Battle of France in May and June. In addition, Jagdgeschwader 52 (JG 52) operated Bf 109s from Sandweiler during the Blitzkrieg. JG 52 moved into France on 29 May but JG 53 remained in Luxembourg until 18 August when it moved closer to the English Channel to take part in the Battle of Britain.[7]

Sandweiler Airport then remained unused by the Luftwaffe until September 1944, when Aufklärungsgruppe 123 (AKG 123), a reconnaissance unit which flew the Henschel Hs 126, a two-seat reconnaissance and observation aircraft, was assigned to the airport. AKG 123 moved east into Germany after only a few days when the United States Army moved through Luxembourg and cleared the country of the occupying German forces.[7]

Allied use

United States Army combat engineers arrived at Sandweiler in mid September 1944 and performed some minor reconstruction to prepare the airfield for Ninth Air Force combat aircraft. The airfield was designated as Advanced Landing Ground "A-97" Sandweiler and was opened on 18 September 1944. The Ninth Air Force 363d Tactical Reconnaissance Group operated a variety of photo-reconnaissance aircraft until 29 October 1944 when they also moved east into Germany.[8][9]

Sandweiler Airport was used by the Americans for the rest of the war as a transport supply airfield and also to evacuate combat casualties to the UK. It was returned to Luxembourgish control on 15 August 1945.[10]

Present

During the late 1960s and 1970s, Icelandair used Findel Airport as their European hub, connecting cities in North America with Europe at Luxembourg. In March 1999, Luxair launched direct flights to Newark using a Boeing 767.[11][12] The service lasted seven months.[13][14] In 2002, TAROM routed its flight from Bucharest to New York through Luxembourg in an attempt to increase the number of passengers.[15][16]

Luxembourg Airport has constructed a high-security zone far away from most airport activities in order to attract the business of transporting valuable goods such as art and jewels. According to Hiscox, there is a "massive demand" for such a hub for precious cargo. Planes taxi away from main airport facilities before loading.[17]

In 2015, the airline with the largest share of the airport's total passenger volume was still Luxair with 1.69 million passengers at a 63% share.[18]

Luxembourg Airport was closed to all passenger traffic for a week from 23 March to 29 March 2020 as a public health measure during the COVID-19 pandemic.[19][20]

Terminals

Terminal A

Built in 1975, the building was the only terminal of the airport for 30 years, until terminal B opened in 2004. The terminal was getting overcrowded especially during the summer period, and only contained four shops, a post office and a restaurant. The terminal started to be demolished at the end of 2011 and was complete by March 2012; this was to make way for a footbridge connecting terminal B to the new terminal A. Construction of the new Terminal A started in 2005 and it was inaugurated in May 2008.[21]

Terminal B

Terminal B opened in 2004. The building is unique as it only has gates and no check-in counters or arrivals hall. It was built for small planes with a maximum capacity of 50 people. It can handle up to 600,000 passengers a year. The Terminal reopened in the summer of 2017 after some arrangements to handle aircraft with a capacity of up to 110 passengers and a total of 1 million passengers annually.[22]

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Luxembourg Airport:[23]

AirlinesDestinations
Aegean Airlines Athens
British Airways London–Heathrow
easyJet Lisbon, Milan–Malpensa, Porto
KLM Amsterdam
LOT Polish Airlines Warsaw–Chopin
Lufthansa Frankfurt, Munich
Luxair Bari, Barcelona, Belgrade, Berlin, Bologna, Bucharest–Otopeni, Budapest, Copenhagen, Djerba, Dublin, Faro, Fuerteventura, Funchal, Geneva, Gran Canaria, Hamburg, Hurghada, Kraków, Lanzarote, Lisbon, Ljubljana,[24] London–City, Madrid, Málaga, Malta,[25] Manchester (resumes 1 April 2024),[26] Marsa Alam, Milan–Malpensa, Monastir, Montpellier, Munich, Nice, Oslo, Palma de Mallorca, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Porto, Prague, Rome–Fiumicino, Stockholm–Arlanda, Tenerife–South, Venice, Vienna
Seasonal: Agadir, Ajaccio, Almería, Antalya, Bastia, Biarritz, Boa Vista, Bordeaux, Brač (resumes 4 May 2024),[27] Brindisi, Burgas, Cagliari, Calvi, Catania, Chania,[28] Corfu, Dakar–Diass,[29] Dubai–International, Dubrovnik,[30] Figari, Florence, Heraklion, Heringsdorf, Ibiza, İzmir,[28] Jerez de la Frontera, Kos, Lamezia Terme, Marrakesh,[31] Menorca, Mykonos, Naples, Palermo, Pescara,[32] Podgorica, Praia (begins 18 December 2023),[33] Rhodes, Rimini, Sal, Salzburg, Santorini, São Vicente,[34] Sylt,[35] Thessaloniki, Tivat, Toulon, Tunis, Valencia, Varna, Zadar[30]
RyanairBarcelona, Bergamo, Dublin, Lisbon, London–Stansted, Madrid, Marseille, Porto
Seasonal: Berlin, Faro,[36] Malta,[36] Palma de Mallorca, Seville, Toulouse[37][36]
Swiss International Air Lines Zürich
TAP Air Portugal Lisbon, Porto
Turkish Airlines Istanbul
Volotea Nice
Seasonal: Alicante
Wizz Air Bucharest–Otopeni,[38] Rome–Fiumicino,[39] Skopje (begins 18 December 2023)[40]

Cargo
AirlinesDestinations
Cargolux[41][42] Abidjan, Abu Dhabi, Accra, Aguadilla, Almaty, Amman-Queen Alia, Amsterdam, Ashgabat, Atlanta, Bahrain, Baku, Bangkok–Suvarnabhumi, Barcelona, Beijing–Capital, Beirut, Bogotá, Brazzaville, Budapest, Buenos Aires–Ezeiza, Cairo, Calgary, Campinas–Viracopos, Chennai, Chicago–O'Hare, Cotopaxi, Columbus–Rickenbacker, Curitiba-Afonso Pena, Dallas/Fort Worth, Dammam, Doha, Dubai–International, Fortaleza, Glasgow–Prestwick, Guadalajara, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Houston–Intercontinental, Huntsville, Indianapolis, Istanbul–Sabiha Gökçen, Jakarta–Soekarno-Hatta, Johannesburg–O.R. Tambo, Kinshasa, Komatsu, Kuala Lumpur–International, Kuwait, Lagos, Libreville, London–Stansted, Los Angeles, Lubumbashi, Lusaka, Maastricht/Aachen, Manaus, Mexico City, Miami, Milan–Malpensa, Mumbai, Muscat, N'Djamena, Nagoya–Centrair, Nairobi-Kenyatta, New York–JFK, Osaka–Kansai, Oslo, Petrolina, Quito, Recife, Rio de Janeiro–Galeão, San Juan, Santiago de Chile, Seattle/Tacoma, Seoul-Incheon, Shanghai–Pudong, Sharjah, Shenzhen,[43] Singapore, Taipei–Taoyuan,Tokyo–Narita,Tbilisi, Vienna, Zaragoza, Zhengzhou
China Airlines Cargo[44] Delhi, Dubai–International, Mumbai, Prague, Taipei–Taoyuan
Qatar Airways Cargo[45] Atlanta, Bogotá, Chicago–O'Hare, Doha, Mexico City, São Paulo–Guarulhos
Silk Way Airlines[46] Baku

Statistics

Routes
Busiest Routes from Luxembourg Airport (2019)
RankAirportPassengers 2019
1Portugal Porto Airport339,505
2Portugal Lisbon Airport311,867
3Germany Munich Airport216,312
4Germany Frankfurt Airport202,300
5Netherlands Amsterdam Airport184,711
Source:[47]

Passengers
Annual passenger traffic at LUX airport. See Wikidata query.
Passengers [48]
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2019 2020
6 525 55 591 476 938 670 159 1 072 264 1 267 640 1 669 484 1 573 825 1 630 027 1 919 694 2 467 864 3 022 918 4 036 878 4 416 038 1 446 354

Traffic
Movements, freight and night flights [48]
1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2019 2020
International movements 39 738 46 586 61 189 65 446 57 537 59 785 62 260 69 577 79 101 80 557 43 635
Local movements 22 976 24 912 24 322 24 211 22 957 21 378 21 962 16 825 15 485 14 428 21 066
Freight (kg) 142 956 417 286 380 935 499 910 851 742 341 598 705 079 728 614 904 815 708 077 753 801 807 232 894 648 866 853 354 139 905 222 594
Night flights 764 886 1 069 1 550 1 256 1 554 1 991 2145 1951 1420
Movements by airplane category [48]
1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2019 2020
0-2t Propeller 2 656 8 569 9 796 8 744 14 174 33 657 36 415 39 325 29 015 28 386 28 468 25 119 23 481 22 346 16 472 20 339
2-5t Propeller 338 136 313 1 553 982 1 794 1 802 1 549 1 919 2 028 1 955 5 834 5 158 4 167 3 932 5 170
>5t Propeller 608 2 688 4 016 6 853 7 927 6 945 7 554 12 266 18 043 22 660 19 536 7 581 11 034 14 817 21 862 9 173
Jet 390 2 952 6 683 8 833 9 271 13 737 16 588 35 552 51 123 40 821 43 701 52 719 30 020

Ground transportation

The airport can be reached via autoroute A1 (Luxembourg City - Trier) and is also connected with the surrounding areas by public bus transport route 29, which also reaches Luxembourg railway station, and bus route 16, as well as by a cross-border coach service to nearby Trier in Germany.[49] It is planned that a tram line will reach the airport in 2024.

Incidents and accidents
  • On 22 December 1969, Vickers Viscount LX-LGC of Luxair was damaged beyond economic repair when it ran off the runway and the nose wheel collapsed.[50]
  • On 29 September 1982, Aeroflot Flight 343 ran off the runway on landing.[51]
  • On 6 November 2002, Luxair Flight 9642, Fokker 50 (registration LX-LGB) from Berlin, Germany crashed in a field near the village of Niederanven during its final approach. 20 passengers and crew were killed.[52]
  • On 21 January 2010, Cargolux Flight 7933 Boeing 747-4R7F from Barcelona, Spain crashed during landing when one of the tires collided with a car on the runway.[53]
  • On April 15, 2023, a Cargolux Boeing 747-400 registered as LX-ECV, suffered damage after a hard landing during a flight from Dubai's Al Maktoum International Airport. The airplane landed hard on its left wing, then did a go-around before landing, with damage to their number 2, or left wing's inner, engine. No one was injured in the incident.[54]
  • In May 2023, another Cargolux Boeing 747 crash landed at the airport a short while after taking off; the landing gear would not retract after take off and the decision was made to land the aircraft. The main landing gear separated from the aircraft during landing.[55]

Claims of language discrimination

In 2021, it was announced that public announcements in Luxembourgish (and in German as well) at Luxembourg Airport would cease after many decades of use; it would only be using French and English for future public announcements.[56] Actioun Lëtzebuergesch declared itself to be hugely upset by this new governmental measure, citing that other airports in the world seem to have no problems making public announcements in multiple languages; according to a poll conducted by AL, 92.84% of people in Luxembourg wished to have public announcements to be made in Luxembourgish at Luxembourg Airport.[57]

All written signs at Luxembourg Airport are only in French and English. This non-use of Luxembourgish and German (two official languages of Luxembourg) have fueled claims of language discrimination, some pointing out that other airports seem to have no difficulties using up to 4 different languages in written signs. (Palma de Mallorca Airport for example uses Catalan, English, Spanish and German, the latter not even being an official language of the country)[58]

See also

References

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

  1. ELLX – LUXEMBOURG / Luxembourg (also PDF). Aeronautical Information Publication (AIP) from AIM Belgium via skeyes.
  2. "European Commission". Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
  3. "Luxembourg airport recorded passenger increase in 2019". Lux-Airport s.a. 21 January 2020.
  4. "Luxembourg Airport - My Journey Starts Here". Luxembourg Airport.
  5. "Legal." Luxair. Retrieved on 7 February 2011. "Luxair S.A. LuxairGroup Luxembourg Airport L-2987 Luxembourg."
  6. "Network & Offices Luxembourg Archived 2011-07-08 at the Wayback Machine." Cargolux. Retrieved on 15 May 2010. "Cargolux Head Office Luxembourg Airport L 2990 Luxembourg"
  7. "The Luftwaffe, 1933-45". Ww2.dk. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  8. "IX Engineer Command". Ixengineercommand.com. Archived from the original on 9 June 2019. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  9. Maurer, Maurer. Air Force Combat Units of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History, 1983. ISBN 0-89201-092-4.
  10. Johnson, David C. (1988), U.S. Army Air Forces Continental Airfields (ETO), D-Day to V-E Day; Research Division, USAF Historical Research Center, Maxwell AFB, Alabama.
  11. "Routes". Flight International. 30 March 1999. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
  12. Leney, Peter (26 June 1999). "Luxembourg: A world apart". The Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
  13. "Losses prompt Luxair to re-focus on Europe". Flight International. 5 March 2001. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
  14. "Luxair to End Newark Flights" (Press release). Luxair. 12 July 1999. ProQuest 449642447.
  15. "Routes". Flight International. 161 (4830): 12. 7 May 2002. EBSCOhost 6697266.
  16. "Tarom nu mai zboara spre America, dar ramane la New York". Adevărul (in Romanian). 21 November 2003. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
  17. Michaels, Daniel (19 February 2013). "Gunmen Waylay Jet, Swipe Diamond Trove". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 20 February 2013.
  18. "Air travel: lux-Airport expects 6 percent growth, new destinations in 2016". 8 January 2016. Archived from the original on 1 August 2017. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
  19. (in French) Le Findel ferme aux voyageurs dès lundi. L'Essentiel, 19 Mars 2020,
  20. "Covid-19 Faq". 9 September 2022.
  21. "The History of Luxembourg Airport". Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  22. L'essentiel (26 May 2016). "Le terminal B du Findel rouvrira pour l'été 2017".
  23. "Timetable - Flight Information - Luxembourg Airport". Lux-airport.lu. Archived from the original on 2 January 2014. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
  24. "Luxair to launch Ljubljana flights in September". 29 June 2023.
  25. Orban, André (14 October 2022). "Luxair optimises its Winter flight schedule and introduces two additional destinations for next Summer season". www.aviation24.be. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  26. "Luxair Resumes Manchester Service from April 2024". www.aeroroutes.com. 31 August 2023. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  27. "EKSKLUZIVNO-NAJAVE: Luxair pokreće Luksemburg-Brač – zamaaero". Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  28. "Luxair optimises its Winter flight schedule and introduces two additional destinations for next Summer season". www.aviation24.be. 14 October 2022.
  29. "LUXAIR BEGINS LUXEMBOURG – DAKAR SERVICE FROM LATE-OCT 2022". www.aeroroutes.com. 20 October 2022.
  30. "Luxair NS24 Croatia Service Increases". www.aeroroutes.com. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  31. "Twice a week: Luxair to offer flights to Marrakesh from February".
  32. "Luxair Adds Pescara Service in late-March 2023". www.aeroroutes.com.
  33. "Luxair aumenta número de voos semanais para as ilhas de Cabo Verde". newsavia.com. 29 May 2023. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  34. "Luxair agenda voos directos para SV a partir de dezembro". 15 November 2021.
  35. "Flüge von und nach Sylt: Neue Fluglinie verbindet die Nordseeinsel ab Mai mit Luxemburg | SHZ.de". 16 September 2021.
  36. "Ryanair NW23 Network Changes – 17SEP23". www.aeroroutes.com. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  37. "Rayanair Luxembourg to Toulouse". Ryanair.com.
  38. "Rută nouă: București - Luxemburg cu Wizz Air din iunie 2023". 26 January 2023.
  39. "Wizz Air apre altre 5 rotte da Roma. Castellon, Baku, Abu Dhabi, Lussemburgo e Kuwait City". 15 December 2022.
  40. "Wizz Air schedules first two of four new Skopje routes". 18 May 2023.
  41. cargolux.com - Network & Offices retrieved 6 March 2020
  42. "Cargolux Schedule Worldwide May 2023" (PDF). Cargolux. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  43. "Cargolux adds Shenzhen to its global network". 18 September 2020.
  44. cargo.china-airlines.com - Our Network retrieved 6 March 2020
  45. qrcargo.com - Route Network Archived 31 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine retrieved 6 March 2020
  46. silkway-airlines.com - Our Network Archived 2020-02-21 at the Wayback Machine retrieved 6 March 2020
  47. http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/submitViewTableAction.do
  48. Wagner, Jean (14 January 2021). "global-for-the-public-2020" (PDF). data.public.lu. Administration de la navigation aérienne (ANA). Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 January 2021. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
  49. lux-airport.lu - Getting to the airport retrieved 1 July 2022
  50. "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 7 October 2009.
  51. Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Ilyushin 62M CCCP-86470 Luxembourg-Findel Airport (LUX)". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  52. aviation-safety.net retrieved 2 September 2020
  53. Hradecky, Simon. "Incident: Cargolux B744 at Luxemburg on Jan 21st 2010, touched van on runway during landing". The Aviation Herald. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
  54. "Incident Boeing 747-4HQF(ER) LX-ECV, 15 Apr 2023".
  55. "Incident".
  56. "Findel airport: Public announcements no longer available in Luxembourgish". today.rtl.lu. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  57. D’Sprooche vun den automateschen Ukënnegungen um Flughafe Findel, Actioun Lëtzebuergesch, 7 September 2021
  58. Actioun Lëtzebuergesch: D’Sprooche vun den automateschen Ukënnegungen um Flughafe Findel, Guy Kaiser, September 8, 2021
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.