Luxembourg Airport

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

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 flag-carrier, and cargo airline Cargolux have their head offices on the airport property.^[5][6]

Luxembourg Airport Fluchhafe Lëtzebuerg Aéroport de Luxembourg Flughafen Luxemburg
IATA: LUX ICAO: ELLX
Summary
Airport type	Public
Operator	Société de l'Aéroport de Luxembourg S.A.
Serves	Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
Location	Sandweiler
Hub for	Cargolux China Airlines Cargo Luxair Luxembourg Air Rescue Qatar Airways Cargo
Elevation AMSL	1,234 ft / 376 m
Coordinates	49°37′24″N 006°12′16″E
Website	lux-airport.lu
Maps
Airport diagram (2024)
ELLX Location in Luxembourg Show map of Luxembourg ELLX ELLX (Europe) Show map of Europe
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 06/24 4,002 13,130 Asphalt
Statistics (2022)
Passengers 4 791 916 Cargo 905'222 tons
Sources: Belgian AIP at Belgocontrol[1] Statistics from Eurostat[2]

History

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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]} 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] In December 2023, China Southern Airlines began service to Zhengzhou.^[21]

Terminals

Terminal interior

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.^[22]

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.^[23]

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Luxembourg Airport:^[24]

Airlines	Destinations
Air Dolomiti	Frankfurt[25]
Aegean Airlines	Athens
British Airways	London–Heathrow[26]
China Southern Airlines	Guangzhou, Zhengzhou[27]
easyJet	Lisbon, Milan–Malpensa, Naples (begins 9 December 2024),[28] Porto
GP Aviation[29]	Seasonal charter: Pristina[30][31]
KLM	Amsterdam[32]
LOT Polish Airlines	Warsaw–Chopin
Lufthansa[33]	Frankfurt, Munich
Luxair	Bari,[34] Barcelona, Berlin, Bologna, Bucharest–Otopeni, Budapest, Copenhagen, Djerba, Dublin, Faro,[34] Fuerteventura,[34] Funchal,[34] Geneva, Gran Canaria,[34] Hamburg, Hurghada,[34] Kraków, Lanzarote,[34] Lisbon, London–City, Madrid, Málaga,[34] Malta,[35] Manchester,[36] Marsa Alam,[34] Milan–Linate,[37] Milan–Malpensa, Montpellier, Munich, Nice, Oslo,[38] Palma de Mallorca,[34] Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Pescara,[39] Porto,[34] Prague, Rome–Fiumicino, Rotterdam,[40][41] Stockholm–Arlanda,[38] Tenerife–South,[34] Venice, Vienna Seasonal: Agadir, Ajaccio,[34] Almería, Antalya,[34] Bastia, Belgrade, Biarritz, Boa Vista, Bordeaux, Brač,[42] Brindisi, Burgas, Cagliari, Calvi, Catania, Chania,[43] Corfu, Dakar–Diass,[44] Dubai–Al Maktoum,[34] Dubrovnik,[45] Enfidha, Figari, Florence, Heraklion,[34] Heringsdorf, Ibiza, İzmir,[43] Jerez de la Frontera, Kos, Lamezia Terme, Ljubljana,[46][47] Luxor (resumes 3 March 2025),[48] Marrakesh,[49] Menorca, Monastir, Mykonos,[50] Naples, Palermo, Praia,[51] Rhodes,[34] Rimini, Sal, Salzburg, Santorini,[50] São Vicente,[52] Sylt,[53] Thessaloniki, Tivat, Toulon, Valencia, Varna, Zadar[45]
Ryanair	Barcelona, Bergamo, Dublin, Lisbon, London–Stansted,[54] Madrid, Marseille, Porto Seasonal: Faro,[55] Malta,[55] Palma de Mallorca, Seville, Toulouse[56][55]
Swiss International Air Lines	Zürich[57]
TAP Air Portugal	Lisbon, Porto
Turkish Airlines	Istanbul
Volotea	Nice Seasonal: Alicante

Cargo

Airlines	Destinations
Cargolux[58][59]	Almaty, Amman–Queen Alia, Amsterdam, Ashgabat, Atlanta, Bahrain, Baku, Bangkok–Suvarnabhumi, Beijing–Capital, Bogotá, Budapest, Calgary, Chennai, Chicago–O'Hare, Columbus–Rickenbacker, Curitiba–Afonso Pena, Dallas/Fort Worth, Dammam, Doha, Dubai–International, Glasgow–Prestwick, Guadalajara, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Houston–Intercontinental, Huntsville, Indianapolis, Jakarta–Soekarno-Hatta, Johannesburg–O.R. Tambo, Komatsu, Kuala Lumpur–International, Kuwait City, London–Stansted, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Miami, Milan–Malpensa, Muscat, Nairobi–Kenyatta, New York–JFK, Quito, San Juan, Seattle/Tacoma, Seoul–Incheon, Shanghai–Pudong, Shenzhen,[60] Singapore, Taipei–Taoyuan,Tokyo–Narita,Tbilisi, Vienna, Zhengzhou
China Airlines Cargo[61]	Delhi, Dubai–International, Mumbai, Prague, Taipei–Taoyuan
Qatar Airways Cargo[62]	Atlanta, Bogotá, Chicago–O'Hare, Doha, Mexico City, São Paulo–Guarulhos
Silk Way Airlines[63]	Baku

Statistics

Routes

Busiest Routes from Luxembourg Airport (2019)

Rank	Airport	Passengers 2019
1	Porto Airport	339,505
2	Lisbon Airport	311,867
3	Munich Airport	216,312
4	Frankfurt Airport	202,300
5	Amsterdam Airport	184,711
Source:[64]

Passengers

Annual passenger traffic at LUX airport. See Wikidata query.

Passengers ^[65]

1950	1960	1970	1980	1990	1995	2000	2005	2010	2012	2014	2016	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
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	1 425 715	2 002 903	4 055 900	4 791 916

Traffic

Movements, freight and night flights ^[65]

	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 ^[65]

	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 and 223, which also reaches Luxembourg railway station, and bus route 6 and 16, as well as by a cross-border coach service to nearby Trier in Germany.^[66] It is planned that a tram line will reach the airport at the beginning of 2025.

Accidents and incidents

• 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.^[67]
• On 29 September 1982, Aeroflot Flight 343 ran off the runway on landing.^[68]
• 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.^[69]
• On 21 January 2010, Cargolux Flight 7933, a Boeing 747-4R7F flying from Hong Kong to Luxembourg via Azerbaijan and Spain, collided with a van while attempting to land on runway 24. The aircraft suffered minor damage while the van sustained substantial damage with the driver only sustaining minor injuries. A subsequent investigation determined that errors from air traffic control caused both vehicles to be on a collision course.^[70][71]

• On April 15, 2023, Cargolux Flight 7545, a Boeing 747-4HQFER 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.^[72]
• In May 2023, Cargolux Flight 6857, a Boeing 747-4R7F registered as LX-OCV, 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.^[73]

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.^[74] Actioun Lëtzebuergesch [lb] 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.^[75]

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 linguistic 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)^[76]

See also

• World's busiest airports by cargo traffic
• Advanced Landing Ground
• Luxembourg Freeport

References

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

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76. Actioun Lëtzebuergesch: D’Sprooche vun den automateschen Ukënnegungen um Flughafe Findel, Guy Kaiser, September 8, 2021

External links

• Media related to Luxembourg-Findel International Airport at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website
• Luxembourg Airport Authority
• Accident history for LUX at Aviation Safety Network