Luxembourg Airport

Luxembourg Airport
Fluchhafe Lëtzebuerg
Aéroport de Luxembourg
Flughafen Luxemburg
Summary
Airport type Public
Operator

Société de l’aéroport de Luxembourg S.A.

lux-Airport
Serves Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
Location Sandweiler
Hub for
Elevation AMSL 1,234 ft / 376 m
Coordinates 49°37′24″N 006°12′16″E / 49.62333°N 6.20444°E / 49.62333; 6.20444Coordinates: 49°37′24″N 006°12′16″E / 49.62333°N 6.20444°E / 49.62333; 6.20444
Website lux-airport.lu
Map
ELLX
Location in Luxembourg
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
06/24 4,002 13,130 Asphalt
Statistics (2017)
Aircraft movements 85,031
Passengers 3,599,390
Cargo 821,000 tons
Sources: Belgian AIP at Belgocontrol[1]
Statistics from ANA[2]

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 2015, it handled 2,687,086 passengers.[3][4] By cargo tonnage, LUX/ELLX ranked as Europe's fifth-busiest 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]

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.

German use during 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. 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

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.[11]

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.[3]

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 two or three shops. The terminal started to be demolished at the end of 2011 and was complete by March 2012, this was in order 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.

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 80 passengers.[12] It is mainly used by Luxair's Q400 fleet.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Luxembourg Airport:[13]

AirlinesDestinations
Aegean Airlines Seasonal: Athens
Alitalia Milan–Linate
British Airways London–Heathrow
easyJet Berlin–Schönefeld, Bordeaux, Lisbon, London–Gatwick, Milan–Malpensa, Porto
Flybe Manchester
Hahn Air Düsseldorf
KLM Amsterdam
LOT Polish Airlines Warsaw–Chopin
Lufthansa Frankfurt, Munich
Luxair[14] Barcelona, Berlin–Tegel, Copenhagen, Djerba, Dublin, Fuerteventura, Faro, Funchal, Geneva, Gran Canaria, Hamburg, Lanzarote, Lisbon, London–City, Madrid, Málaga, Marrakech, Milan–Malpensa, Munich, Nice, Palma de Mallorca, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Porto, Rome–Fiumicino, Saarbrücken, Stockholm–Arlanda (ends 27 October 2018),[14] Tenerife–South, Turin (ends 26 October 2018),[14] Vienna
Seasonal: Agadir, Ajaccio, Alicante, Almería, Antalya, Bastia, Biarritz, Boa Vista, Bodrum, Brač, Burgas, Cagliari, Catania, Chania, Corfu, Dubrovnik, Enfidha, Figari, Heraklion, Jerez de la Frontera, Kos, Lamezia Terme, Malta, Marrakech (resumes 30 October 2018),[15] Menorca (begins 18 May 2019),[16] Naples, Palermo, Prague, Ras Al Khaimah (begins 24 October 2018),[17] Reykjavík–Keflavík, Rhodes, Rimini, Sal, Split (begins 21 April 2019),[16] Varna, Venice, Zadar
Ryanair Barcelona, Bergamo, Dublin (begins 28 October 2018), Lisbon, London–Stansted, Madrid, Porto, Seville (begins 1 November 2018)
Seasonal: Malta (begins 1 April 2019), Palma de Mallorca
Swiss International Air Lines Zurich
TAP Air Portugal Lisbon, Porto
Turkish Airlines İstanbul–Atatürk
Volotea Seasonal: Nice

Cargo

AirlinesDestinations
Cargolux Abidjan, Abu Dhabi, Accra, Aguadilla, Almaty, Amman, Amsterdam, Atlanta, Bahrain, Baku, Bangkok–Suvarnabhumi, Barcelona, Beijing–Capital, Beirut, Bogotá, Brazzaville, Budapest, Buenos Aires–Ezeiza, Cairo, Calgary, Campinas–Viracopos, Chennai, Chicago–O'Hare, Cincinnati, Columbus–Rickenbacker, Curitiba-Afonso Pena, Dammam, Doha, Dubai–International, Fortaleza, Guadalajara, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Houston–Intercontinental, Huntsville, Indianapolis, Istanbul–Sabiha Gökçen, Johannesburg–O.R. Tambo, Karachi, Kinshasa, Komatsu, Kuala Lumpur–International, Kuwait, Lagos, Latacunga, Libreville, London–Stansted, Los Angeles, Lusaka, Maastricht, Manaus, Melbourne, Mexico City, Miami, Milan–Malpensa, Mumbai, Muscat, N'Djamena, Nagoya–Centrair, Nairobi-Kenyatta, New York–JFK, Osaka–Kansai, Oslo–Gardermoen, Ouagadougou, Petrolina, Prestwick, Quito, Recife, Rio de Janeiro–Galeão, San Juan, Santiago de Chile, Seattle/Tacoma, Seoul Incheon, Shanghai Pudong, Sharjah, Singapore, Taipei–Taoyuan, Tokyo–Narita, Tbilisi, Vienna, Zaragoza, Zhengzhou
China Airlines Cargo Abu Dhabi, Bangkok–Suvarnabhumi, Delhi, Ho Chi Minh City, Prague, Taipei–Taoyuan
Emirates SkyCargo Dubai–Al Maktoum
Panalpina Huntsville
Qatar Airways Cargo Atlanta, Doha, Houston–Intercontinental, Mexico City, Oslo–Gardermoen, Pittsburgh, Toronto–Pearson
Silk Way Airlines Baku

Statistics

Check-in area in Terminal A
Busiest Routes from Luxembourg Airport (2016)
RankAirportPassengers 2016
1 Portugal, Porto Airport231,154
2 Germany, Munich Airport207,822
3 UK, London City Airport182,670
4 Germany, Frankfurt Airport174,811
5 Portugal, Lisbon Airport167,396
Source: eurostat.ec.europa.eu

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.[18]

See also

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.

  1. 1 2 AIP for ELLX – Luxembourg Findel Airport from Belgocontrol
  2. ↑ "Aeroport De Luxembourg Mouvements" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-03-13.
  3. 1 2 "Air travel: lux-Airport expects 6 percent growth, new destinations in 2016". 8 January 2016.
  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. 1 2 "The Luftwaffe, 1933-45". Ww2.dk. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  8. ↑ "IX Engineer Command". Ixengineercommand.com. 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. ↑ Michaels, Daniel (19 February 2013). "Gunmen Waylay Jet, Swipe Diamond Trove". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 20 February 2013.
  12. ↑ L'essentiel. "Le terminal B du Findel rouvrira pour l'été 2017".
  13. ↑ "Timetable - Flight Information - Luxembourg Airport". Lux-airport.lu. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  14. 1 2 3 luxair.u - Online timetable retrieved 18 August 2018
  15. ↑ http://www.lessentiel.lu/fr/luxembourg/story/LuxairTours-a-deja-la-tete-aux-vacances-d-hiver-22343220
  16. 1 2 "Luxair plans new European markets in S19". routesonline.com. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  17. ↑ "Luxair to make Middle Eastern debut in 4Q18". routesonline.com. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  18. ↑ "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 7 October 2009.
  19. ↑ Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Ilyushin 62M CCCP-86470 Luxembourg-Findel Airport (LUX)". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 2017-04-03.
  20. ↑ "Incident: Cargolux B744 at Luxemburg on January 21st 2010, touched van on runway during landing". Aviation Herald. Retrieved 23 January 2010.

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