Luxembourg Airport (IATA:LUX,ICAO:ELLX) serves as the principal airport ofLuxembourg and the soleinternational airport within the country. Formerly known asLuxembourg Findel Airport (French: Aéroport de Luxembourg-Findel) due to its location in theFindel area, it remains the only airport in Luxembourg equipped with a paved runway. The airport is approximately 3.25 nautical miles (6.02 km; 3.74 mi) to the east ofLuxembourg City.
In 2024, Luxembourg Airport accommodated over five million passengers. Additionally, it is recognized as a major cargo hub, ranking as the fifth-busiest airport in Europe by cargo tonnage and ranking the28th-busiest globally in 2010. BothLuxair, the national flag carrier, andCargolux, a leading cargo airline, maintain their headquarters on the airport premises.
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]
Neutral Luxembourg was invaded by Germany on 10 May 1940, and on 21 May theLuftwaffe assignedJagdgeschwader 53 (JG 53), aMesserschmitt Bf 109 fighter unit, to the airport. JG 53 was engaged in combat against the French and British Expeditionary Force inFrance during theBattle of France in May and June. In addition,Jagdgeschwader 52 (JG 52) operated Bf 109s from Sandweiler during theBlitzkrieg. JG 52 moved into France on 29 May but JG 53 remained in Luxembourg until 18 August when it moved closer to theEnglish Channel to take part in theBattle of Britain.[3]
Sandweiler Airport then remained unused by the Luftwaffe until September 1944, whenAufklärungsgruppe 123 (AKG 123), a reconnaissance unit which flew theHenschel 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.[3]
United States Army combat engineers arrived at Sandweiler in mid September 1944 and performed some minor reconstruction to prepare the airfield forNinth Air Force combat aircraft. The airfield was designated asAdvanced Landing Ground "A-97" Sandweiler and was opened on 18 September 1944. TheNinth Air Force363d Tactical Reconnaissance Group operated a variety of photo-reconnaissance aircraft until 29 October 1944 when they also moved east into Germany.[4][5]
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.[6]
In 2002,TAROM routed its flight from Bucharest to New York through Luxembourg in an attempt to increase the number of passengers.[11][12]
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 toHiscox, there is a "massive demand" for such a hub for precious cargo. Planestaxi away from main airport facilities before loading.[13]
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.[14] Luxembourg Airport was closed to all passenger traffic for a week from 23 to 29 March 2020 as a public health measure during theCOVID-19 pandemic.[15][16]
In 2021, it was announced that public announcements inLuxembourgish (and inGerman as well) at Luxembourg Airport would cease after many decades of use; it would only be usingFrench andEnglish for future public announcements.[18]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.[19] 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 oflinguistic discrimination, some pointing out that other airports seem to have no difficulties using up to 4 different languages in written signs.[20]
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 afootbridge 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 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]
The airport is served by junction 9 of theA1 motorway (Luxembourg City -Trier). It is connected via public bus routes 6, 16, and 29 to Luxembourg City, and regional bus line 302 to Trier, Germany.[64]
In 2008, a rail tunnel under the airport was built, following the construction of Terminal A. Due to budgetary constraints the project was shelved in 2009, with the tunnel remaining vacant since.[68]
On 21 January 2010, Cargolux Flight 7933, aBoeing 747-4R7F flying fromHong Kong toLuxembourg viaAzerbaijan andSpain, 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 the incident was the result of a chain of multiple errors and a lack of technical equipment, which could have prevented the collision.[72][73]
On 15 April 2023, Cargolux Flight 7545, a Boeing 747-4HQFER registered as LX-ECV, suffered damage after a hard landing during a flight from Dubai'sAl 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.[74]
On 14 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.[75]
^Maurer, Maurer. Air Force Combat Units of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History, 1983.ISBN0-89201-092-4.
^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.
^"Routes".Flight International. 30 March 1999. Retrieved14 April 2022.
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This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
Media related toLuxembourg-Findel International Airport at Wikimedia Commons
