Luxair
IATA ICAO Callsign
LG LGL LUXAIR
Founded1948
Commenced operations1962
HubsLuxembourg Airport
Frequent-flyer programMiles & More
Fleet size21
Destinations85
HeadquartersSandweiler, Luxembourg
Key peopleGilles Feith, CEO
Websiteluxair.lu

Luxair, legally Luxair S.A., Société Luxembourgeoise de Navigation Aérienne, is the flag carrier of Luxembourg with its headquarters and hub at Luxembourg Airport.[1][2] It operates scheduled services to destinations in Europe, North Africa, the Mediterranean and Middle East with additional charter and seasonal services. It is Luxembourg's only passenger-carrying airline offering regular, non-charter service.

History

Luxair's old logo, used from 21 October 1961 to 20 December 2003
Luxair's first aircraft was this Fokker F27 Friendship, pictured here in 1966.
A former Luxair Boeing 747SP
A former Luxair Boeing 737-500

Early years

Luxair descended from Luxembourg Airlines, which was founded in 1948. Luxair started to be set up in 1961 to meet the growing demand for air links between Luxembourg and other European cities. In 1962, Luxembourg Airlines became Luxair and began flights by launching a Luxembourg–Paris route with a Fokker F27 Friendship.

From 1964 to 1969, Luxair operated three Lockheed L-1649A Starliner aircraft in a co-operative agreement with Trek Airways, from Luxembourg to Johannesburg. The Starliners were painted in Luxair livery and were registered in Luxembourg.[3] By 1967, Luxair's fleet consisted of three Fokker F27 Friendships and one Vickers Viscount. The latter was written off in a non-fatal accident in 1969 and replaced the following year by the airline's first jet airliner, a Sud Aviation Caravelle. By 1976, Luxair was operating a Boeing 707 with a Boeing 737-200 then joining the fleet in 1977.

Over the years, Luxair gradually introduced further jet aircraft: Boeing 737-400s and Boeing 737-500s; as well as Fokker 50 turboprops and Embraer ERJ-135 and ERJ-145 regional jets. In the 1980s, Boeing 747SPs owned by South African Trek Airways and operated by LUXAVIA were painted in Luxair colours, flying routes between South Africa and Europe, as well as holiday charters from Luxembourg.[4] LUXAVIA was a joint venture between Trek Airways and Luxair, enabling Trek Airways to avoid the repercussions of widespread anti-Apartheid boycotts.[5]

Development since the 2000s

In March 2003, Luxair ordered two new Boeing 737-700s to replace its older Boeing aircraft. The first of the new aircraft was delivered on 18 February 2004. A third aircraft was ordered in August 2003 and delivered in January 2005.

On 21 December 2003, Luxair launched a new logo depicting a flying boomerang. The previous logo had been in use for 42 years.

In an effort to move to an all-jet fleet, the last Fokker 50 aircraft was withdrawn from service in April 2005. The rising cost of oil made operating regional jets increasingly difficult. To lessen its exposure, Luxair decided to reintroduce turboprop aircraft, and in June 2006 it signed a firm order with Bombardier Aerospace for three Dash 8-Q400s, plus three options. The last of the three aircraft was delivered in September 2007. Two additional Q400s were ordered later.

In October 2008, Luxair decided to place an order for its first Boeing 737-800. This aircraft replaced the last Boeing 737-500 in Luxair's fleet and facilitated Luxair's offer on its holiday destinations. In 2009, the airline was awarded as the most punctual scheduled operator at London City Airport during 2008 by Flight on Time, based on CAA statistics.[6] In 2011 Luxair carried 1,302,771 passengers.[7]

In 2013 and 2014, two new Boeing 737-800s fitted with Boeing Sky Interior became part of the fleet, which enabled Luxair to retire the last Boeing 737-500 from service.

In July 2015, Luxair's minority shareholder Lufthansa announced it would sell its 13 percent stake in the airline that it had held since 1993. The government of Luxembourg was named as the preferred buyer.[8] In November 2015, the sale was finalized when Lufthansa sold its entire stake to the state of Luxembourg.[9] Luxair also announced it would stop flying its route to Frankfurt Airport previously operated on a codeshare with Lufthansa as the latter started the same route itself.[10] Luxair is still part of the Lufthansa frequent flyer program Miles & More.[11][12]

After the bankruptcy of Air Berlin, Luxair announced they would begin flying from Saarbrücken Airport to Berlin Tegel Airport utilising a Bombardier CRJ700 which Luxair leased from Adria Airways based in Saarbrücken.

Corporate affairs

Ownership

As of November 2015, after Lufthansa sold its shares, the airline is owned by the State of Luxembourg (52.04%), Banque et Caisse d'Épargne de l'État (21.81%), Banque Internationale à Luxembourg (13.14%), the Luxair Group and others (13.11%).[13] In total, the State of Luxembourg owns 74.98% of the company through various state-owned corporations and through its holding of 10% of Banque Internationale à Luxembourg.

Key figures

The key figures for the Luxair Group since 2008 are shown below:

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Turnover (€m) 417 383 409 429 447 472 495 505 498 535 593 615 263 457 683
Operating Profit (€m) 1.5 7.1 1.8 2.3 -0.5 1.3 1.8 -1.1 2.0 0.8 -8.8 -159.8 -33.7 -7
Net result (€m) 8.5 1.3 8.9 3.6 −21.2 8.2 -0.4 9.7 4.4 9.5 12.5 8.1 -154.9 -2.3 67.1
Number of employees (average) 2,461 2,334 2,317 2,344 2,309 2,288 2,394 2,438 2,527 2,658 2,828 2,877 2,820 2,705 3,118
Number of passengers (m) 1.22 1.18 1.25 1.30 1.37 1.51 1.68 1.81 1.84 1.93 2.13 2.14 0.66 1.08 1.2
Passenger load factor (%) 73.4 72.9 73.8 72.4 73.4 75.3 74.5 72.8 71.6 71.6 72.6 73.0 58.4 68.6
Cargo carried (thousands of tons) 810 672 735 678 638 693 725 759 822 940 957 893 947 1.124 995
Number of aircraft (at the year end) 15 16 16 16 16 16 17 17 16 17 17 19 19 19 19
Notes/sources [14] [14] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25]

Destinations

Codeshare agreements

Luxair has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:[26]

Fleet

A Luxair De Havilland Dash 8-400.
A Luxair Boeing 737-800

Current fleet

As of September 2023, the Luxair fleet consists of the following aircraft:[32]

Luxair fleet
Aircraft In service Orders Passengers Notes
Boeing 737-700 4 — 141 [33]
Boeing 737-800 4 — 186
Boeing 737 MAX 7 — 4 TBA [34][35]
Boeing 737 MAX 8 2 4 186 2 to be leased.[36][37][38]
De Havilland Dash 8-400 11 — 76
Embraer E195-E2 — 4 TBA Order with 2 options and 3 purchase rights. Deliveries begin Q4 2025.[39]
Total 21 12

Special liveries

Starting from 2020, Luxair released special liveries for some of its aircraft. On July 25, 2021, the company introduced the SUMO Artwork Luxair's Boeing 737/800. The livery was designed by the local street artist Christian "SUMO" Pearson. The special livery was meant to spread a positive message at the moment of the restart of operations after the first COVID-19 lockdown and was the main action of the company's broader "FlyingIsAnArt" project:[40]

Luxair's Boeing 737-800 with SUMO's special livery

On the 25th of November 2020, the company released a de Havilland Q400 with an orange logo to raise awareness for violence against women.[41]

In July 2022, Luxair was the world's first airline to paint a livery of one of its aircraft in rainbow, to support the Luxembourg Pride Month.[42] This project inspired the German carrier Lufthansa, which one year later decided to do the same on one of its aircraft.[43]

In October 2022, Luxair painted one of its aircraft with a pink artwork by the local artist Lisa Junius and in partnership with Think Pink Lux, with the goal to contribute to the Pink October worldwide campaign.[44]

Historical fleet

Accidents and incidents

  • On 22 December 1969, a Vickers Viscount (registration LX-LGC) arriving from Frankfurt Airport, Germany, landed 60% on the right hand side of R24, hit a snowbank piled up by snowplows at the intersection with runway 20 during landing and rollout at Luxembourg Findel Airport in freezing fog weather. No passengers were killed, but the aircraft was damaged beyond repair. It was scrapped in May 1970.[48]
  • On 6 November 2002, Luxair Flight 9642, a Fokker 50 (registration LX-LGB) incoming from Berlin, Germany, crashed in a field near the village of Niederanven during its final approach to Luxembourg Findel Airport. Twenty passengers and two crew-members died, including artist Michel Majerus. Only the pilot in command and one passenger survived.[49] This is the only fatal accident in Luxair's history.[50]
  • On 30 September 2015, Luxair Flight 9562, operated by a Bombardier Q400, was taking off from Saarbrücken Airport when the first officer retracted the landing gear prior to the aircraft lifting off. The aircraft collapsed onto its belly and came to a stop on the runway.[51] The aircraft was damaged beyond repair and Luxair ordered a replacement Q400 to be delivered in August 2016.[52]

References

  1. ↑ "Legal Archived 2015-04-03 at the Wayback Machine." Luxair. Retrieved on 7 February 2011. "Luxair S.A. LuxairGroup Luxembourg Airport L-2987 Luxembourg."
  2. ↑ "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International. 3 April 2007. p. 108.
  3. ↑ Zoggavia.com – Luxair Archived 2010-10-21 at the Wayback Machine, Retrieved 6 November 2010
  4. ↑ "Luxavia".
  5. ↑ "Flight to the past: Remember when Luxembourg had a direct flight connection to Johannesburg?". today.rtl.lu. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  6. ↑ "FLIGHTONTIME.info - 2008 Awards". Archived from the original on 3 April 2015. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  7. ↑ "LuxairGroup - Corporate Site". Archived from the original on 14 April 2015. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  8. ↑ airliners.de - "Lufthansa wants to get rid of Luxair shares" (German) 11 November 2015
  9. ↑ aero.de - Lufthansa macht Luxair-Anteile zu Geld ("Lufthansa cashes in Luxair shares") Archived 2015-11-18 at the Wayback Machine (German) 17 November 2015
  10. ↑ airlineroute.net - Luxair Ends Frankfurt Service from Dec 2015 Archived 2015-10-02 at the Wayback Machine 11 August 2015
  11. ↑ "Lufthansa agreement breach: Luxair to stop Frankfurt flights but expand to Munich". Wort.lu. 8 August 2015. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
  12. ↑ "Miles & More - Luxair.lu". Luxair.lu. Archived from the original on 28 December 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
  13. ↑ The State of Luxembourg directly owns 26.85%; a further 21.81% is controlled by fully state-owned Banque et Caisse d’Epargne de l’Etat."About Luxair Group – Shareholders". www.luxairgroup.lu. Luxair Group. Archived from the original on 3 April 2015. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
  14. 1 2 3 "Financial Report 2010". Archived from the original on 15 November 2012. Retrieved 6 December 2012.
  15. ↑ "Annual Report 2011". Archived from the original on 1 May 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2012.
  16. ↑ "Annual Report 2012". Archived from the original on 1 May 2013. Retrieved 1 June 2012.
  17. ↑ "Annual Report 2013". Archived from the original on 3 April 2015. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  18. ↑ "Annual Report 2014". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  19. ↑ "Annual Report 2015" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 January 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
  20. ↑ "Annual Report 2016" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 June 2017. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
  21. 1 2 "Annual Report 2018" (PDF). 4 March 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
  22. ↑ "Annual Report 2019" (PDF). 4 March 2016. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  23. ↑ "Annual Report 2020" (PDF). 1 May 2023. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  24. ↑ "Annual Report 2021". 1 May 2023. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  25. ↑ "Luxair Annual Report 2022". 10 May 2023.
  26. ↑ "Profile on Luxair". Star Alliance Members: Operating Carrier and Codeshare Information. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  27. ↑ Destinations airfrance.es Archived 2023-03-29 at the Wayback Machine
  28. ↑ "Air Serbia and Luxair ink partnership". 6 July 2021.
  29. ↑ "Flight detail | Milan Linate Airport". Milanolinate-airport.com. Archived from the original on 20 September 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  30. ↑ "Luxair / SAS begins codeshare service from March 2017 | Routes". Routesonline.com. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  31. ↑ "Luxair e TAP assinam acordo para melhorar oferta". Wort.lu. 28 August 2017. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  32. ↑ "Our Fleet". Luxair.
  33. ↑ Aviation, CenTex (21 June 2023). "Luxair Becomes European Launch Customer for New Boeing 737 MAX 7 Aircraft". LuxPlanes. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  34. ↑ "Luxair Selects Boeing 737-7 To Grow Single-Aisle Fleet". MediaRoom (Press release). Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  35. ↑ "Luxair selects Boeing 737-7 to grow singleaisle fleet" (PDF). luxair.lu (Press release). Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  36. ↑ "Luxair will purchase two additional Boeing 737-8" (PDF). luxair.lu (Press release). Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  37. ↑ "Luxair to Grow Single-Aisle Fleet with Boeing 737 Jets" (Press release). Boeing Media Room. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
  38. ↑ "Luxair takes delivery of first B737 MAX 8". ch-aviation.com. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
  39. ↑ "Luxair orders four Embraer E195-E2 and secures delivery positions for five more" (Press release). Embraer. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
  40. ↑ "Sumo Luxair | Luxair". Luxair.
  41. ↑ "Luxair goes orange against domestic violence".
  42. ↑ "Luxair dévoile son avion "Be Pride, be Luxembourg"".
  43. ↑ "'Lovehansa' livery celebrates Pride Month".
  44. ↑ "Luxair Goes Pink in Support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month".
  45. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 airfleets.net - Luxair fleet details Archived 2017-06-14 at the Wayback Machine retrieved 28 October 2017
  46. 1 2 3 4 "World Airlines 1970 - Flight Archive". Archived from the original on 22 August 2016. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
  47. ↑ "Global Airline Guide 2017 (Part One)". Airliner World (October 2017): 20.
  48. ↑ FOCUS Online (24 April 2015). "Airline-Sicherheit - Fliegen - Reisen". FOCUS Online. Archived from the original on 10 May 2018. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  49. ↑ "ASN Aircraft accdent Fokker 50 LX-LGB Nederanven". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
  50. ↑ "ASN/Luxair". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
  51. ↑ "Luxair-Maschinn brécht Start of a kënnt um Bauch un d'Halen" (in Luxembourgish). RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg. Archived from the original on 1 October 2015. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
  52. ↑ "Luxair to replace aircraft following Saarbrücken incident". Luxembourg Times. 21 December 2015. Archived from the original on 1 June 2019.

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