Luxembourg Airport

This article is about the airport with the ICAO code ELLX. For the London railway engineering project sometimes known by this acronym, see East London Line Extension.

Luxembourg Airport Fluchhafe Lëtzebuerg Aéroport de Luxembourg Flughafen Luxemburg
IATA: LUX ICAO: ELLX LUX Location of airport in Luxembourg
Summary
Airport type	Public
Operator	Luxembourg Airport Authority
Serves	Luxembourg City
Location	Sandweiler, Luxembourg
Hub for	Cargolux Luxair
Elevation AMSL	1,234 ft / 376 m
Coordinates	49°37′24″N 006°12′16″E
Website	www.lux-airport.lu
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 06/24 4,000 13,123 Concrete/Asphalt
Statistics (2011)
Aircraft movements 57,537 Passengers 1,795,255 Cargo (tonnes) 705,079
Source: Belgian AIP at EUROCONTROL Statistics from [1]

Luxembourg Findel Airport (IATA: LUX, ICAO: ELLX) is the main airport in Luxembourg. 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) away from Luxembourg City. The airport is completely international as there are no other commercial airports in the country. In 2011 it handled 1,791,231 million passengers. By cargo tonnage, Findel ranked as Europe’s 5th 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.

History

The airport was originally known as "Sandweiler Airport", and was opened in the 1930s as a small grass airfield with a relatively short, 3400' (1000m) 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 additive, Jagdgeschwader 52 (JG 52) also operated Bf 109s from Sandweiler during the Blitzkrieg. JG 52 moved into France on 29 May, however JG 53 remained in Luxembourg until 18 August until moving closer to the English Channel to take part in the Battle of Britain.

Sandweiler Airport remained unused by the Luftwaffe until September 1944, when a reconnaissance unit, Aufklärungsgruppe 123 (AKG 123) was assigned to the airport which flew the Henschel Hs 126, a two-seat reconnaissance and observation aircraft. 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.

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.

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 England. It was returned to Luxembourgish control on 15 August 1945.

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 a Hiscox, there is a "massive demand" for such a hub for precious cargo. Planes taxi away from main airport facilities before loading.

Terminals

Old Terminal A

Check-in area at Luxembourg Airport

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.

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.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

A Lufthansa CityLine Bombardier CRJ900 at Luxembourg Airport

A Turkish Airlines Boeing 737-800 at Luxembourg Airport

Airlines	Destinations
Air Berlin	Palma de Mallorca
Air France operated by CityJet	London-City
British Airways	London-Heathrow
EasyJet	London-Gatwick, Milan-Malpensa
Hahn Air	Düsseldorf
KLM operated by KLM Cityhopper	Amsterdam
Lufthansa Regional operated by Lufthansa CityLine	Munich
Luxair	Barcelona, Berlin-Tegel, Bilbao, Copenhagen, Dublin (resumes 30 March 2014), Djerba, Florence, Frankfurt, Fuerteventura, Funchal, Geneva, Gran Canaria, Hamburg, Heraklion, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Larnaca, London-City, Madrid, Malaga, Marrakech, Milan-Malpensa, Monastir, Munich, Nice, Palma de Mallorca, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Porto, Rome-Fiumicino, Saarbrücken, Tenerife South, Vienna Seasonal: Agadir, Ajaccio, Almería, Antalya, Bastia, Boa Vista, Bodrum, Burgas, Cagliari, Catania, Chania, Dubrovnik, Constanta, Corfu, Faro, Izmir, Jerez de la Frontera, Kos, Malta, Naples, Ouarzazate, Palermo, Paphos, Rhodes, Rimini, Sal, Varna, Venice-Marco Polo
Scandinavian Airlines	Copenhagen
Scandinavian Airlines operated by Cimber	Copenhagen
Swiss International Air Lines operated by Swiss European Air Lines	Zürich
TAP Portugal	Lisbon, Porto
TAP Portugal operated by Portugalia	Lisbon, Porto
Turkish Airlines	Istanbul-Atatürk
Vueling	Barcelona

Cargo

A Cargolux Boeing 747-400F at Luxembourg Airport

Airlines	Destinations
Cargolux	Abidjan, Abu Dhabi, Accra, Almaty, Amman, Amsterdam, Atlanta, Baku, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi, Barcelona, Beijing Capital, Beirut, Bogotá, Brazzaville, Budapest, Buenos Aires-Ezeiza, Calgary, Campinas Viracopos, Chennai, Chicago-O'Hare, Curitiba-Afonso Pena, Dammam, Doha, Dubai, Fortaleza, Glasgow-Prestwick, Guadalajara, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Houston Intercontinental, Huntsville, Indianapolis, Istanbul-Sabiha Gökçen, Johannesburg, Karachi, Kinshasa, Komatsu, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait, Lagos, Latacunga, Libreville, London-Stansted, Los Angeles, Lusaka, Maastricht, Manston/Kent, Melbourne, Mexico City, Miami, Milan Malpensa, Manau, N'Djamena, Nairobi, New York-JFK, Ouagadougou, Panama City, Petrolina, Quito, Recife, Santiago de Chile, Seattle/Tacoma, Seoul Incheon, Shanghai Pudong, Sharjah, Singapore, Sydney, Taipei-Taoyuan, Tbilisi
China Airlines Cargo	Abu Dhabi, Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi, Ho Chi Minh City, Prague, Taipei Taoyuan
Ethiopian Airlines Cargo	Addis Ababa, Liège, Pointe-Noire
Qatar Airways Cargo	Atlanta, Doha, Houston Intercontinental, Toronto Pearson
Silk Way Airlines	Baku
Panalpina	Huntsville

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.
• On 29 September 1982, An Aeroflot Ilyushin Il-62M passenger plane suffered a runway excursion on landing at Luxembourg-Findel Airport (LUX).
• On 6 November 2002, Luxair Flight 9642, Fokker 50 (registration LX-LGB) was flying from Berlin, Germany, and crashed in a field near the village of Niederanven during its final approach to Luxembourg airport. 20 passengers and crew lost their lives, including artist Michel Majerus.
• On 21 January 2010, Cargolux 7933, operated by Boeing 747-400 LX-OCV struck a vehicle on landing. The van suffered major damage and the aircraft sustained a damaged tyre. Three investigations have been launched into the incident.

See also

• World's busiest airports by cargo traffic
• Advanced Landing Ground
• LACA - Luxembourg Approach Controllers Association

References

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

External links

• Luxembourg Airport
• Luxembourg Airport Authority