Luxair

Luxair
IATA ICAO Callsign
LG LGL LUXAIR
Founded 1962
Hubs Luxembourg Findel Airport
Focus cities Saarbrücken Airport
Frequent-flyer program Miles & More
Airport lounge The Lounge by Luxair[1]
Fleet size 18
Destinations 64
Company slogan Fly in good company
Headquarters Sandweiler, Luxembourg
Key people Adrien Ney, CEO
Website www.luxair.lu

Luxair, legally Luxair S.A., Société Luxembourgeoise de Navigation Aérienne, is the flag carrier airline of Luxembourg with its headquarters and homebase at Luxembourg Findel Airport in Sandweiler.[2][3] It operates scheduled services to destinations in Europe, North Africa, the Mediterranean and Middle East with additional charter and seasonal services.

Luxair is part of the frequent flyer program Miles & More. It is Luxembourg's only passenger-carrying airline.

History

Luxair's first aircraft was this Fokker F27, pictured here in 1966.
A former Luxair Boeing 747SP
A former Luxair Boeing 737-500

Descended from Luxembourg Airlines, founded in 1948, Luxair was starting 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 along with Luxair registrations.[4] By 1967, Luxair's fleet consisted of three Fokker 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 Caravelle built by Sud Aviation in Toulouse. The first Boeing aircraft, a Boeing 737–200, joined the fleet in 1977.

Over the years, Luxair gradually introduced further jet aircraft: Boeing 747SP (for routes to South Africa), Boeing 737–400 and Boeing 737–500 as well as Fokker 50 turboprops and Embraer jets. In March 2003, Luxair ordered two new Boeing 737–700 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.

In an effort to move to an all-jet fleet, the last Fokker 50 aircraft was withdrawn from service in April 2005.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 for three Dash 8-Q400, plus three options. The last of the three aircraft was delivered in September 2007. Two additional Q400s were ordered later. At March 2007, Luxair had 2,210 employees.[3]

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.[5] In 2011 Luxair carried 1,302,771 passengers.[6]

In 2013 and 2014, two new Boeing 737-800s fitted with the brand new 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 to sell their 13 percent stake in the airline which it had held since 1993. The government of Luxembourg was named as the preferred buyer.[7] In November 2015, the sale was finalized when Lufthansa sold its entire stakes to the state of Luxembourg.[8] Luxair also announced to cease its route to Frankfurt Airport previously operated on a codeshare with Lufthansa as the latter started the same route itself.[9]

In 2015, Luxair decided on a new strategy to tackle rising costs and competition. Luxair aims at increasing passenger numbers, to in turn raise fleet capacity and flight frequency.

Corporate affairs

Ownership

As of November 2015, when 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%).[10] 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.

Business trends

The key trends for Luxair Group over recent years are shown below (as at year ending 31 December):

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Turnover (Group) (€m) 417 383 409 429 447 472 495
Profits (Group) (net) (€m) 8.5 1.3 8.9 3.6 −10.5 8.2 −0.4
Number of employees (average) 2,461 2,334 2,317 2,344 2,309 2,288 2,394
Number of passengers (m) 1.22 1.18 1.25 1.30 1.37 1.51 1.68
Passenger load factor (%) 73.4 72.9 73.8 72.4 73.4 75.3 74.5
Cargo carried (tons 000s) 810 672 735 678 638 693 725
Number of aircraft (at year end) 15 16 16 15 16 16 17
Notes/sources [11] [11] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15]

Destinations

Main article: Luxair destinations

Fleet

Current fleet

Luxair Bombardier Dash 8 Q400
Luxair Boeing 737-800

As of November 2015, the Luxair fleet includes the following aircraft:[16]

Luxair fleet
Aircraft In Service Orders Options Passengers Notes
Boeing 737-700 2 — — 141
Boeing 737-800 4 — 2 186
Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 9 1[17] 2[17] 76 In April the 10th Q400 will enter service
Embraer ERJ 145 3 — — 49 to be phased out from 2016[17]
Total 18 1 4

Historic fleet

Former Luxair fleet[18]
Aircraft Total
Airbus A300B4-203 1
Boeing 737-200 5
Boeing 737-400 5
Boeing 737-500 5
Boeing 747-SP44 3
Boeing 767-300 1
Caravelle 6R 2
Embraer 120 4
Embraer 135LR 2
Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner 2
Fokker F50 3
Vickers Viscount 1

Incidents and accidents

References

  1. ↑ "Luxemburg Business Lounge - Luxair.lu". Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  2. ↑ "Legal." Luxair. Retrieved on 7 February 2011. "Luxair S.A. LuxairGroup Luxembourg Airport L-2987 Luxembourg."
  3. 1 2 "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International. 2007-04-03. p. 108.
  4. ↑ Zoggavia.com – Luxair, Retrieved 11/5/10
  5. ↑ "FLIGHTONTIME.info - 2008 Awards". Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  6. ↑ "LuxairGroup - Corporate Site". Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  7. ↑ airliners.de - "Lufthansa wants to get rid of Luxair shares" (German) 6 July 2015
  8. ↑ aero.de - Lufthansa macht Luxair-Anteile zu Geld ("Lufthansa cashes in Luxair shares") (German) 17 November 2015
  9. ↑ airlineroute.net - Luxair Ends Frankfurt Service from Dec 2015 11 August 2015
  10. ↑ The State of Luxembourg directly owns 26.85%; further 21.81% are controlled by fully state-owned Banque et Caisse d’Epargne de l’Etat. "About Luxair Group – Shareholders". www.luxairgroup.lu. Luxair Group. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
  11. 1 2 3 "Financial Report 2010". Retrieved 6 December 2012.
  12. ↑ "Annual Report 2011". Retrieved 6 December 2012.
  13. ↑ "Annual Report 2012". Retrieved 1 June 2012.
  14. ↑ "Annual Report 2013". Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  15. ↑ "Annual Report 2014". Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  16. ↑ Luxair ch.aviation.com, retrieved 18 November 2015
  17. 1 2 3 "Dash 8 statt Embraer 145: Luxair erneuert die Flotte - aeroTELEGRAPH". aeroTELEGRAPH. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  18. ↑ "1970 - 0540 - Flight Archive". Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  19. ↑ FOCUS Online (24 April 2015). "Airline-Sicherheit - Fliegen - Reisen". FOCUS Online. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  20. ↑ "Luxair-Maschinn brécht Start of a kënnt um Bauch un d'Halen" (in Luxembourgish). RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg. Retrieved 30 September 2015.

External links

Media related to Luxair at Wikimedia Commons

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