Luxair

Is Luxair safe?

Yes. Luxembourg's national airline has had no fatal accident since November 2002, it flies under EASA rules with IOSA registrationIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary, and it carried 2.6 million passengers on just under 30,000 flights in 2025. We score it 83, the same as Widerøe. It sits a few points below big European networks such as KLM, mainly because two of its Dash 8 Q400 turboprops were damaged in accidents in 2011 and 2015.

The 2002 crash and why it still matters

Flight LG9642 from Berlin crashed on approach to Luxembourg on 6 November 2002. The Fokker 50 was cleared for an approach in fog while its crew were still unsure whether the visibility was good enough. The captain called a go-around, then continued when the tower reported the visibility had reached 300 metres. In the improvised sequence that followed, the power levers were pulled below the flight idle stop, a position that is prohibited in flight. Both propellers went into low pitch, both engines failed and the aircraft fell into a field near Niederanven. Twenty of the 22 people on board died.

The accident is more than 20 years old, so it no longer counts in our accident factor, which looks at the last 20 years. We still describe it, because it was a crew failure on a routine approach, and it remains the defining event in Luxair's safety history.

Two Q400 accidents since then

Both of the later accidents involved the Dash 8 Q400, and neither caused a death.

• Luxembourg, 20 January 2011. A Q400 from Frankfurt struck its tail landing on runway 24. A cabin crew member was slightly hurt. The damage to the rear structure was serious enough for the event to be classed as an accident.
• Saarbrücken, 30 September 2015. As the aircraft rotated for take-off, the first officer moved the gear lever up too early. The main wheels were still on the ground, the gear retracted, and the Q400 bounced three times and slid on its fuselage for about 875 metres. It was written offHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary. Germany's BFU blamed a break in the call-out sequence and a gear logic that allowed retraction with one wheel airborne; the manufacturer changed it.

Those two events, both in the last 16 years, keep the accident score at 84. That is below Widerøe (93), whose only accident in the window was a repaired Dash 8 in 2010, and just below Loganair (86), whose own write-off came in 2015.

A small investigator and a thin record

Luxembourg's investigation body, the AET, covers aviation, rail, shipping and road deaths. Its 2025 activity report still lists the 2011 tail strikeTail strikeWhen the tail of an aircraft touches the runway during take-off or landing, usually because the nose was raised too far or too early.More in the glossary as an open investigation, 15 years on. We found no serious incident involving Luxair in its lists or among the BEA's notified events for the last ten years. That may be a clean record, but a slow and small investigator also means less is published, so we do not score incidents as high as the record alone would suggest.

The events that are public were handled by the book. In December 2024 the first officer of a 737-8 on the way home from Dubai fell ill, and the captain diverted to Munich. In January 2026 a Q400 bound for Nice got an unsafe gear warning, held for over an hour, shut down an engine as the checklist required and landed safely; Luxair said it was a faulty indication. In 2015, before our ten-year window, a Q400 had a near miss with a drone near Luxembourg. Incidents score 82.

What does Luxair fly?

A mix that is changing. The ERA lists 11 Q400 turboprops, 4 Boeing 737-700s, 4 737-800s and 2 737-8s. The first Embraer E195-E2 arrived in 2025, and Luxair's 2026 budget covers four E2s in service and the first two of the 737-8s it has on order. The ERA lists 16 Boeing 737s and six E2s on order in all. The E2 is fly-by-wireFly-by-wireA flight control system in which the pilot's inputs go to computers, which then move the control surfaces. Many such systems also stop unsafe manoeuvres.More in the glossary and the 737-8 is new, but most of the fleet is still Q400s and 737 Next Generation jets, so the fleet scores 72.

Flying Luxair: what to know

• Winter fog at Findel is normal. Luxembourg airport has low-visibility procedures, and a go-around or diversion in fog is the right call, not a sign of trouble.
• Check the aircraft type if you prefer jets. Short routes to Germany, France and the UK often use the Q400; holiday routes use 737s.
• Luxair sometimes buys in capacity. Its 2025 report says it uses partner airlines when its own aircraft are short, so check "operated by" on your booking.

How we scored it

Oversight (90) and a good environment (85) support Luxair. Two Q400 accidents since 2011 put the accident record at 84, a mixed fleet scores 72, and a quiet but thinly published incident record scores 82. Overall 83.