TRIP REPORT: Luxair, Ljubljana - Luxembourg - Ljubljana

TRIP REPORT

Written by Matjaž Nose

I have never imagined seeing Luxair touching down at Ljubljana Airport. But it happened this year, on 14 September, when one of their Dash 8 aircraft started two weekly rotations between the two capitals. This rather exotic airline operates two weekly flights to Ljubljana, every Thursday and Sunday, which is perfect for a long weekend on either side of the route. Mine was the second weekend in December. When the flights were announced, I did not hesitate to book a return ticket. This new route is a consequence of the subsidies given by the Slovenian government to improve the country’s air connectivity. I am not sure if this was the only reason, but it definitely helped Luxair to decide to include Ljubljana on their destination map. I bought my ticket at the end of June. The cost was €83 for a return flight with hand luggage.

Thursday, 7 December, finally arrived. It was a foggy day, and I was afraid that the flight might be cancelled as was the case a week before. In the end, it was still very foggy when I arrived at Ljubljana Airport but luckily, we departed almost as planned. I checked in at the airport counter and was given a window 8A seat. There was not much traffic at the airport in the early hours of the afternoon. The scheduled departure time was 14:40 and while sitting near the boarding gate, I was asking myself to go or not to go as the loudspeakers continued announcing delays for Lufthansa's Munich flight due to bad weather conditions.

The aircraft deployed on Ljubljana - Luxembourg flights is the De Havilland Q400 turboprop, the backbone of the Luxair's fleet. They have eleven of these aircraft in their fleet, beside some Boeing 737 jets for leisure and longer distance destinations. For example, they fly to different Canary Islands, Madeira, Cape Verde as well as Dakar and Mediterranean destinations. They have recently, in October this year, placed an order for four Embraer E195-E2 aircraft too.

Ljubljana Airport

Check-in area

We boarded the plane on time. The aircraft used for the 7 December Ljubljana flight had a special ''Sumo Artwork's'' livery (registration LX-LQA) which is very colourful.

There were about 45 passengers aboard our 76-seater when ''boarding completed'' was announced by a flight attendant in a dark blue uniform with some sky blue details. But we were not ready to leave the boarding gate yet. As announced by the pilot, the ground crew had some issues attaching their tow bar to the airplane for pushback. It is true, Dash 8 is not a very common visitor to Ljubljana Airport. Finally, the issue was resolved, and we were taxiing towards the runway to take off at exactly 15:08. We headed north towards Austria and Germany before turning left to Luxembourg. Total flight time was about one hour and forty minutes.

Boarding

Soon after takeoff the crew served a cold meal comprising either of a vegetable or meat sandwich and drink of your choice. I opted for a meat sandwich and a glass (paper glass it was) of white wine from the Luxembourgish Moselle region. The sandwich was tasty and also the wine was good. I was satisfied with the service as nowadays you are lucky if you are offered anything more than a glass of water on inter-European flights.

Before the landing, we were also offered candies and soon after that we started our descent to Luxembourg Findel airport. By the way, this airport is also home of Cargolux, one of the main cargo airlines. Their B747 jets fly directly to many major airports worldwide out of Luxembourg. One of their shareholders is also Luxair with a 35.10% share.

Tasty sandwich and Moselle wine

Parking position at Luxembourg Airport

Entrance to the terminal building

I enjoyed the flight and one of the advantages of flying turboprops is the lower cruising altitude. In case the sky is clear, you can see much more details of the landscape below compared to flying in a jet some 10-12 km high. After landing and taxiing, we were parked walking distance from the terminal. Since I had no checked luggage, I was soon outside waiting for bus number 29 to Luxembourg city some 20 minute drive away. Luxembourg can be expensive but public transportation is for free! Yes, you can also take a bus to other towns and villages around Luxembourg free of charge. On Friday, I visited the border town of Remich (near Moselle river) to taste some local wine in one of the wine cellars (Caves St. Martin). In the afternoon I also visited Schengen village and then headed back to Luxembourg city. Cost analysis for the day: food and drinks expensive, transportation for free. Rainy Saturday was dedicated to Luxembourg city itself. I walked down to the Grund area of the city then up to the upper part Luxembourg to visit some museums before enjoying mulled wine and fresh waffles from the Christmas Market booths at Place d'Armes square.

On Sunday, 10 December, I had to return back to Slovenia. Departure time was 9:40 which means I had to wake up early to catch the No. 29 bus back to the airport at 7:00. I used airport check in counter again to get my boarding pass for 5C aisle seat. There were not many people at the airport in these early hours of Sunday morning, so I needed only few minutes to check in and clear the security check before heading to B gates as my plane departed from gate B09. I had enough time to enjoy a coffee and croissant before I walked down to my departure gate. The aircraft was parked in front of the gate waiting to take us down to Ljubljana after completing its Barcelona rotation a day before. It was a Dash 8–Q400 aircraft again with standard Luxair livery and registration LX-LQD (delivered to Luxair on May 2016).

Luxembourg Airport

Part of Luxair B737 fleet

Luxair turboprop fleet at B gates

Plane bound for Ljubljana

Boarding

Boarding was completed at 9:35. Based on the discussion between the two flight attendants, I found out there were 49 passengers on board which means the load factor was around 65%. Soon we were greeted in Luxembourgish as well as French and English languages. Seats were again very comfortable, and I was also lucky to have both seats to myself (2-2 seat configuration). I later moved from the aisle to the window seat to take some pictures of the snowy landscape (mountains) below. We took off at 9:53 and headed down to France, then Switzerland and western parts of Austria, almost completely avoiding German airspace this time.

Friendly cabin crew served us croissants, I ordered a coffee and a glass of orange juice too. It was a perfect morning meal.

What I also appreciated were the printed magazines as in these digital times and especially after Covid, not many airlines still offer printed magazines. I saw that Ljubljana as their new destination was highlighted in some of the articles.

Taxiing to the gate

Luxair's fleet

Breakfast

Lake Bled

Back to Ljubljana Airport

It was a pleasant flight with some turbulence above the Alps before we started our decent towards Ljubljana Airport. The crew announced that weather conditions at Ljubljana Airport were unfavourable (fog) and therefore asked us to switch off our electronic devices completely, not just put them on airplane mode. We landed safely at 11:14, some 15 minutes ahead of scheduled arrival time. It was a remote parking position for us this time, so we had to use a bus to reach the terminal building. I was surprised that the weather was not that bad when we landed, it was certainly much foggier when I departed on Thursday.

This was also the end of a very pleasant trip to Luxembourg. The airline met and exceeded all of my expectations so I can definitely recommend you both, Luxair in the sky and Luxembourg on the ground.

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