Luxair passengers should expect further delays on Saturday after drone activity forced 17 of the airline's aircraft to divert from Luxembourg airport during Friday evening's peak arrival period, CEO Gilles Feith has told RTL.
Feith said air traffic control alerted Luxair to the drone activity at around 10.10pm, when 17 of its aircraft were approaching Luxembourg. All were diverted to airports including Cologne/Bonn, Brussels, Frankfurt-Hahn, Liège, Paris, Basel, and Strasbourg.
Luxembourg airport reopened at around 1am, allowing 11 of the aircraft to refuel, reboard their passengers, and return during the night. Six initially remained at their diversion airports.
Three had since returned or were on their way back on Saturday morning, with the remaining three expected later in the day.
Feith warned that displaced aircraft and crews would create a knock-on effect across Saturday's schedule.
"The flight plan has naturally been seriously disrupted", he said, adding that Luxair staff had worked throughout the night to manage the situation. He praised their response and described coordination with Luxembourg airport as "excellent".
The incident mainly affected arrivals because the disruption occurred during Luxair's evening inbound wave, when the airline had no further departures scheduled. Feith said an easyJet service was cancelled, while a Ryanair flight departed later that night.
Questions remain over the number, type, and size of the drones and who was operating them. Feith said the sightings had been visually confirmed and revealed that Luxair pilots had also reported seeing drones near the airport earlier in the week.
He stressed that drones can pose a serious risk to aircraft, particularly if larger models enter an engine.
"As soon as drones are in the vicinity of the airport, we can no longer fly", Feith said, adding that the authorities were working to establish exactly what happened.
Luxair has faced similar disruption elsewhere. Feith said the airline was affected by drone incidents in Copenhagen and Munich last year, describing the phenomenon as an increasingly common reality for aviation.
The government reconvened its interministerial drone task force on Saturday morning. The body, chaired by Prime Minister Luc Frieden, had already met on Thursday after possible drones were reported near Medernach.
Feith expressed confidence that Luxembourg could bring the issue under control, praising the cooperation with the authorities and saying the incident would now need to be thoroughly investigated.
