Cargolux, Luxembourg's flagship cargo airline, has recently attracted attention for its involvement in aerial firefighting operations across Europe, particularly as wildfires have ravaged several regions.
Many have asked how Cargolux is linked to the iconic Canadair firefighting planes seen battling blazes, and where exactly these aircraft are put to use. Here are the answers.
Aquarius Aerial Firefighting, a subsidiary of Cargolux, is dedicated solely to fighting wildfires from the air. Established in Luxembourg in 2023, where it still maintains its headquarters, the company operates a fleet of ten waterbombers.
Currently, nine of these are based in Turkey, under a contract with the Turkish authorities covering the 2025 to 2027 wildfire seasons.
During this period, the aircraft must be available for deployment throughout Turkey's fire season and are stationed across four bases: Balıkesir, Çanakkale, Edremit, and Adana.
Aquarius has continued to expand since its founding three years ago. Its tenth aircraft is currently stationed in Spain, and the company plans to add two more AT-802 Fire Boss waterbombers to its fleet next year.
According to Aquarius, its planes can take on more than 52,700 litres of water in an hour, and the Canadair's tank can be refilled in less than fifteen seconds.
This information can be found on the Cargolux subsidiary's website. However, RTL has yet to receive a direct response to repeated media requests, even several days or weeks after enquiries were made.
In addition to its presence in Turkey, Aquarius Aerial Firefighting is currently participating in operations in France, with three waterbombers active there.
Even before the Luxembourg government sent one of its own planes on Wednesday, the Cargolux-owned company had already redeployed two aircraft directly from Turkey to support French fire services in the Gironde region, which was hard-hit by wildfires.
At present, the Luxembourg government does not have a contract with Aquarius Aerial Firefighting. The authorities say there is, for now, no specific need for dedicated firefighting aircraft to combat forest or vegetation fires in Luxembourg.
However, in a Wednesday interview with RTL, Prime Minister Luc Frieden explained that the government "found" an available aircraft to send to France under the European Civil Protection Mechanism.
This was a plane not already under contract, which happened to be in Luxembourg at the time – a stroke of luck. The government leased it for approximately €300,000.
On Friday morning, in the RTL Radio studio, Paul Schroeder, Director General of the Grand Ducal Fire and Rescue Corps (CGDIS), suggested that Luxembourg should not rule out acquiring its own waterbomber if the frequency and intensity of wildfires in the region were to increase.
He added that CGDIS is in discussions with Aquarius to explore the possibility of deploying one of their planes in Luxembourg.
Since spring, pilots in Luxembourg have had access to a new specialist simulator, designed to provide realistic training for wildfire missions within the country.
The simulator, based in Luxembourg, is open not only to pilots from Cargolux's subsidiary but also to operators from abroad.
In June of last year, Aquarius Aerial Firefighting made headlines in Turkey when one of its planes was involved in an accident while refilling water from a reservoir during a firefighting mission.
Both the pilot and the second crew member on board were successfully rescued by Turkish police and taken to hospital for precautionary checks.
