On Monday morning, January 16, Luxembourg-based Luxair operated its first flight to Antwerp Flanders International Airport (ANR). The carrier will, from now on, be flying between the Belgian airport and London City (LCY) using 78-seat De Havilland Dash DHC-8-Q400s on the route. Flights will start four times weekly until the end of March, when the frequency will increase to five times per week.

The first flight left LCY at 06:55 in the morning (scheduled departure is at 06:40) and landed in Belgium after a flight time of 42 minutes at 08:37 local time. The return flight took off from ANR at 09:40 (scheduled for 09:30) and landed at 08:37 after 42 minutes in the air. The honor of the inaugural flight went to LX-LQI, a six-year-old Dash 8 delivered new to Luxair in 2016.

Luxair's Chief Commercial Officer, Thomas Fischer, commented on the new endeavor,

"Today Luxair is proud to officially launch its direct flights between Antwerp and London City, in partnership with these two international airports. We are delighted to expand our cooperation with them. A cooperation based on trust, quality of service and sustainability. Our airline caters to both leisure and business passengers, offering the best possible service to the communities of Antwerp and London. As a high-quality niche player, we believe in the potential of this new route!"

Only operator on the route

Flights will depart on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays during the winter season. Come March 29, Luxair will add a fifth service on Wednesdays. Tickets start at €49.95 ($54) one-way. Luxair will be the only airline on the route since Air Antwerp ceased operations in 2021.

Robert Sinclair, the Chief Executive at London City, stated,

"We have long been longing to relaunch the route between London City and Antwerp Airport and I am delighted that Luxair sees its potential. Not least because this will also be the only direct connection between these two dynamic and culturally rich European metropolises."

Antwerp Flanders International Airport has plans for growth

Antwerp is a small international airport serving the city of Antwerp in the Flemish Region of Belgium. On Monday, only three other commercial flights were scheduled to land at ANR, all belonging to charter specialist TUI, arriving from popular leisure destinations Alicante, Malaga, and Innsbruck and operated by Embraer regional jets. The airport also caters to private jet charters, such as JetNetherlands, NetJets, and FlexAir.

Meanwhile, Luxair is the second new carrier the airport has welcomed this winter. Italian carrier Sky Alps is connecting Antwerp with Bolzano in South Tyrol, also operating Dash 8 turboprops.

Eric Dumas, the Chief Operating Officer at Antwerp Airport, commented,

"With Luxair and SkyAlps, this winter, we welcome two new airlines not yet operating in Belgium. Both companies see the strengths our regional airport has and are capitalizing on them."

Antwerp hopes to cater to 310,000 passengers a year by 2025. The airport's figures for the first half of 2022 landed at near-pre-pandemic figures. In total, the airport welcomed 126,496 passengers during the first half of the year. This was 224% more than in 2021 and about 4% less than in what was a record 2019.