Luxair, the national airline of Luxembourg, has just placed an order for its largest aircraft yet.
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Luxair adding Boeing 737 MAX 10 to fleet
Luxair has just placed an order for up to four Boeing 737 MAX 10 aircraft, including two firm orders and two options. For context, the 737 MAX 10 is the largest variant of Boeing’s popular 737. It has the best economics of any single aisle jet, and should reduce fuel burn and carbon emissions by 20%, compared to the aircraft that it replaces. The catch is that this particular jet hasn’t yet been certified, given Boeing’s issues with regulators.
Luxair plans to configure its Boeing 737 MAX 10s with a minimum of 30″ of seat pitch, with up to 213 seats. The plane will be able to operate routes of up to 3,100 nautical miles, resulting in more capacity and range to capitalize on growing leisure travel demand.
Here’s how Luxair CEO Gilles Feith describes this order:
“The purchase of the 737-10 is another step towards Luxair positioning for its future with the investment in the latest airplane technology that will support Luxair’s growth plans and the decarbonization of our fleet. There is high commonality between the 737 MAX models, and this allows for significant operational savings for the airline.”
“In addition to reducing overall fuel use and emissions, the 737 MAXs will help create a 50 percent smaller noise footprint by reducing noise generated by takeoffs and landings at Luxembourg Airport.”
How the Boeing 737 MAX 10 fits into Luxair’s fleet
Luxair has been doing quite a bit to refresh its fleet as of late. Luxair’s fleet currently consists of 21 aircraft, comprised of:
- 11 De Havilland Dash 8s
- Four Boeing 737-700s
- Four Boeing 737-800s
- Two Boeing 737 MAX 8s
On top of that, the airline now has firm orders for 14 more aircraft, comprised of:
- Four Boeing 737 MAX 7s
- Four Boeing 737 MAX 8s
- Two Boeing 737 MAX 10s
- Four Embraer E195-E2s
As you can see, the airline has plans to modernize and grow its fleet, and that Embraer E195-E2 order came recently, in late 2023. Presumably the plan is for the 737 MAXs to replace the existing 737s, but that still leaves significant excess capacity.
Meanwhile I imagine the Embraer E195-E2s will partly replace the Havilland Dash 8s. I think the big question is whether Luxair will keep flying turboprops in the future, or if those will eventually be retired, since there aren’t really more modern versions of those?
I’m a little conflicted on Luxair’s fleet strategy here. On the one hand, the airline will have the great ability to match capacity to demand. On the other hand, the airline is all over the place here, with plans to have just two to six frames of four different aircraft.
Yes, there’s of course fleet commonality between the 737 MAX variants in terms of crew training. But still, this makes it difficult to deal with irregular operations, and to optimize schedule planning.
Bottom line
Luxair has placed an order for four Boeing 737 MAX 10s, with two firm orders and two options. This is the largest aircraft that Luxair has ordered to date, and it complements the 737 MAX 7s and 737 MAX 8s that Luxair also has on order. On top of that, the airline has also ordered Embraer E195-E2s.
Luxair will certainly have the ability to match capacity to demand in the future, though it’s coming at the cost of a simple fleet.
What do you make of Luxair’s Boeing 737 MAX 10 order?
The 737/700 will be replaced by MAX. The newer 737/800 will remain for few yeras after the all the Max have joined the fleet. The E2 will be used on regional routes and partly replace the Q400. On longer term all the Q400 will be replaced by E2-190/195.
Luxair has expansion plans and will operate out of it's home base Luxembourg so there won't be overcapacity. Considering the MAX order, the CEO has announced...
The 737/700 will be replaced by MAX. The newer 737/800 will remain for few yeras after the all the Max have joined the fleet. The E2 will be used on regional routes and partly replace the Q400. On longer term all the Q400 will be replaced by E2-190/195.
Luxair has expansion plans and will operate out of it's home base Luxembourg so there won't be overcapacity. Considering the MAX order, the CEO has announced that Luxair will operate longer routes with the Max. They will serve Muscat /Oman soon and with one fuel Stop you will reach many interesting destinations in Asia.
It's very likely that they will start transtatlantic flights. For this they will probably use the Max 7 with around 120-130 pax and a lie flat business class. It's the right size aircraft out of Luxembourg especially fot transatlantic routes as they have to operate daily to compete with major carriers. I think Luxair will create the surprise with it's Max fleet and use them on longer routes where actually no airline uses them. They were one of the first airline to fly the 737/800 from luxembourg to Dubai on 6h30 sector but with payload restrictions
If they retire turboprops they won’t be able to fly into London City. E195 is
too large for that.
The E195-E2 was certified for the steep approach at London City in November - https://www.embraercommercialaviation.com/news/e195-e2-lcy-steep-approach-certified/
Isnt Luxair part of the LH group, which has arguably one of the worst CEO in the industry
It is not.
Might feel smart to do this...but when does it become a cast of caveat emptor when all the issues that comes with Boeing comes up.
I guess as long as the senior managers of Luxair don't fly on the Max, they don't care whether a plane crashes or not.
From my experience, Luxair is a decent airline, though admittedly I wonder how exactly they are planning to "fit" all this extra capacity at LUX. Only been there twice (once arriving and once departing) so I can't say conclusively that this is always the case... but on both instances the airport was very much packed. And I mean no-free-seats-in-the-lounge packed as well as barely any sitting space at the regular airside seats.
Also, I...
From my experience, Luxair is a decent airline, though admittedly I wonder how exactly they are planning to "fit" all this extra capacity at LUX. Only been there twice (once arriving and once departing) so I can't say conclusively that this is always the case... but on both instances the airport was very much packed. And I mean no-free-seats-in-the-lounge packed as well as barely any sitting space at the regular airside seats.
Also, I don't really think the 737 MAX 10 opens up any new markets for Luxair (if we're talking range-wise). They'll probably deploy these to DXB (where the regular 737s already fly to in winter), but I don't think the MAX 10 could even make it to BOS nonstop bar significant weight restrictions. With the A321(X)LR it could've been a different story...
On what routes would Luxair use the Max 10 and benefit from its capacity? is a long haul expansion in the cards? I find it mind boggling that airlines have any faith in the MAX (beyond the difficulties in obtaining A321s). The plane is a piece of junk.