These photos from May 20, 1982, show the moment when a Concorde made its first-ever landing in the Grand Duchy. The jet was the star of the show that day. Since then, Concordes have only landed at Findel airport twice more: once in March 1985 and again in May 1986.
The 1985 visit was part of a promotional stunt, showing off how the Concorde could take off from Paris at noon and still land in New York that same morning, thanks to time zones.
The Concorde needed a lot of runway to take off, which is where NATO comes in. Luxembourg’s Findel airport is one of the few NATO airports in Europe, and its runway length is partly due to that. Training flights by NATO’s AWACS radar planes are a regular sight, and in a crisis, Luxembourg’s airport must be ready for international allies.
To explore more about the history of Luxembourg’s airport, click here.
