© Annick Goerens / RTL
The new installation is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2027 and fully operational by spring 2028.
Luxembourg Airport is set to receive a brand-new "fuel farm", with construction now officially underway. Following lengthy delays and two necessary draft laws for its financing, the first stone was laid on 1 October next to the Cargo Center and the Trier motorway.
The current facilities date back to the 1970s and are nearing the end of their service life. Mobility and Defense Minister Yuriko Backes highlighted the urgency of the investment: "It is highly urgent that new infrastructure is built here, that a new fuel farm is established here. The new fuel farm will have five times the capacity of the current one, which is essential for the airport's resilience. We are supplied by the NATO pipeline and we are a NATO airport. In the context of resilience, which we need here at the airport, this investment is an extremely critical one."
For Luxairport CEO Alexander Flassak, the new fuel farm is indispensable. He explains that the new tanks will provide a storage capacity of 30,000 cubic metres, which is enough for two to two and a half weeks of normal operations. "This is significantly more than the capacity we have today, which is at 8,000 cubic metres. This increase will support the airport's long-term development, future traffic growth, and above all, resilience."
The project faced significant delays due to soaring construction costs as explained by Minister Backes: "How can we forget the energy crisis, not to mention the pandemic we went through not so long ago. Inflation was another factor that meant the initial sums were ultimately not sufficient. This is why we first needed a financing law, providing €85 million, indexed to roughly €100 million. But even that was not enough, and so I reached an agreement in parliament for a second financing law."
