This post described two trips in Luxair Boeing 737s.
- Luxembourg-Gran Canaria-Luxembourg, early January 2026
- Luxembourg-Dubai-Luxembourg, early Dec. 2025
Being resident in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg I have used the national carrier Luxair many times. Here I summarises my recent flights with the Luxair family of Boeing 737s.
The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body, twin-engine jet family designed for short- to medium-haul routes and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes at the Renton Factory, Seattle. It first flew in 1967 and entered service with Lufthansa in February 1968. As of 2025, the 737 has 12,327 deliveries and 17,108 orders across all variants.
For example, the 737-800 seats ~162 passengers, and has a range of ≈5,765 km.
The earliest models were the 737-100/-200 introduced in 1968, with the 737-200 proving far more popular. Then in the 1980s came the 737-300/-400/-500, with a more efficient CFM56 engines and improved range.
The “Next Generation” (737NG) was the 737-600/-700/-800/-900 introduced in the late 1990s with larger wings, increased capacity, and advanced avionics. The 737-800 is the best-selling NG variant.
The 737 MAX (-7/-8/-9/-10) is the fourth generation with LEAP-1B engines.
As a narrow-body, twin-jet airliner the 737 complements Boeing’s wide-body lineup (e.g., 777, 787). Historically, early 737 models competed with aircraft like the McDonnell Douglas DC-9/MD-80 series. Since the late 1980s the 737’s main rival has been the Airbus A320 family, which as of 2025 has surpassed the 737 in total deliveries, making the A320 the most-delivered commercial jetliner. As of 2025, the 737 has 12,327 deliveries and 17,108 orders across all variants. Above we can see the 737 MAX 7 next to the 777X.
I took my first Luxair flight on Tuesday 18th May 1982. It was to Frankfurt, where I went on to Copenhagen. My guess is that Luxair with Cargolux had a combined fleet of less than 20 aircraft in 1982. Whereas, end 2025, Luxair has 22 aircraft (with 15 new aircraft on order), and Cargolux has 26 747s (and 10 777s on order).
Luxair has flown Boeing 737s since the 1970s, and its first Boeing 737-200 was delivered in 1977 (registration LX-LGH). It gradually migrated to the 737-400 and 737-500 in the 1980s–90s. In the 2003-05, Luxair transitioned to the 737-700, and then in 2008 to the Boeing 737-800. By 2013–2014 Luxair had retired the older 737-500s.
Today (end 2025) Luxair operates a total of 10 Boeing 737 family aircraft. Four 737-700 (~141 seats), four 737-800 (~186 seats), and two newer 737 MAX 8 (~186 seats).
I understand that (end 2025) Luxair has ordered four 737 MAX 7 (a smaller MAX variant), four additional 737 MAX 8 (in addition to the two already delivered), and two 737 MAX 10 with 2 additional options.
Just to be complete the LGnnn is the flight number where “LG” is Luxair’s IATA commercial flight designator. However, it is the airline that decides on the attached number (e.g. LG9009, LG11, and so on). In addition the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) code is LGL, and in practice they use the same numerical code as designated by Luxair.
Whereas LX- is the national aircraft registration prefix for Luxembourg-registered aircraft, and the series (e.g. LX-LQA, LX-VCV, LX-WCV) is assigned by the Luxembourg civil aviation authority. But in practice they approve a requested suffix if the applicant proposes one.
Occasionally you can see the Boeing 737 MAX 8 referred to as a code B38M or 7M8. In fact they are the same, B38M is the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) aircraft type designator used in flight tracking, airline scheduling systems, and databases. Whereas 7M8 is the IATA (International Air Transport Association) or airline schedule code (often shown on tickets and in booking systems). You can also see the IATA code expressed as B738.
You can also occasionally see a code such as 4D00EE for a particular aircraft. This hex code is in fact the Mode S/ICAO 24-bit aircraft address (hex code), a unique identifier assigned to a specific aircraft’s transponder. This code doesn’t say anything about the manufacturer or model of the aircraft, it’s purely an identifier used for communications and traffic surveillance.
Yet another code contains yet different information. For example, we see below that I flew from Luxembourg to Gran Canaria on the aircraft with the aircraft registration prefix LX-LBB. On some sites this specific aircraft also caries the type code 737-86J. And I flew back on LX-LGV, which also has the type code 737-8C9. In fact, 737-8?? stands for a Next Generation (NG) 737-800, and the 6J is the customer code for Air Berlin, were as C9 is the customer code for Luxair. We will see later that I flew to Abu Dhabi on a Luxair aircraft LX-LBL which is a 737-8MAX, of the later MAX generation. And with the MAX type code Boeing no longer adds a customer code.
Again, on some sites, there are also seating configurations. These are short alphanumeric codes used to describe how many seats of each class are installed in an aircraft. The easiest are F (first), J (business), W (premium economy) and Y (economy). So a long-haul might carry the code 8F 42J 28W 184Y, describing the number seats in each class. These are not to be confused with fare booking codes, such as Y, B, H (economy fare buckets), J, C, D (business fare buckets), or F, A (first fare buckets).
Luxembourg-Gran Canaria-Luxembourg, early January 2026
On the 31 December 2025 I booked a “last minute” package holiday leaving 4 January 2026 (returning 12 January) to Gran Canaria (airport often mentioned as Las Palmas, the capital and largest city the Canary Islands).
Luxembourg-to-Gran Canaria was flight LG325 which left the gate in Luxembourg (my home airport) at 06:17 (scheduled 06:20) and landed 09:47 (scheduled 09:35), but arrived at the gate at 09.58 (3 minutes late). These are local times, and there is a 1-hour time difference (the total flight time was 4 hours 30 minutes).
It was interesting that there is normally only one scheduled flight at 06:00 to Gran Canaria on Mondays, Wednesdays and Sundays, but on this occasional a second flight was programmed on the Monday at 06:20.
On the 3rd January this aircraft (code LX-LBB) flew a return trip to Tenerife South–Reina Sofía Airport followed by a round trip to Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport in Porto (Oporto).
Following the round trip to Gran Canaria it did a round trip to Son Sant Joan Airport in Palma, Mallorca. On the 5th January it flew to Leoš Janáček Airport, Ostrava in the Czech Republic (on the 13 it was still there).
LX-LBB to Ostrava
The trip to Ostrava of LX-LBB was unusual and not a regular flight. It’s not clear if a code like LG11 is significant, but it is legal and one- or two-number designations are used. However, many airlines use number ranges (often 8xxx, 9xxx, 99xx, sometimes 89xx) for (non-revenue) maintenance/ferry flights.
Leoš Janáček Airport has a large, fully-equipped aircraft maintenance facility on site, historically operated by Job Air Technic and now part of FL Technics’ Central European MRO operations (MRO means Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul). They can accommodate major maintenance (e.g. C-check, heavy inspection), base checks, structural modifications/repairs (e.g. repaint), avionics upgrades, cabin reconfigurations, etc.
LX-LBB was originally delivered to Air Berlin on the 14 April 2015, and its code was D-ABMZ. It left Boeing Field/King County International Airport (BFI) in Seattle, Washington, on the 13 April and made a stopover in Keflavík International Airport (KEF) in Iceland, before landing in Berlin-Schönefeld Airport (SXF) the next day. Berlin-Schönefeld is now part of Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER).
On the 15 October 2015 it was delivered to Luxair, and recoded LX-LBB. This aircraft never entered into service with Air Berlin, who subsequently ceased operations on 27 October 2017 after insolvency. In this particular case Luxair announced this as a purchase, and not a lease, “in view of the relatively long lead times orders for such aircraft currently placed with Boeing imply”
Luxembourg-to-Gran Canaria on the 4th January 2026, started with a trip to the airport on the evening of the 3rd January. Unlike my previous return trip to Abu Dhabi, this time there was an evening check-in (between 19:30-22:30, for flights leaving the next day before 09:00).
This was great because I have the free tram service to the airport just outside my door. I checked-in my suitcase, and picked up my boarding card, and I was back home in less than 90 minutes.
With a departure time of 06:20 I still had to take an early tram, but I could go strait through passport/security to the lounge.
This was a Luxair package tour (flight+hotel), but I was able to book seats in the emergency exit row (row 14) above the wing (€50 extra). Lots of leg room, but unfortunately the seat back does not recline. Whilst the nominal seat width (measured cushion-to-cushion) has not changed, the seat design has. The usable personal space at shoulder, elbow, and hip level is a little less, armrests are thinner, seat backs are harder, and shoulder contours are steeper.
There are USB charging points on the legs of seats in front, but I don’t think they were for USB-C.
I was lucky on the outbound flight to have the entire emergency window row free.
A light breakfast was served with fruit juice, coffee/tea. Not particularly enticing, but a lot better than the majority of economy/tourist flights.
The return Gran Canaria-to-Luxembourg was LG704 which took off at 18:40, for a scheduled 17:30 flight. It arrived at the gate in Luxembourg at 23:25 (scheduled 22:45). It made-up 20 minutes which was vital for me. I was still able to catch the 23:51 tram into the city (I think the last tram was at 0:04). It’s worth noting that the average delay for this flight is more than 1 hour, which would probably have ment missing the last free tram, and having to pay a €40 taxi. These package tours do include free covered packing in the airport building.
This aircraft was LX-LGV, a Boeing 737 NG/MAX 8, which made it maiden flight 6 January 2014 (so 12 years old). The aircraft was originally ferried from Boeing to Luxembourg through Goose Bay Airport, Happy Valley-Goose Bay in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
I had also booked a seat in an emergency exit row, and this time I had the window seat, with the middle seat free.
As it was an evening flight, there was a dinner, with wine or beer, and coffee/tea. There was no gin-tonic, so I slummed it with a Campari-orange. The pasta was fine, but the cake was something horrendous. Even my neighbour said she would not take it back for her pet rabbit.
Luxembourg-Dubai-Luxembourg, early Dec. 2025
This trip was made in early Dec. 2025. It was my third trip to Dubai, but this time my final destination was in Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Luxembourg-to-Dubai was flight LG9009, which took-off from Luxembourg (my home airport) at 06:53 (gate A5 departure 06:40) and landed in Dubai at 16:10 (30 minutes early). These are local times, and there is in winter a 3-hour time difference.
With a scheduled departure at 06:40 I had an early start. For the first time I was able to get from my new apartment to the airport on the free tram service (which starts at 04:00). Check-in was smooth, since there were not many early flight, etc., and I had fast track and lounge access (for my first breakfast of the day).
This was a Luxair package tour (flight+hotel), but I was able to book seats in the emergency exit row (row 14) above the wing (€50 extra). Lots of leg room, but unfortunately the seat back does not recline. There are charging points on the front side of the seats (2-3 pin multi-socket and USB), but not for USB-C.
The views in the morning were spectacular. I guessed that the flight was 85-90% full.
FLIGHT REPORT | Luxair B737 MAX 8 | Economy | LG9009 Luxembourg – Dubai-DWC is a video review of this flight.
Latest information is that Luxair will start a weekly direct flight to Abu Dhabi in Spring 2026, and Qatar Airways is planning a direct flight in Autumn 2026.
Breakfast was served around 08:00, and lunch around 11:00.
Breakfast was not impressive, but the yogurt was tasty. Lunch was pasta, which I thought was decent, but others complained about it being over cooked. The cake-thing was tasteless, but I liked the white wine.
We landed at Al Maktoum Int’l (DWC), also known as Dubai World Central. This is a “smaller” airport compared to Dubai International Airport. However it is being developed to replace todays main Dubai airport. Emirates plans to use this airport as its only hub once the first expansion is complete (ca. 2035).
It’s worth noting that my flight arrived at its gate at 16:22 (scheduled 17:00). This is local time, which in winter was 3 hours ahead of local time in Luxembourg. The flight time was only 6 hours 30 minutes, which is about average for this trip.
Despite arriving at the gate 30 minutes early, it took over 1 hour to get our baggage, in an airport that was nearly empty. Just to complete the story of my trip, on landing I did have a problem finding the Luxair package-tour group. The Luxair sign was quite small, and the group gathered behind a column. So looking around I could not immediately see where to go, but it only lasted a few minutes. I was the only person going to Abu Dhabi, so I had a very nice car and a chauffeur. The trip itself took the best part of 90 minutes, largely due to the traffic in Dubai. The roads are excellent in the UAE, and I noticed that the speed limit is 140 km/hr.
The aircraft was LX-LBL, and was leased from Pembroke on 2 July 2023. However, it originally was part of the Airitaly fleet (EI-GGL which was actually registered in Ireland) and was 7.2 years old (first flight 05 October 2018). Airitaly also leased from Pembroke, but ceased operations on 11 Feb. 2020. In fact this particular aircraft was delivered on 20-21 Nov 2018 from BFI (Boeing Field – King County International Airport, Seattle), Boeing’s primary delivery and test airport, to SNN (Shannon Airport, Ireland), the classic North Atlantic technical stop for long ferry flights. And then on to OLB (Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport, Sardinia, Italy), which is used by certain European operators as a completion centre, and/or storage/acceptance facility. With the failure of Airitaly, the aircraft stood at MXP (Milan Malpensa Airport) between 12 Mar 2019 – 10 Jul 2020, and then at BUD (Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport) between 10 Jul 2020 – 17 Mar 2023. Before being delivered to Luxair it also stood at OSR (Ostrava Leoš Janáček Airport in the Czech Republic) between 17 Mar – 2 Jul 2023.
Pembroke Aircraft Leasing was first established in Dublin in 1997, before being taken over by Standard Chartered in 2007. In late 2023 Standard Chartered Group sold its aviation finance leasing business Pembroke to Saudi Arabian lessor AviLease. The acquisition included 120 owned and managed aircraft that were leased to thirty airlines. AviLease (founded in 2022), backed by the Saudi government’s Public Investment Fund, now (late 2025) owns a total aircraft portfolio of 167, valued at $6 billion. On completion of the transaction Standard Chartered recorded an estimated profit of approximately US$0.3 billion.
The return flight Dubai-to-Luxembourg was LG 9010, and it took off from Al Maktoum Int’l at 10:06 (26 minutes late). It left the gate at 09:36 (also 6 minutes late), and landed in Luxembourg at 13:47 local times (scheduled 14:20), and parked at 13:50 (scheduled 14:30).
The same aircraft, LG-LBL, was used for this return flight, as for the outgoing flight on the 3rd December 2025. The only real difference between these two flights was that the breakfast yogurt was replaced with a fruit salad. As with the trip to Abu Dhabi, I was the only person travelling back to Dubai, and I had again a very nice car and a chauffeur all to myself. The only real problem was the pick-up time of 05:40. There were only a couple of early departures from the Dubai airport, and I had plenty of time for a simple breakfast after check-in. The airport itself is particularly boring.
On the 2 Dec. this aircraft had made a return trip to Porto, and on the follow day 4th Dec. it returned to Luxembourg, and then again made a return trip to Porto. On the 10 Dec. it had made the flight Luxembourg-Dubai, and after our return flight on the 11th Dec., it again also made a return trip to Porto.
