Following the incident at Saarbrucken airport on 30 September in which the undercarraige of one of Luxair's Bombardier Q400 planes hit the runway at take-off, the airline has taken the decision to replace the plane instead of having it repaired.
Although insurance cover would have covered the repair of extensive damage to the hull, the propellor, the centre wig section and components in the underfloor section, the airline decided against this course of action and decided to opt for reliability and quality of a new plane, as explained to The Luxembourg Chronicle by Luxair's Jean Lasar, repsonsible for press relations.
The new plane ordered, a 76-seat Bombardier Q400 turbo-prop, is expected to be delivered in August.
Luxair has received delivery of 2 new Bombardier Q400s in the past two weeks as part of its refleeting programme which will see the 49-seat Embraer ERJ-145 jets replaced by Bombardier Q400 turbo-props, providing more capacity and enabling better fleet maintenance and management, as well as the Bombardier Q400s being more economic than the Embraer ERJ-145 jets. This will mean that the airline will have just Bombardier Q400s and the Boeing 737s to maintain.
These two new arrivals are part of the three Bombardier Q400s ordered by the airline in February, with the 3rd expected next April. The two new arrivals are expected to enter service at the end of January and beginning of February.
