Luxembourg-Findel airport will see investment on an unprecedented scale over the next few years. “lux-Airport's investment programme between now and 2032 amounts to almost €800m, and will be reflected in the accounts of this autonomous commercial company", explains the Minister for Mobility and Public Works, 
The State, for its part, "only bears the costs relating to State missions at the airport linked, among other things, to safety and security, air navigation, protocol, customs clearance, fire and rescue services, etc.". Some of these investments are still being drawn up, "but the total will probably exceed €200m for the same period."
In total, and without taking into account investments by airlines operating at Findel, "investments made at the airport over the period 2025-2032 will therefore exceed €1bn."
Towards saturation by 2050
These amounts do not rule out the long-term question: Will Findel be able to absorb the growth in air traffic over several decades? "Findel airport is limited by constraints on available space, while there is no possibility of extending the airport area as it is defined today." Studies are underway to optimise capacity in terms of passenger and freight movements "by 2050". But, adds the Minister, "this optimisation is likely to reach its limits from the 2050-2060 decade onwards".
The main obstacle remains the impossibility "of building a second independent runway on the current site". Hence the importance, in her view, of "starting to think now about the need to build a new airport to meet the challenges of the second half of this century. And given the timescales for such a project, which easily exceed two decades, I wouldn't want us to be caught short when the time comes."
No defined location
Thinking is still in its infancy. "At the moment, lux-Airport is working on optimising the existing infrastructure and the needs to be expected in the decades to come. Beyond that, and in view of the economic importance for our country and all the neighbouring regions, such a reflection will not come to fruition in the short term. I am not at present setting a timetable for this review, which will be gradual."
Following the interview she gave to our colleagues, we had checked that there was sufficient land available on freehold land and on the PAGs... and there isn't any. So we will already have to find these hundreds of hectares, which today must meet various criteria--environmental, safety, orientation--before any other issue.
The government's strategy is being deployed firstly under the 2023-2028 coalition agreement, which states that "the government will encourage the modernisation and adaptation of airport infrastructure to current and future needs in order to guarantee a high level of service quality".
With regard to the budget outlook, the Minister warns: "It would be irresponsible to put the brakes on the investment that is absolutely necessary at Findel airport on the grounds that it might have to make way for a new airport in around thirty years' time. Lux-Airport must now equip itself with the capacity to serve its customers in good conditions over the coming decades."
"It is our top priority to plan and carry out these essential investments," insists Backes. "However, it is also my duty to keep a close eye on developments on the ground and to look to the future. It is therefore in this context that I wanted to launch this reflection on the possible need for a new airport."
There may be a second, more analytical reading, very familiar in political communication: refocusing. This is the moment when politicians begin to dream of a different destiny. And for a minister who has already had major portfolios, a former diplomat who will have been the Court Marshal, what is left?
This article was originally published in French.
