The Luxembourgish airline Luxair flew from Deurne Airport to London City Airport for the first time on January 16, 2023. Less than a year and a half later, the connection is stopped. “This is due to a shortage of pilots and cabin crew at Luxair,” says Tom Rutsaert, spokesperson for Deurne airport. “An additional reason is that the pilots who are available must be trained to fly new aircraft. It is not yet clear whether the suspension of flights between Deurne and London is temporary or permanent. We are in consultation with Luxair for this.”
Rutsaert emphasizes that the flights between Deurne and London were popular. “The number of passengers on those flights has recently started to rise again to pre-corona crisis levels,” he says.
Defects in flight schedule
But transport economist Wouter Dewulf (University of Antwerp) points to serious shortcomings in Luxair’s flight schedule between Deurne and London. “The shortage of pilots seems to me to be more of a side problem,” says Dewulf. “To have a good connection for business flights within Europe, you need to fly to a destination at least three times a day. Luxair now only has a morning and evening flight between Deurne and London on Tuesdays and Thursdays, meaning that business travelers cannot fly there and back on the other days.”
“For people who want to take a city trip to London, the flight from Deurne is also not ideal. You can leave on Friday, but you have to wait until Monday morning to return. That means an extra night in a hotel.”
For Luxair, the connection to London is the only one it offers from Belgian soil. “I believe that this connection is not a priority for Luxair, and that the airline has started flights from Deurne to London mainly to fill its available slots at the lucrative London City Airport. It is important to be able to keep all slots,” says Wouter Dewulf.
Training pilots
But the official explanation is that the flights between Deurne and London are stopped due to a shortage of staff. Does this mean that other destinations will also be deleted in the future? “The pilot shortage is acute at almost every airline, and pilots also change airlines much more often than before,” says aviation journalist Luk De Wilde.
“But airlines are now fully training pilots. I think they will tackle the problem in a timely manner and therefore not many lines will be deleted. It just takes a little time to train pilots. For example, a junior co-pilot may only fly with very experienced captains. But fortunately there are plenty of people who want to become pilots.”
De Wilde thinks that a return of Luxair to Deurne airport is certainly possible. “It is perhaps not a coincidence that that company is stopping its flights for the summer. Summer is the least busy period for a destination that is especially popular with business people.”
Alternatives
Anyone who wants to travel to London from June 3 can always go by train. It departs from Brussels nine times a day. You can also take the Flixbus to London from Antwerp.
