On Wednesday morning, Luxembourg Air Rescue (LAR) inaugurated its new €12 million premises at Findel, comprising 3,500 m2 of offices and 3,600 m2 of hangar space; just €680,000 was provided by the state, a subsidy from the Ministry of the Economy.
Over 400 people attended the official ceremony, including HRH Grand Duke Henri, speaker at the Chambre des Deputés, Mars di Bartholomeo, Minister for Sustainable Development and Infrastructure, Francois Bausch, Minister of Health, Lydia Mutsch, former Minister for Culture, Octavie Modert, a number of Ambassadors and representatives from other countries from the UK to Austria.
LAR was created 28 years ago and now has more than 165 employees, 5 helicopters and 5 jets. After two years of planning, now LAR is in just one centralised building, at Findel. The first office was in a portacabin, with the first hangar at Findel, before it moved its office to Cessange; then a maintenance hangar followed and the "bubble" hangar. Its control centre and operations centre then moved to a container building, before a second hangar was constructed, prior to the new premises inaugurated today.
As well as operating emergency missions daily in and around Luxembourg, it also repatriates members from around the world who fall ill, and also flies Special Missions. In its 28 years of existence it has now 185,000 members and has flown circa 30,000 missions.
In his address, LAR President, René Closter, mentioned Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, and talked of a vision. He said the last 27 years have flown by and quoted Mark Twain by saying "The past is when it doesn't hurt any more", and acknowledged they have invested heavily.
The ceremony concluded with a ribbon-cutting exercise prior to a reception and tour of the premises.
Photos by Geoff Thompson
