Credit: Luxair

Luxair Luxembourg Airlines has announced the progressive resumption of operations to Madrid following interruptions due to the Filomena snowstorm.

Due to this unexpected and historically intense snowstorm in Spain, which affected Madrid-Barajas airport, operations there had been interrupted from the evening of Friday 8 January 2021 until Sunday evening, by decision of the local authorities. Since Sunday early evening, operations have been gradually resuming at Madrid airport and Luxair flight LG3836, with 93 passengers onboard, took off from Madrid at 23:57 (local time) for Luxembourg. 

Due to worsening weather conditions in Madrid on Friday evening, Luxair flight LG3838 from Madrid to Luxembourg was cancelled. Luxair's Boeing 737-700 LX-LGQ, with 97 passengers onboard, did not take off from Madrid-Barajas airport, which the authorities decided to temporarily close for safety reasons.

Pending its reopening, Luxair teams closely monitored the situation and remained in contact with passengers at Madrid-Barajas airport. 

Due to the unexpected scale of the situation in Madrid (access to the airport by road was forbidden by the Spanish authorities for safety reasons) and the large number of passengers affected (all airlines combined), the organisation of hotels turned out to be rather complex. In order to streamline bookings and offer comfortable solutions as quickly as possible to all passengers, Luxair granted them a flat rate of €120 per person for the organisation of a hotel room by their own means.

On Sunday morning, the Luxair teams contacted each of the passengers individually to organise their return to Luxembourg as soon as Madrid-Barajas airport reopened.

Mid-afternoon on Sunday, the Spanish authorities announced the reopening of Madrid-Barajas airport for the end of the day. Luxair, assisted by its ground handling service provider in Madrid, worked to organise the operation of Luxair flight LG3836, enabling all Luxair passengers wishing to travel to Luxembourg this evening to be repatriated. Luxair flight LG3836 took off at 23:57 (local time) and was expected in Luxembourg by 01:50 (local time – Monday 11 January).

The unpredictability of this situation has resulted in regular updates and a progressive resumption of operations in Madrid-Barajas. Following the announcement of the late reopening of arrivals at Madrid-Barajas airport, Luxair flights LG3837 from Luxembourg to Madrid and LG3838 from Madrid to Luxembourg, initially scheduled on Sunday evening, have been postponed by 24 hours. Luxair informed all passengers as soon as the information was available.