Someone should take a punt on direct Luxembourg-US flights

It has now been over 25 years since the last direct passenger flights between Luxembourg and the United States. It is time for that to change, but the practicalities and viability of a frequent direct flight are a challenge for governments and airlines.

The new US ambassador to Luxembourg, Stacey Feinberg, has said that she had discussions with Transport Minister Yuriko Backes about “the value of getting a direct US – Luxembourg flight.”

That news has already had Luxembourg Times readers from both sides of the Atlantic drooling at the prospect, judging by comments on social media.

And CSV MP Laurent Mosar has even asked a parliamentary question of Backes, saying that a direct Luxembourg-USA flight “has long been requested by representatives of the economy in general and the financial sector in particular.”

With just over 2,000 US citizens living in Luxembourg, any direct flight would have to rely on a healthy number of tourists as well as business travellers.

Luxembourg’s airport draws passengers from across the Greater Region, especially during the school holidays as families book LuxairTours packages to European and North African destinations. Flights to the US would certainly attract passengers heading to the many tourist hotspots in the United States who do not want to take a transatlantic flight via Frankfurt, Paris, Amsterdam or London – all huge and busy airports that can be tricky to negotiate if connecting time is tight.

But foreign tourism in the United States has taken a hit this year, with many travellers worried about Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) crackdowns and concerned they will have to supply Customs and Border Protection officers with details of their social media accounts.

Tourism to States takes a hit

Between May and July, arrivals in the US fell by 5.5% year-on-year according to research by The Economist. While the bulk of that decline can be laid at the feet of Canadians unwilling to travel across their southern border, some 108,000 fewer Europeans landed at US airports during those three months than in the same period a year earlier, The Economist said.

On the other hand, 2.9% more American citizens have taken international flights than last year. Indeed, 27% more Americans have flown abroad than foreigners have arrived in the United States so far in 2025.

Despite scaremongering about safety in Europe by attention-seeking American politicians and social media influencers, some 7.7 million US tourists visited the old continent in the first five months of 2025, a 6% increase from the previous year, according to The Economist. Luxembourg, as one of the safest cities in Europe, and with its easily accessible airport, could be a good starting point for many of them.

World Cup and Olympics

What’s more, next year’s World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico is set to significantly boost tourism numbers going the other way across the Atlantic.

Searches for flights and accommodation around the tournament dates next year are up nearly 70% from the same period in 2025, a spokesman for online travel agency eSky told Reuters.

With close to two million tickets sold already – and a third phase of sales set to begin on 11 December – the number of foreign visitors during the tournament could be as high as six million, according to some projections.

And, while Luxembourg may not have qualified for the tournament, neighbours France, Germany and Belgium will all be there again having finished top of their respective qualifying groups. Another argument in favour of getting that direct flight up and running as soon as possible.

Two years later, in July 2028, the next Olympic Games will take place in Los Angeles and could draw equally high numbers – and at least some Luxembourg athletes will be competing at that one.

The difficulty will be in finding an airline willing to take the risk. Luxair’s short-lived experiment in 1999, when it flew to Newark and had to take impractical landing slot times for passengers wanting to travel further by plane, means it is unlikely to take up the challenge.

Some US airlines could be encouraged to grab an opportunity to connect their smaller but growing hubs to a new European destination. For example, Delta this summer added flights between Boston Logan from Nice and Madrid to bring to 12 its European destinations from the east coast airport. Low-cost operator JetBlue serves popular destinations such as New York’s JKF, San Francisco, Fort Lauderdale and Austin from Boston, making it an attractive landing place for European tourists seeking to explore the States.

And with tourism projected to contribute an all-time high of $11.7tn, which is over 10% of the world’s economy according to a 2025 report from the World Travel & Tourism Council, adding a new route between Luxembourg and the United States may just be a punt worth taking.