Luxembourg’s national airline, Luxair, has announced that it will be launching flights between the capital city and Abu Dhabi. The news comes barely a month since Etihad announced its first venture into Luxembourg with a thrice-weekly flight on an Airbus A321neo. In this week’s schedule update, it appears that Etihad has increased this to four weekly.

The new route will begin at the end of October on a Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, complementing its existing twice-weekly winter seasonal flights to Dubai World Central airport.

Luxair’s latest announcement can also be seen as a show of strength in its home market. It is both a testament to its commitment to the United Arab Emirates and its hopes to maintain its dominance on the segments that it currently operates.

Luxair’s new Abu Dhabi flights

As reported in our weekly European long-haul schedule update today, the airline’s new flight will operate on Monday. Its existing services to Dubai World Central operate on Wednesday and Saturday. The routes are largely complementary.

It is worth noting that the aircraft on both segments remain overnight in the United Arab Emirates.

As pointed out by the carrier’s Chief Commercial Officer Thomas Fischer, the route provides “a real improvement” for customers “who have already been travelling to Abu Dhabi via our Dubai service.” He added that it responds to “strong and consistent demand we have seen on our Dubai route” and described Abu Dhabi as the “natural next step.”

“The new route responds to growing customer demand for long-haul leisure travel during the winter season and provides our customers with an additional gateway to the region, further strengthening our overall network,” he continued.

Luxair briefly flew to the city when Dubai World Central was closed last year. It operated to Abu Dhabi during a three-week period in April 2025.

The new service will operate winter-seasonally from 26 October, 2026 until 4 May, 2027.

Etihad’s new Luxembourg route will hurt Luxair in any case

Undoubtedly, Etihad’s new route will have an impact on Luxair’s existing service to Dubai World Central. By countering Etihad head-on, the airline is likely trying to ensure its performance on what is currently its longest route. And one that demands a considerable amount of resources.

The catchment areas overlap. In the same way that Luxair passengers looking to travel to Abu Dhabi did so by transiting from the carrier’s Dubai World Central flight, Etihad is likely stealing a considerable portion of passengers departing from Dubai.

Etihad’s schedule is also more convenient. With three weekly frequencies, Etihad offers more departure options. As it primarily focuses on connecting traffic, the company’s focus on point-to-point demand is much lower than it is for Luxair which relies on it exclusively.

Luxair no longer has a monopoly on price and convenience for services to the UAE.

Why did Luxair decide to launch flights to Abu Dhabi?

The route to Abu Dhabi seems to be an attempt to deal a blow to the competition to hurt its route launch. Luxair has an important advantage: it has an existing reputation in the local market and relationships with Luxembourgish travel agencies.

Though it only flies one weekly frequency, it will be able to stop Etihad from taking all of its traffic, and hopefully maintain loads on its flights to Dubai as well. At the same time, Etihad’s core market is not only the point-to-point sector.

It has the inevitable upper hand when it comes to passengers travelling from Luxembourg to destinations beyond Abu Dhabi. Luxair does not have any widebody planes.

Its maturity in the market will hinder Etihad. But whether that will be enough is another question entirely.

Featured image: Markus Mainka | stock.adobe.com

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