The SOMO Findel Airport Consortium, which includes Colas (project leader), Felix Giorgetti SàRL, C. KarpKneip Constructions SA, and JDC Airports SA, has started refurbishing the runway at the Luxembourg Airport. For the client lux-Airport, the project represents a total investment of €150 million.

The project involves the complete rehabilitation of the airport’s only runway, an infrastructure that plays an essential role in the country’s economy.

The 4,000-meter-long, 60-meter-wide runway had not been fully renovated since 1984. The work includes structural reinforcement of the shoulders, a new drainage system and replacement of existing lights with 1,500 LEDs, which will save energy and reduce CO2 emissions.

Teams from Colas, Felix Giorgetti SàRL and C. Karp-Kneip Constructions SA are performing the earthworks, asphalt paving, drainage, utilities networks, marking, etc. JDC Airports SA is in charge of the aeronautical ground light system.

In order to limit the project’s impact on regular air traffic, the work is being carried out mainly at night, between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. This is a real challenge for the teams: every morning they have to hand the runway over to the customer in perfect operating condition, so that air traffic can start back up safely.

Spread over two April-to-October stages, the work is slated to last until the end of 2022. In all, more than 300 people will be mobilized at the peak of the project.

"Backed by a dynamic partnership with lux-Airport and an integrated consortium of experienced companies, the project will allow Luxembourg to benefit from the fully refurbished runway that the country needs, in a very short amount of time,” underlines Stéphane Brondino, Project Manager for Colas Projects and spokesperson for SOMO Findel Airport Consortium.