Over the past five years, Luxembourg's ministers have used private jets for official travel on 25 occasions. The majority of these trips were undertaken by former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean Asselborn. Notably, the most expensive journey, costing approximately €100,000, was also attributed to Asselborn.
Jean Asselborn's private jet travels included trips to Lisbon, Berlin, Rome, and Madrid. The most expensive flight among these occurred in March 2019, when Asselborn travelled from Findel Airport to Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan.
Another notable private flight took place in August 2019, when Minister for Home Affairs Taina Bofferding flew from Fuerteventura at a cost of €47,000. The trip was deemed urgent due to a tornado that had ravaged the area of Pétange and Bascharage just the previous day. At that time, both the Grand Duke and the Prime Minister shortened their holidays.
Upon enquiry, Bofferding clarified that then Prime Minister Xavier Bettel had appointed her to lead the crisis response, as mandated by law. Consequently, she returned to Luxembourg alone, while her family remained in Fuerteventura.
In addition to Asselborn and Bofferding, Prime Minister Bettel himself took six private flights, including one in August 2020 from Luxembourg to Krakow and Warsaw, incurring costs of €40,000.
Apart from trips booked by ministers, nearly 40 flights were sponsored under a NATO exchange program — thus 'free of charge'. Within the framework of this exchange, NATO partners support one another by exchanging military flying hours. These flights were destined for locations such as Brazzaville, Sibiu, Glasgow, and Niamey in Niger.
Prime Minister Luc Frieden disclosed this information to MP Marc Goergen of the Pirate Party, who had referenced an article published in March in the Lëtzebuerger Land newspaper, which reported on Prime Minister Bettel's use of private flights for foreign travel. The government's official stance is that ministers should opt for the most efficient mode of transport depending on circumstances, with private flights being the exception rather than the norm.
