Heinzmann, who was 65, was a popular figure in the Luxembourg business community and beyond when he was CEO of Luxair between 2000 and 2005. The Belgian national is the only non-Luxembourger to have managed the national airline.

He endured some tough times at the airline, none more than the fatal crash on 6 November 2002 of one of its Fokker 50 planes on route from Berlin to Luxembourg in which 20 of 22 passengers and crew died.

After leaving Luxair in 2005, Heinzmann moved to Albanian Airlines and recently retired from his own Luxembourg-based company Aviafix.

Heinzmann was known and respected for his passion for the airline business, and sometimes for his outspokenness, characteristics that will ensure is will be sadly missed.  

Our thoughts are with his family at this time.