Sion Airport

Sion Airport
Aéroport de Sion
Summary
Serves Sion, Switzerland
Elevation AMSL 483 m / 1,585 ft
Coordinates 46°13′10.53″N 7°19′36.35″E / 46.2195917°N 7.3267639°E / 46.2195917; 7.3267639
Website sionairport.ch
Map
SIR
Location of airport in Switzerland
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
07R/25L 6,562 2,000 Asphalt
07L/25R 1,820 555 Grass

Sion Airport (IATA: SIR, ICAO: LSGS) (Military: LSMS) is the airport of the city of Sion, Switzerland[1] and is located 2.5 km southwest of Sion city in the Rhone Valley.[2] The airport opened in 1935.[3]

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines offer seasonal and charter flights at Sion Airport:[4]

AirlinesDestinations
Air Glaciers Seasonal: Calvi, Elba, Figari, La Môle/Saint-Tropez, Pula
Swiss International Air Lines Seasonal: London-City, London-Heathrow
Helvetic Airways Seasonal charter: Palma de Mallorca

The nearest larger international airport is Geneva Airport, approx. 110 kilometres (68 mi) to the west, while the smaller Bern Airport is equidistant to the north.

Military usage

The Swiss Air Force uses Sion as one of their four jetfighter air bases, the others being Payerne, Meiringen and Emmen. It is known as Flugplatzkommando 14 Sion. In addition to the prop-types Pilatus PC-6, Pilatus PC-7, Pilatus PC-9 and Pilatus PC-21 as well as helicopters it uses Sion intensively with the fighter jets F/A-18 and F-5 Tiger. It is the home base of the militia pilot sqd., Sqd.19 Swans with F-5E. Sion Airport is, at both ends of the runway, equipped with retractable arresting gear devices (used by the F/A-18 and in case of a problem by the F-5).

Because of the redimension of the Swiss Air Force it is planned that the Air Force will leave Sion after 2017 and Sion will be used by civil aviation only, acting only as alternate airfield for the Air Force.[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Priceline Archived 2008-05-04 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ↑ Piste25
  3. ↑ http://sionairport.ch/a-propos-de-nous
  4. ↑ sionaeroport.ch - Flights retrieved 28 September 2018
  5. ↑ «L'aviation militaire à Sion après 2017? Pas exclu», 20Minuten, 17. September 2015

Media related to Sion Airport at Wikimedia Commons

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.