Bern Airport

The Regional Aerodrome Bern-Belp (IATA: BRN, ICAO: LSZB / LSMB), (marketing designation "Bern Airport", officially referred to as Regionalflugplatz Bern-Belp in German), is a regional aerodrome serving Bern, the de facto capital of Switzerland. The aerodrome is located within the town limits of Belp,[1] and used to feature scheduled flights to some European metropolitan and several leisure destinations. It handled 183,319 passengers in 2016, a decrease of 3.5 percent over 2015.[2]

Bern Airport
Summary
Airport typePublic Regional Aerodrome
OperatorFlughafen Bern AG
ServesBern, Switzerland
LocationBelp
Elevation AMSL1,673 ft / 510 m
Coordinates46°54′44″N 07°29′57″E
Websitewww.flughafenbern.ch
Map
BRN
Location of the airport in Switzerland
BRN
BRN (Bern)
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
14/32 1,730 5,676 Asphalt
14L/32R 650 2,133 Grass
Statistics (2018)
Passengers151,621
Aircraft movements44,706
Source: Swiss AIP at EUROCONTROL

It was the home base of now defunct SkyWork Airlines whose grounding caused the aerodrome to lose more than 1/3 of its turnover. Currently the charter operator Helvetic Airways and Peoples Airways offer a limited number of flights during the holiday season, the Swiss Federal Government's air transport service Lufttransportdienst des Bundes have based two business jets at the aerodrome, the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service operator REGA has one of its bases at Belp and two helicopter transport companies as well as two flying schools (one motorised, one for gliders) operate at the aerodrome.

History

The aerodrome was established in 1929 by Alpar, a private airline that operated within Switzerland until the outbreak of World War II. After the war, Alpar remained in business as the aerodrome's operator, supported by subsidies of the cantonal and city government.[3] A planned expansion in 1947 did not pass in a popular referendum, and it was not until 1950 that the first concrete airstrip was built. In 2014, Alpar was renamed to Flughafen Bern AG.

Multiple attempts to build an international airport in or around Bern instead of the small regional aerodrome at Belpmoos failed. In 1945, the national parliament decided to build the first international airport, now Zurich Airport, at Kloten near Zürich instead of in Utzensdorf near Bern, though plans for development there were retained as an inter-urban airport which would require less space and thus placate local opposition by farming interests.[4] A 1963 airport project near Herrenschwanden was abandoned because of strong popular opposition, notably by farmers, as was a 1966 project in Rosshäusern and a 1970 project Kallnach.[5]

In December 2016, bmi regional ceased its flights from Munich Airport to Bern after two years which it served in direct competition with SkyWork Airlines.[6] In May 2018, RUAG announced that it would close its operation at the aerodrome in September 2018, citing declining business.[7]

In August 2018, the aerodrome's largest carrier SkyWork Airlines declared bankruptcy and ceased all operations[8] leaving Helvetic Airways as the sole Swiss airline serving the aerodrome with 84 percent less traffic.[9] Since then however, Chair Airlines, also a Swiss Airline, has begun offering services to the airport.[10]

Facilities

The aerodrome has multiple touchdown areas, a paved runway (14/32 of 1,730 metres (5,676 ft), a grass runway (32L/14R of 650 metres (2,133 ft, as of 2017 inoperable), a heli-square, and a glider area. Runway 14 has an ILS approach and an NDB approach (for training use only, will be decommissioned in 2019). The existing terminal was expanded to better accommodate flights to the non-Schengen area in 2011.

The Biderhangar, one of the aerodrome's hangars built by Swiss aviation pioneer Oskar Bider, is listed as a heritage site of national significance. The aerodrome also houses the head office of Heliswiss.[11] Previously the North Terminal housed the head office of SkyWork Airlines.[12][13]

Other usage

The aircraft of the air transport service of the Swiss Air Force are stationed at Bern Regional Aerodrome. These are two jets and two turboprops. The former ones are mainly used for VIP transport and particularly the transport of members of the Federal Council. They are also used for other purposes, for example deportations or to support international peacekeeping measures. The two turboprop DHC-6 Twin Otter and Beechcraft King Air are not usually used for VIP flights, but for the passenger transport as well as for the country's topography service.[14] The Beechcraft 1900 is also used by the country's topography service for the same tasks. The two jets are a Dassault Falcon 900[15] and a Cessna Citation Excel.

Additionally, Bern Regional Aerodrome serves as the homebase of the Federal Office of Civil Aviation. A base of the air rescue organization Rega is also located at the Airport, using a Eurocopter EC 145.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines offer seasonal and seasonal charter flights at Bern Airport:[16]

AirlinesDestinations
flyBAIR Seasonal: Jerez de la Frontera, Menorca, Palma de Mallorca, Preveza/Lefkada
Seasonal charter: Heraklion, Kos, Rhodes
Helvetic Airways Seasonal: Palma de Mallorca
Swiss Flight Services Seasonal: Elba, Olbia

Statistics
Aerial view of Bern Aerodrome
Year Passengers Change
2010 85,981 09.6%
2011 169,288 096.9%
2012 258,543 052.7%
2013 244,699 05.4%
2014 177,539 027.5%
2015 190,032 07.0%
2016 183,319 03.5%
2017 182,917 00.2%
2018 151,621 017.1%

Ground transportation

Two bus lines serve the airport: the AirportBus Bern (line 334) connects the terminal every half-hour with Belp railway station where passengers can connect to frequent S-Bahn trains S3, S4, S31 and S44 to Bern main station. The journey time to Bern city center is 30 minutes. The bus line 160 connects the airport with Belp, Rubigen and Münsingen (connection to S-Bahn trains S1).

See also

References
  1. "Ortsplan Archived August 13, 2009, at the Wayback Machine." Town of Belp. Retrieved on 8 December 2010.
  2. http://flughafenbern.ch/de/unternehmen/medien-news/medienmitteilungen
  3. Benedikt Meyer: Im Flug. Schweizer Airlines und ihre Passagiere, 1919-2002. Chronos, Zürich 2014, ISBN 978-3-0340-1238-6
  4. Bell, E. A. (10 May 1945). "Swiss Planning". Flight and Aircraft Engineer. Royal Aero Club. XLVII (1898): 501. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
  5. "Das Grounding aller Berner Flughafenpläne". Berner Zeitung. 22 November 2015. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
  6. http://www.aerotelegraph.com/bmi-regional-kehrt-bern-wieder-den-ruecken
  7. Forrester, Charles (May 29, 2018). "RUAG feels pinch in Aviation, Defence". Jane's Information Group. According to the company in a statement on 28 May, “insufficient capacity utilisation and expiring maintenance contracts” had caused RUAG Aviation to decide to close its operation at Bern-Belp Regional Aerodrome at the end of September.
  8. https://www.derbund.ch/wirtschaft/unternehmen-und-konjunktur/Skywork-Airlines-ist-pleite--11-000-Passagiere-betroffen/story/24765644
  9. http://www.airliners.de/schweizer-skywork-airlines-betrieb/46571
  10. https://www.bernairport.ch/en/destinationen/Destination?dest=CLY
  11. "Bern-Belp base Archived 2011-07-11 at the Wayback Machine." Heliswiss. Retrieved on 25 February 2011. "Heliswiss is an international helicopter company based at Bern-Belp Airport."
  12. "Contact." SkyWork Airlines. Retrieved on 8 December 2010. "SkyWork Flughafen Bern-Belp Terminal Nord CH 3123 Bern-Belp."
  13. "Terms and conditions Archived 2010-12-27 at the Wayback Machine." SkyWork Airlines. Retrieved on 8 December 2010. ""We", "our" "ourselves" and "us" means Sky Work Airlines Ltd., domiciled in Bern-Belp, Switzerland."
  14. "Lufttransportdienst des Bundes (LTDB) auf admin.ch". Archived from the original on 14 August 2011. Retrieved 29 October 2010.
  15. "Mittel: Flugzeuge, Helikopter, Flab" (in German). Swiss Air Force. Archived from the original on 24 June 2010. Retrieved 14 July 2009.
  16. bernairport.ch - Destinationen retrieved 14 April 2019

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