Sion Airport

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]

Sion Airport

Aéroport de Sion
Summary
ServesSion, Switzerland
Elevation AMSL483 m / 1,585 ft
Coordinates46°13′10.53″N 7°19′36.35″E
Websitesionairport.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

Airlines and destinations

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

AirlinesDestinations
Air Glaciers Seasonal: St Tropez[5]
flyBAIR Seasonal: Palma de Mallorca (begins 18 July 2020)[6]
Swiss International Air Lines Seasonal: London–Heathrow[7]

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. 25,992 passengers were travelling through Sion Airport in the year 2019.[8]

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 unit Fliegerstaffel 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.[9]

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 26 December 2018
  5. air-glaciers.ch
  6. https://www.sionaeroport.ch/en/flights/
  7. swiss.com - UK Flights Timetable retrieved 28 December 2019
  8. https://www.sionaeroport.ch/en/figures-and-maps/
  9. «L'aviation militaire à Sion après 2017? Pas exclu», 20Minuten, 17. September 2015

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