EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg IATA airport 3-letter codes for the French area, the Swiss area, and the metropolitan area, french: Aéroport de Bâle-Mulhouse-Fribourg, it, Aeroporto di Basilea-Mulhouse-Friburgo, rm, Eroport da Basilea-Mulhouse-Friburg is an

international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer ...

in the French

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

region, in the administrative commune of Saint-Louis near the border

tripoint A tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints as of 2020. Nearly half are situated in rivers, l ...

between France, Germany, and Switzerland. It is northwest of the city of

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, southeast of

Mulhouse Mulhouse (; Alsatian language, Alsatian: or , ; ; meaning ''Mill (grinding), mill house'') is a city of the Haut-Rhin Departments of France, department, in the Grand Est Regions of France, region, eastern France, close to the France–Switzerl ...

in France, and south-southwest of

Freiburg im Breisgau Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population o ...

in Germany. The airport is jointly administered by France and Switzerland, governed by a 1949 international convention. The airport serves as a base for

easyJet Switzerland EasyJet Switzerland SA, styled as easyJet, is a Swiss low-cost airline based in Meyrin, canton of Geneva. Plans for the construction of a joint Swiss–French airport started in the 1930s but were halted by the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Swiss planners identified Basel as one of the four cities for which a main urban airport would be developed and recognized that the existing airfield at Sternenfeld in

Birsfelden Birsfelden (Swiss German: ''Birsfälde'') is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Arlesheim (district), Arlesheim in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland. History Birsfelden is first menti ...

was too small and, due to the development of the adjacent river port facilities, unsuitable for expansion. The suburb of

Allschwil , neighboring_municipalities= Baselland (BL), Binningen, Buschwiller (FR-68), Hégenheim (FR-68), Neuwiller (FR-68), Oberwil, Saint-Louis (FR-68), Schönenbuch , twintowns = Pfullendorf (Germany), Blaj (Romania) } Allschwil () is a town a ...

was proposed for a new airport, and this would require being constructed across the Franco-Swiss border, leading to talks with French authorities centered on developing a single airport that would serve both countries, enhancing its international airport status. In 1946 talks resumed and it was agreed that an airport would be built north of

Blotzheim Blotzheim (; gsw-FR, Blohze) is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department, Alsace, northeastern France. See also * Communes of the Haut-Rhin department The following is a list of the 366 communes of the French department of Haut-Rhin. The co ...

, France. France would provide the land and the Swiss canton of

Basel-Stadt Basel-Stadt or Basel-City (german: Kanton ; rm, Chantun Basilea-Citad; french: Canton de Bâle-Ville; it, Canton Basilea Città) is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of three municipalities with Basel as t ...

would cover the construction costs. Basel-Stadt's Grand Council agreed to pay the costs for a provisional airport even before an international treaty was signed (which was not until 1949). Construction began on 8 March 1946 and a provisional airport with a runway was officially opened on 8 May. Between autumn 1951 and spring 1953, the east–west runway was extended to and the "Zollfreistrasse" (customs-free road) was constructed, allowing access from Basel to the departure terminal without passing through French border controls. The first enlargement project was approved by referendum in Basel in 1960 and, over the following decades, the terminals and runways were continually extended. The north–south runway was extended further to in 1972. In 1984, an annual total of 1 million passengers was reached. In 1987, the trademark name ''EuroAirport Basel–Mulhouse–Freiburg'' was introduced. In 1992 a total of 2 million passengers used the airport. By 1998, this number rose up to 3 million. In December 1998,

Swissair Swissair AG/ S.A. (German: Schweizerische Luftverkehr-AG; French: S.A. Suisse pour la Navigation Aérienne) was the national airline of Switzerland between its founding in 1931 and bankruptcy in 2002. It was formed from a merger between Bal ...

inaugurated service to

Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...

. Aircraft used on this route included Airbus A310s and A330s. According to the local newspaper ''bz Basel'', Swissair mainly launched the link to prevent another airline from starting it first. The newspaper was possibly referring to

Swiss World Airways Swiss World Airways was a short-lived Swiss airline headquartered in Geneva and operating out of Geneva Airport. It was founded in 1997 with the aim of operating on routes abandoned by Swissair, but closed in 1998 for financial reasons. An attempt ...

, which had expressed its desire to connect the two cities. Swiss law stipulated that if a carrier based in the country introduced a route, no other Swiss airline could add that route to its network for ten years. Swissair also hoped the flight would attract people working for pharmaceutical companies in Basel.

Crossair Crossair Ltd. Co. for Regional European Air Transport (german: Crossair AG für europäischen Regionalluftverkehr) was a regional airline headquartered on the grounds of EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg in Saint-Louis, Haut-Rhin, France, ne ...

, a subsidiary of Swissair, code-shared on the route. The carrier operated a hub at the EuroAirport, from which it flew to 40 regional destinations. As a result, passengers travelling between Newark and one of those cities could change planes in Basel.

Development in the 2000s

Swissair announced in early 2000 that the connection to Newark would conclude in March. By this point, Swiss World Airways had shut down. Swissair explained that the flights suffered from low occupancy, although a ''bz Basel'' journalist commented that the airline did not advertise them well. A decision was made to enlarge the terminals again with a new "Y-finger" dock. The first phase was completed in 2002 and the second phase in 2005. Crossair was the largest airline at the Basel airport. Following the

liquidation in 2001, the subsequent ending of services in early 2002, and the transformation of Crossair into

Swiss International Air Lines Swiss International Air Lines AG, colloquially known as SWISS, is the flag carrier of Switzerland, operating scheduled services in Europe and to North America, South America, Africa and Asia. Zurich Airport serves as its sole hub and Geneva ...

, the number of flights from Basel fell and the new terminal was initially underused. In 2004 the low-cost carrier

easyJet EasyJet plc (styled as easyJet) is a British multinational low-cost airline group headquartered at London Luton Airport. It operates domestic and international scheduled services on 927 routes in more than 34 countries via its affiliate airli ...

opened a base at Basel and the passenger totals rose again, reaching 4 million in 2006. From 2007 until 2009,

Ryanair Ryanair is an Irish ultra low-cost carrier founded in 1984. It is headquartered in Swords, Dublin, Ireland and has its primary operational bases at Dublin and London Stansted airports. It forms the largest part of the Ryanair Holdings family ...

also flew to the airport for the first time. However, as a result of a dispute over

landing fees A landing fee is a charge paid by an aircraft operator to an airport company for landing at a particular airport. Landing fees can vary greatly between airports, with congested airports, ones where most of the landing slots are held by airlines ...

, the airline closed all eight routes. More recently Ryanair announced it would return in April 2014, with the resumption of Basel–Dublin route as well as a short-lived revival of the Basel – London–Stansted route. Ryanair added a Basel-Zagreb route in December 2021. In May 2008,

Air Transat Air Transat is a Canadian airline based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1986, it is the country's third-largest airline behind Air Canada and WestJet, operating scheduled and charter flights serving 60 destinations in 25 countries. Air Transa ...

commenced seasonal service to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, Canada. In December 2014,

announced it would cease all operations at Basel by 31 May 2015 due to heavy competition from low-cost carriers. Swiss faced direct competition on five out of its six Basel routes, all of which were operated by

Swiss Global Air Lines Swiss Global Air Lines, known as Swiss European Air Lines until February 2015, was a Swiss airline and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Swiss International Air Lines. Like its parent, Swiss Global was part of the Star Alliance. It had its legal hea ...

. The

Lufthansa Group Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding ...

announced it would set up

Eurowings Eurowings GmbH is a German low-cost carrier headquartered in Düsseldorf and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group. Founded in 1996, it serves a network of domestic and European destinations and formerly also operated some long-haul ...

' first base outside Germany at the EuroAirport as a replacement. However these plans were later cancelled in favour of

Vienna International Airport Vienna International Airport (german: Flughafen Wien-Schwechat; ) is the international airport of Vienna, the capital of Austria, located in Schwechat, southeast of central Vienna and west of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. It is the co ...

. In January 2017, the removal of Basel/Mulhouse from

Air Berlin Air Berlin PLC & Co. Luftverkehrs KG (), branded as airberlin or airberlin.com was a major German airline. At its peak, it was Germany's second-largest airline, as well as Europe's tenth-largest airline in terms of passengers carried. It was h ...

and its Swiss subsidiary Belair's route networks was announced.

International status

EuroAirport is one of the few airports in the world operated jointly by two countries, in this case France and Switzerland. It is governed by a 1949 international convention. The headquarters of the airport's operations are located in

, France. The airport is located completely on French soil; it also has a Swiss customs border and is connected to the Swiss customs area by a -long customs-free road to Basel, allowing air travellers access into Switzerland bypassing French customs clearance. The airport is operated via a state treaty established in 1946 wherein the two countries (Switzerland and France) are granted access to the airport without any customs or other border restrictions. The airport's board has eight members each from France and Switzerland and two advisers from Germany. The airport building is split into two separate sections: Swiss and French. Though the entire airport is on French soil and under French jurisdiction, the Swiss authorities have the authority to apply Swiss laws regarding customs, medical services and police work in the Swiss section, including the customs road connecting Basel with the airport. French police are allowed to execute random checks in the Swiss section as well. With Switzerland joining the

Schengen Treaty The Schengen Agreement ( , ) is a treaty which led to the creation of Europe's Schengen Area, in which internal border checks have largely been abolished. It was signed on 14 June 1985, near the town of Schengen, Luxembourg, by five of the te ...

in March 2009, the air side was rearranged to include a Schengen and non-Schengen zone. As border control is staffed by both Swiss and French border officers, passengers arriving from non-Schengen countries must approach the customs office of the country for which they have received the Schengen entry visa, which is either France or Switzerland. On the other hand, the Schengen area can be left from any Schengen area country. Due to its international status, EuroAirport has three

IATA airport codes An IATA airport code, also known as an IATA location identifier, IATA station code, or simply a location identifier, is a three-character alphanumeric geocode designating many airports and metropolitan areas around the world, defined by the I ...

: BSL (Basel) is the Swiss code, MLH (Mulhouse) is the French code and EAP (EuroAirport) is the neutral code. Some booking systems show different ticket prices for flights to BSL and MLH, as one of them can be a domestic flight within France (with different rules on fuel taxation, etc.), and in some cases, tickets can be issued where a “flight” between BSL and MLH is shown on the itinerary. The airport's

ICAO airport code The ICAO airport code or location indicator is a four-letter code designating aerodromes around the world. These codes, as defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization and published in ICAO Document 7910: ''Location Indicators'', ...

is LFSB. LSZM, the old code, has been re-assigned to the airport of

Mollis Mollis is a former municipality in the canton of Glarus in Switzerland. Effective from 1 January 2011, Mollis is part of the municipality of Glarus Nord. History Mollis is first mentioned in 1288. Geography Mollis has an area, , of . Of this ...

. In 2020, a French court decided that job contracts on the airport are governed by French labor laws, not Swiss ones. Basing on a 2012 agreement, the Swiss companies active on the airport have used Swiss labor regulations, which are more employer-friendly than the French ones. For example, the Swiss laws made it easier to dismiss workers, while the French rules prescribe a 35-hour week, earlier retirement, and much higher compensations in case of dismissals. In exchange, working under Swiss laws results in much higher wages.

Terminal

The EuroAirport consists of a single terminal building, a brick-style main area with four levels and the Y-shaped gate area attached to it. The basement (''Level 1'') contains the access to the car park, the ground level (''Level 2'') features the arrivals facilities. ''Level 3'' is the check-in area divided into halls 1–4 while the departure gates are located at ''Level 4''. The gate area features gates 1–2, 20–46, 60–61 and 78–87 of which gates 22–32 are used for non-Schengen flights. Six of the boarding gates feature jet bridges, the others are used for walk- or bus-boarding. As described above, the landside areas are uniquely divided into French and Swiss parts.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

The following airlines offer regular scheduled and charter flights at the EuroAirport:

Cargo

Statistics

Passenger numbers

Route statistics

Other facilities

Swiss International Air Lines, EuroAirport

* The headquarters of

and

are on the grounds at EuroAirport Basel–Mulhouse–Freiburg in the Swiss section of the airport; even though the airport is within France, the Swiss head office is only accessible from Switzerland. The Swiss division ''Swiss Aviation Software'' has its head office there as well. *

Farnair Switzerland ASL Airlines Switzerland AG was a Swiss passenger charter and freight airline. The airline operated package delivery services from its base at EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg throughout Europe, in addition to transport for the Swiss Armed Fo ...

formerly had its head office at EuroAirport. As in the case of the Swiss head office, the area with the former Farnair head office may only be accessed from Switzerland. The head office moved to its current location, the Villa Guggenheim in

, in proximity to EuroAirport, on 1 October 2011. *

Hello ''Hello'' is a salutation or greeting in the English language. It is first attested in writing from 1826. Early uses ''Hello'', with that spelling, was used in publications in the U.S. as early as the 18 October 1826 edition of the ''Norwich C ...

, a now defunct Swiss airline, had its head office in the General Aviation area of EuroAirport. * Prior to the formation of Swiss International Air Lines, the regional airline

was headquartered on the grounds of EuroAirport. Prior to its dissolution,

Crossair Europe Crossair Europe (European Continental Airways) was an airline headquartered on the grounds of EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg in Saint-Louis, Haut Rhin, France, near Basel, Switzerland. It operated scheduled services to destinations in Italy ...

was headquartered on the grounds of EuroAirport as well.

Ground transportation

Car

The airport is connected to motorway A3 which leads from Basel to the southeast of Switzerland passing

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

Bus

There are several bus connections to and from the EuroAirport to all three countries around it: *On the Swiss exit Basel's BVB bus No. 50 connects the airport to the

Basel SBB railway station Basel SBB railway station (german: Bahnhof Basel SBB, or in earlier times ''Centralbahnhof'' or ''Schweizer Bahnhof'') is the central railway station in the city of Basel, Switzerland. Opened in 1854, and completely rebuilt in 1900–1907, it is E ...

, which is the main Swiss and French railway station in Basel. During weekdays, there is a service every 7–8 minutes and on weekends, every 10 minutes during daytime. The duration of the trip is about 20 minutes. On the day of a visitor's arrival to Basel, a reservation confirmation from a local hotel guarantees a free transfer by public transport from the station or the EuroAirport to the hotel. *On the French exit, Saint-Louis' DistriBus bus No. 11 connects the airport to the Saint-Louis railway station in 10 minutes. *The German private bus company Flixbus calls at Zürich, Basel and Freiburg Germany up to five times a day. FlixBus however only serves the French exit of the airport. Serving Swiss destinations from the French part of the airport is a questionable legal trick, as people transport by foreign companies inside of Switzerland is illegal without official authorization due to

cabotage Cabotage () is the transport of goods or passengers between two places in the same country. It originally applied to shipping along coastal routes, port to port, but now applies to aviation, railways, and road transport as well. Cabotage rights ar ...

regulations, which will not be granted by Swiss authorities on routes already supported by tax-financed public services. It's illegal to travel between Swiss destinations only. Police started to do random checks and to fine failing travelers. Serving Swiss destinations from abroad however is compliant.

Rail

As of 2021, the closest train station is the Saint-Louis-la-Chaussée station, some north of the terminal. There are plans to build a dedicated

airport rail link An airport rail link is a service providing passenger rail transport from an airport to a nearby city by mainline or commuter trains, rapid transit, people mover, or light rail. Direct links operate straight to the airport terminal, while o ...

opening some time in the 2020s.

Tram

There are two town tramway systems in relatively close proximity to the airport - Basel tramway and

Mulhouse tramway The Mulhouse tramway (french: Tramway de Mulhouse; gsw-FR, D'Strossabàhn Milhüsa) is a tram network in the French city of Mulhouse in Alsace, France. It commenced service in 2006, and now comprises three purely tram lines, plus one hybrid t ...

. As the former was extended across the border in the 2010s, there are plans to further extend it to serve the airport. Presently, the tramway serves St Louis SNCF Station, where you can change for the shuttle bus to the airport. Plans to extend the Mulhouse tramway to the airport do seem to be further from realization, however.

Notes

References

External links

* * * * * * "Franco-Swiss treaty for the construction and use of Basel–Mulhouse airport in Blotzheim" (1949). Text available i
French
an

History of Basel Airport on Airport Website

Information and some history on Airport Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Euroairport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg Airports in Grand Est Buildings and structures in Haut-Rhin Mulhouse Transport in Freiburg im Breisgau France–Switzerland border crossings Airports established in 1946 Binational airports 1946 establishments in Switzerland