Lausanne Airport,, german: Flughafen Lausanne, it, Aeroporto di Losanna also known as Lausanne-Blécherette Airport,, german: Flugplatz Lausanne-La Blécherette is a small civil airport located in the north of

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR ...

, Switzerland. It has no scheduled commercial traffic and is used for general aviation. It also serves as a base for Swiss rescue services.

History

The city established a runway in 1910. Henri Speckner was the first pilot to land here. A year later it created one of the first civil airports in Switzerland around the runway. A hangar for maintenance of aircraft was built west of the

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concre ...

in 1914, next to a farm. Due to increased usage of the airport another one was built in 1922. Since 1933 operations have been controlled by Aéroport de la région lausannoise "La Blécherette" S.A. At the close of

World War II 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 opposing ...

, Lausanne's municipal government made plans to develop a proper regional airport for the city. Blécherette was deemed unfit for such development and thus provision was made to expand the nearby field in Écublens and dispose of Blécherette. However, efforts to begin such development ultimately failed to materialize and Ecublens fell out of use, leaving Lausanne-Blécherette as the only remaining operational airport for the city. The nearest airport with scheduled service is

Geneva Airport Geneva Airport ,, german: Flughafen Genf, it, Aeroporto di Ginevra, rm, Eroport de Genevra formerly and still unofficially known as Cointrin Airport, is the international airport of Geneva, the second most populous city in Switzerland. It i ...

, which is connected to Lausanne via rail.

Infrastructure

Facilities

The airport features two maintenance hangars as well as a main building containing a restaurant. There is also a

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton Factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the Boeing 707, 7 ...

simulator available.

Runway

In May 2000 the grass runway was replaced by a paved one (36/18). The runway has a slope, which means the maximum length for takeoff/landing varies depending on the directionDiagram of slope
/ref> between 775 and 805 m.

Ground transportation

Lausanne Airport can be reached via the A9 motorway or public bus lines 1 and 21 of

Transports publics de la région lausannoise Transports publics de la région lausannoise, often abbreviated simply to TL, are the main operator of public transport in Lausanne and the wider agglomeration. As of 2012, TL operates a network of 10 trolleybus routes, 25 conventional bus route ...

. By car it's a ten-minute drive from the city center.

References

Notes

External links

Official website
{{authority control Airports in Switzerland Buildings and structures in Lausanne Transport in Lausanne