The Regional Aerodrome

Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...

Belp Belp is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is close to Bern's Belp Airport. The municipality of Belpberg merged on 1 January 2012 into the municipality of Belp.

, marketed as ''Bern Airport'',, french: Aéroport de Berne, it, Aeroporto di Berna, rm, Eroport da Berna officially referred to as in German, is a regional

aerodrome An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publi ...

serving

, the de facto capital of

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 ...

. The aerodrome is located within the town limits of

, 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. It was the home base of now defunct

SkyWork Airlines SkyWork Airlines was a Swiss airline with its head office in Belp near Bern and its base at Bern Airport. It primarily operated scheduled flights to destinations across Europe, with additional charter operations throughout the summer months. The a ...

whose grounding caused the aerodrome to lose more than 1/3 of its turnover. Currently the charter operator

Helvetic Airways Helvetic Airways (Previously Odette Airways) is a Swiss regional airline headquartered in Kloten with its fleet stationed at Zurich Airport. It operates flights to destinations in Europe and Northern Africa, mainly leisure markets, on its own beh ...

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. 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 Zürich Airport (), french: Aéroport de Zurich, it, Aeroporto di Zurigo, rm, Eroport da Turitg is the largest international airport of Switzerland and the principal hub of Swiss International Air Lines. It serves Zürich, Switzerland's l ...

, 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. 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 Kallnach (french: Chouchignies) is a municipality in the Seeland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2019 the former municipality of Golaten merged into the municipality of Kallnach. History Kallnach is ...

. In December 2016,

bmi regional Flybmi, styled as flybmi, legally British Midland Regional Limited and formerly branded as bmi Regional, was a British regional airline that operated scheduled passenger services across the UK and Europe. The head office of the airline was ...

ceased its flights from

Munich Airport Munich International Airport- Franz Josef Strauß (german: link=no, Flughafen München) is an international airport serving Munich and Upper Bavaria. It is the second-busiest airport in Germany in terms of passenger traffic after Frankfurt A ...

to Bern after two years which it served in direct competition with

. In May 2018,

RUAG RUAG Holding (originally Rüstungs Unternehmen Aktiengesellschaft; Joint Stock Defence Company) is a Swiss company specialising in aerospace engineering and the defence industry. Its headquarters are located in Bern, while it also has numerous ...

announced that it would close its operation at the aerodrome in September 2018, citing declining business. In August 2018, the aerodrome's largest carrier

declared

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debto ...

and ceased all operations leaving

as the sole Swiss airline serving the aerodrome with 84 percent less traffic. Since then however,

Chair Airlines Chair Airlines AG, branded as chair and formerly named ''Germania Flug'', is a Swiss airline headquartered in Glattbrugg in Greater Zurich and based at Zürich Airport. History Germania Flug The airline was founded in August 2014, in coopera ...

, also a Swiss Airline, has begun offering services to the airport.

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 The Schengen Area ( , ) is an area comprising 27 European countries that have officially abolished all passport and all other types of border control at their mutual borders. Being an element within the wider area of freedom, security and ...

in 2011. The ''Biderhangar'', one of the aerodrome's

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

s 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 Heliswiss AG is a Swiss helicopter company with headquarters on the property of Bern Airport in Belp, Switzerland, near Bern. History Heliswiss - the oldest helicopter company in Switzerland - was founded as „Heliswiss Schweizerische Helikop ...

. Previously the North Terminal housed the head office of

Other usage

The aircraft of the air transport service of the

Swiss Air Force The Swiss Air Force (german: Schweizer Luftwaffe; french: Forces aériennes suisses; it, Forze aeree svizzere; rm, Aviatica militara svizra) is the air component of the Swiss Armed Forces, established on 31 July 1914 as a part of the army an ...

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 The Beechcraft King Air is a line of American utility aircraft produced by Beechcraft. The King Air line comprises a number of twin-turboprop models that have been divided into two families. The Model 90 and 100 series developed in the 1960s ...

are not usually used for VIP flights, but for the passenger transport as well as for the country's topography service. The

Beechcraft 1900 The Beechcraft 1900 is a 19-passenger, pressurized twin-engine turboprop regional airliner manufactured by Beechcraft. It is also used as a freight aircraft and corporate transport, and by several governmental and military organizations. With ...

is also used by the country's topography service for the same tasks. The two jets are a Dassault Falcon 900 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 The Eurocopter EC145 (now Airbus Helicopters H145) is a twin-engine light utility helicopter developed and manufactured by Airbus Helicopters. Originally designated as the ''BK 117'', the H145 is based upon the MBB/Kawasaki BK 117 C1, which b ...

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines currently offer seasonal and seasonal charter flights at Bern Airport:bernairport.ch - Destinationen
retrieved 14 November 2021

Statistics

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 Rubigen is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. History Rubigen is first mentioned in 1267 as ''Rubingen''. The oldest traces of a settlement in the area include scattered neolithi ...

and

Münsingen Münsingen (Highest Alemannic: ''Münsige'') is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2013 the former municipality of Trimstein merged into Münsingen, and on 1 January ...

(connection to S-Bahn trains S1).

References

Notes

External links

Official website
*

* ttp://www.biderhangar.ch Biderhangar website {{Authority control Airport Bern-Belp Airports in Switzerland Transport in Bern Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Bern Military airbases in Switzerland