Sion Airport

Sion Airport

Aéroport de Sion
Summary
ServesSion, Switzerland
Elevation AMSL483 m / 1,585 ft
Coordinates46°13′10.53″N 7°19′36.35″E / 46.2195917°N 7.3267639°E / 46.2195917; 7.3267639
Websitesionairport.ch
Map
SIR is located in Switzerland
SIR
SIR
Location of airport in Switzerland
Map
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
07R/25L 6,562 2,000 Asphalt
07L/25R 1,820 555 Grass
Statistics (2022)
Total passengers35,929
Aircraft operations43,586
Source: Statistics from Sion Airport.[1]

Sion Airport[a] (IATA: SIR, ICAO: LSGS) (Military: LSMS) is the airport of the city of Sion, Switzerland[2] and is located 2.5 km southwest of Sion city in the Rhone Valley.[3] The airport opened in 1935.[4]

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate seasonal and seasonal charter flights at Sion Airport:[5]

AirlinesDestinations
Air Mountain Seasonal: Alghero,[6] Calvi, Figari, Rome–Fiumicino, Saint-Tropez
Helvetic Airways Seasonal charter: Palma de Mallorca[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.

Statistics

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

Annual passenger traffic at SIR airport. See Wikidata query.

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).

Due to the redimension of the Swiss Air Force, it was planned that the Air Force would leave Sion after 2017 and Sion would be used by civil aviation only, acting only as alternate airfield for the Air Force.[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Kennzahlen und Karte" [Key figures and map]. sionaeroport.ch (in Swiss High German). Sion Flughafen. Retrieved 2023-02-07.
  2. ^ Priceline Archived 2008-05-04 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Piste25
  4. ^ "About Us". Sion Aeroport. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  5. ^ "Flights".
  6. ^ "Schedule - Air Mountain CH".
  7. ^ "Flights".
  8. ^ "Figures and Maps". Sion Aeroport. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  9. ^ Martino, Mirko (17 September 2015). ""L'aviation militaire à Sion après 2017? Pas exclu"" (in French). 20Minuten. Retrieved 5 May 2021.

Notes

  1. ^ French: Aéroport de Sion, German: Flughafen Sitten, Italian: Aeroporto di Sion, Romansh: Eroport da Sion

Media related to Sion Airport at Wikimedia Commons