Bern Airport

History

The airport 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 airport's operator, supported by subsidies of the cantonal and city government. A planned expansion of the airport 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 - Bern Airport.

Multiple attempts to build an international airport in or around Bern instead of the small regional airport at Belpmoos failed. In 1945, the national parliament decided to build the first international airport, now Zürich Airport, 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.

In December 2016, bmi regional ceased its flights from Munich Airport to Bern after two years which it served in direct competition with SkyWork Airlines.

Facilities

The airport 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), a heli-square, and a glider area. Runway 14 has an ILS approach and an NDB approach. The existing terminal was expanded to better accommodate flights to the non-Schengen area in 2011. Planned development includes new taxiways and a new parking area.

The Biderhangar, one of the airport's hangars built by Swiss aviation pioneer Oskar Bider, is listed as a heritage site of national significance. The airport also houses the head office of Heliswiss. Previously the North Terminal housed the head office of SkyWork Airlines.

Other usage

The aircraft of the air transport service of the Swiss Air Force are stationed at Bern Airport. These are two jets and two turboprops. The former ones are mainly used for VIP transport and particularly the transport of members of the Bundesrat. 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 are not usually used for VIP flights, but for the passenger transport as well as for the country's topography service. The Beechcraft 1900 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, which offer up to seats for VIPs.

Additionally, Bern Airport 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.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines offer regular scheduled and charter flights at Bern Airport:

^1 SkyWork Airlines flights to Heringsdorf, Jersey and Sylt are partly operated with an intermediate stop in Basel/Mulhouse. However, SkyWork does not sell tickets on the Swiss domestic sector.

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 and Münsingen (connection to S-Bahn trains S1).