Website www.bazl.admin.ch | ||
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Formed 1920; 97 years ago (1920) (renamed in 1979) Jurisdiction Federal administration of Switzerland Minister responsible Doris Leuthard, Federal Councillor Parent agency Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications | ||
The Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA, German: Bundesamt für Zivilluftfahrt; French: Office fédéral de l'aviation civile; Italian: Ufficio federale dell'aviazione civile) is the Swiss civil aviation agency, a division of the Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications. Its head office is in Bern, and it has an office at Zurich Airport.
It is within the Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications responsible for the regulation and oversight of civil aviation. This includes personnel (air traffic controllers and pilots, among others), aircraft (including hot air balloons) and infrastructure (mainly airports).
In addition, FOCA supports the international contacts of Switzerland in the field of aviation, such as the numerous air services agreements with other states. The FOCA also issues permits for hazardous shipments by air, this concerns mainly chemical hazardous substances such as ammunition, as well as biological or radioactive cargo. These authorizations are communicated to the Swiss Air Force which then monitors the corresponding flight in Swiss airspace with the FLORAKO air surveillance system. FOCA is also the contact point for the embassies of other nations, if they want to use Swiss airspace with a State aircraft. The Air Force modified all-diplomatic clearance requests that are filed outside the opening times of the FOCA.
In 2004 FOCA had a budget of 75 million Swiss francs and had 194 employees. The headquarters of the FOCA is located together with the Federal Office of Transport, Federal Office of Energy, and the Federal Roads in the Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications building in the Bern suburb of Ittigen.
Aircraft of FOCA
FOCA operates the federal government fleet of civil aircraft, based at Bern Airport.
In order to maintain independence in investigations relating to incidents in the aviation sector, the Air Accident Investigation Bureau is not part of FOCA. In November 2011 the Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Investigation (BFU) and the investigative body for trains and ships (UUS) were merged, forming the Swiss Accident Investigation Branch (SUST). FOCA operates the aircraft of SUST, based at Payerne Airport.