Sion Airport
Sion Airport Aéroport de Sion | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| File:Aerial image of the Sion airport.jpg | |||||||||||||||
| Summary | |||||||||||||||
| Serves | Sion, Switzerland | ||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 483 m / 1,585 ft | ||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found. | ||||||||||||||
| Website | sionairport | ||||||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||||||
| Lua error in Module:Location_map at line 411: Malformed coordinates value. | |||||||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| Statistics (2024) | |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| 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
[edit | edit source]The following airlines operate seasonal and seasonal charter flights at Sion Airport:[5]
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Air Mountain | Seasonal: Alghero,[citation needed] Calvi,[citation needed] Figari,[citation needed] Saint-Tropez,[citation needed] Southampton[citation needed] |
| Helvetic Airways | Seasonal: Palma de Mallorca[6] |
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
[edit | edit source]Below are the statistics since 2015 according to Sion Airport's Website[7]
| Year | Flights (Movements) | Passengers |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 41,965 | 31,842 |
| 2023 | 41,925 | 35,929 |
| 2022 | 43,586 | 35,929 |
| 2021 | 41,857 | 25,970 |
| 2020 | 37,348 | 21,698 |
| 2019 | 38,088 | 25,992 |
| 2018 | 41,072 | 32,794 |
| 2017 | 41,218 | 32,477 |
| 2016 | 36,346 | 25,803 |
| 2015 | 40,242 | 32,550 |
Planned Development
[edit | edit source]To increase regional tourism and economy, the Canton of Valais released a proposed legislation in early 2024 for the Airport. The plan proposed the complete restructuring of the Airport's management and increasing the charter and seasonal flights it operates. It included the creation of a new public-majority company to manage all of the airport's operations.[8] Following a period of consultation, the canton announced on the 27th of March 2024 that it would not follow the draft law. As a consequence, the existing concession held by the City of Sion will remain in effect until 2031, with no immediate reform or expansion project in the works.[9] As of October 2025, Sion Airport still holds some commercial flight. It has been identified as a potential site for sustainable aviation initiatives which include projects with companies like H55 and research institutions such as EPFL and HES-SO.[10]
Military usage
[edit | edit source]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.[11]
See also
[edit | edit source]References
[edit | edit source]- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Priceline Archived 2008-05-04 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Piste25
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
Notes
[edit | edit source]External links
[edit | edit source]Error creating thumbnail: File missing Media related to Lua error in Module:Commons_link at line 62: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). at Wikimedia Commons
Lua error in mw.title.lua at line 392: bad argument #2 to 'title.new' (unrecognized namespace name 'Portal').
Lua error in Module:Authority_control at line 153: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).