EuroAirport Basel–Mulhouse–Freiburg

EuroAirport Basel–Mulhouse–Freiburg Aéroport de Bâle-Mulhouse Flughafen Basel-Mülhausen
IATA: BSL, MLH – ICAO: LFSB
Summary
Airport type		Public
Serves		Basel, Switzerland Mulhouse, France Freiburg, Germany
Location		Saint-Louis, France
Hub for		easyJet Switzerland
Elevation AMSL		885 ft / 270 m
Coordinates		47°35′24″N 007°31′45″E / 47.59000°N 7.52917°E / 47.59000; 7.52917Coordinates: 47°35′24″N 007°31′45″E / 47.59000°N 7.52917°E / 47.59000; 7.52917
Website		www.euroairport.com
Map
LFSB Location of airport in Alsace region Location of Alsace region in France
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	m	ft
15/33	3,900	12,795	Concrete
08/26	1,820	5,971	Concrete
Statistics (2013)
Passengers			5,880,771
Freight (tons)			94,000
Aircraft Movements			87,319
Sources: French AIP,[1] airport website[2][3] and French AIP at EUROCONTROL[4]

EuroAirport Basel–Mulhouse–Freiburg (IATA: BSL, MLH, ICAO: LFSB) is an international airport 6 km (3.7 mi) northwest of Basel (Switzerland), 22 km (14 mi) southeast^[4] of Mulhouse (France), and 70 km (43 mi) south of Freiburg im Breisgau (Germany).^[4] It is located in France, on the administrative territory of the commune of Saint-Louis near the Swiss and German borders.

International status

EuroAirport is one of the few airports in the world operated jointly by two countries, in this case France and Switzerland. It is governed by a 1949 international convention. The headquarters of the airport's operations are located in Blotzheim, France.^[5] The airport is located completely on French soil; the airport has a Swiss customs area connected to Basel by a border road.^[6] The airport is operated via an agreement established in 1946 wherein the two countries (Switzerland and France) are granted access to the airport without any customs or other border restrictions. The airport's board has 8 members each from France and Switzerland and two advisers from Germany.^[7]

The airport building is split into two separate sections – Swiss and French. With Switzerland joining the Schengen Treaty in March 2009, the air side was rearranged to include a Schengen and non-Schengen zone.^[8]

Due to its international status, EuroAirport has three IATA airport codes: BSL (Basel) is the Swiss code,^[9] MLH (Mulhouse) is the French code,^[10] and EAP (EuroAirport) is the international code.^[11] Its ICAO airport code is LFSB.^[1] Geneva International Airport has a similar international status (though without the multiple IATA codes).

History

Plans for the construction of a joint Swiss-French airport started in the 1930s, but were halted by the Second World War.

In 1946 talks resumed and it was agreed that an airport would be built 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) north of Blotzheim, France. France would provide the land and the Swiss canton of Basel-Stadt would cover the construction costs. Basel-Stadt's Grand Council agreed to pay the costs for a provisional airport even before an international treaty was signed (which was not until 1949). Construction began on 8 March 1946 and a provisional airport with a 1,200-metre (3,900 ft) runway was officially opened on 8 May.

Between autumn 1951 and spring 1953, the east–west runway was extended to 1,600 metres (5,200 ft) and the "Zollfreistrasse" (customs-free road) was constructed, allowing access from Basel to the departure terminal without passing through French border controls.

The first enlargement project was approved by referendum in Basel in 1960 and, over the following decades, the terminals and runways were continually extended. The north–south runway was extended further to 3,900 metres (12,800 ft) in 1972. In 1984, an annual total of 1 million passengers was reached.

In 1987, the trademark name EuroAirport Basel–Mulhouse–Freiburg was introduced.^[12] In 1992 a total of 2 million passengers were served; by 1998, 3 million. A decision was made to enlarge the terminals again with a new "Y-finger" dock. The first phase was completed in 2002 and the second phase in 2005.

Crossair was based at Basel and was its largest airline. Following the Swissair liquidation in 2001, the subsequent ending of services in early 2002, and the transformation of Crossair into Swiss International Air Lines, the number of flights from Basel fell and the new terminal was initially underused. In 2004 the low cost carrier EasyJet opened a base at Basel and the passenger totals rose again, reaching 4 million in 2006.

From 2007 until 2009, Ryanair also flew to the airport. However as result of a dispute over landing fees, the airline closed all 8 routes.^[13] More recently Ryanair announced it would return in April 2014, with the resumption of Basel - Dublin as well as the new route Basel - London-Stansted.

Airlines and destinations

A Air Berlin Airbus A319-100 at the EuroAirport

A TUIfly Boeing 737-800 at the EuroAirport

A easyJet Airbus A319-100 at the EuroAirport

A KLM Cityhopper Fokker 70 at the EuroAirport

A Aigle Azur Airbus A320-200 at the EuroAirport

Passenger

Cargo

Ground transport

Location of the airport relative to Basel

Car

The airport is connected to motorway A3 which leads from Basel to the southeast of Switzerland passing Zürich.

Bus

There are several bus connections to and from the EuroAirport to all three countries around it:

• Basel's BVB bus No. 50 connects the Swiss sector of the airport to the Bahnhof SBB, which is the main Swiss and French railway station in Basel. During weekdays, there is a service every 7–8 minutes and on weekends, every 10 minutes during daytime. The duration of the trip is about 20 minutes. On the day of a visitor's arrival to Basel, a reservation confirmation from a local hotel guarantees a free transfer by public transport from the station or the EuroAirport to the hotel.^[18]
• French Distribus bus No. 11 connects the French sector of the airport to the Saint-Louis railway station.
• Freiburger-Reisedienst AirportBus connects the French sector of the airport to Freiburg Central bus station in Germany.

Other facilities

Swiss International Air Lines is headquartered on the grounds of EuroAirport Basel–Mulhouse–Freiburg in the Swiss section of the airport; even though the airport is within France, the Swiss head office is only accessible from Switzerland.^[19][20] The Swiss division Swiss Aviation Software has its head office there,^[21] Hello, a now defunct Swiss airline, had its head office in the General Aviation area of EuroAirport.^[22]

Prior to the formation of Swiss International Air Lines, the regional airline Crossair was headquartered on the grounds of EuroAirport.^[23] Prior to its dissolution, Crossair Europe was headquartered on the grounds of EuroAirport.^[24] The airline Farnair Switzerland formerly had its head office at EuroAirport. As in the case of the Swiss head office, the area with the former Farnair head office may only be accessed from Switzerland.^[25] The head office moved to its current location, the Villa Guggenheim in Allschwil, in proximity to EuroAirport, on 1 October 2011.^[26]

See also

• Mulhouse–Habsheim Airport

References

External links

Media related to EuroAirport at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website (English) (French) (German)
• Aeronautical chart for LFSB at SkyVector
• Current weather for LFSB at NOAA/NWS
• Accident history for BSL at Aviation Safety Network
• Accident history for MLH at Aviation Safety Network

v t e Airports in France Major international Lyon Marseille Nice Paris-Orly Paris-Charles de Gaulle Toulouse Minor international Ajaccio Angers Avignon Basel–Mulhouse–Freiburg Bastia Beauvais Bergerac Béziers Biarritz Bordeaux Brest Brive Calvi Carcassonne Chambéry Clermont-Ferrand Deauville Dinard Dole Figari Grenoble La Rochelle Lille Limoges Metz/Nancy Montpellier Nantes Nîmes Perpignan Poitiers Quimper Rennes Rodez Saint-Étienne Strasbourg Tarbes/Lourdes Toulon Tours Domestic Agen Annecy Aurillac Caen Castres Épinal Île d'Yeu Lannion Le Havre Le Puy Lorient Pau Périgueux Unscheduled Abbeville Angoulême Bourg Cannes Chalon Châteauroux Cherbourg Moulins Pontoise Rouen Saint-Tropez Troyes Villefranche

v t e Airports in Switzerland Major international Basel–Mulhouse–Freiburg Geneva Zurich Minor international Bern Lugano Sion St. Gallen–Altenrhein Unscheduled Grenchen Lausanne Samedan