Airport Altenrhein-St.Gallen
- URL: Official website
- Time zone: GMT 1
- Service telephone: +41 71 858 51 60
- Address: Airport Altenrhein, Flughafenstr 11, CH 9423 Altenrhein
- Operating company: Airport Altenrhein AG
- Parking: Yes; paid, about 320 short and long term spaces.
- Nearby cities: Zürich (77 km)
- Directions by car: A1 Zürich-Winterthur to exit Rheineck-Thal and then follow the signs to the airport.
- Stations: Head for Rorschach or Rheineck stations. The airport is only very few km from here.
- Flight distribution on the days of the week: Monday (15.57%), Tuesday (21.23%), Wednesday (24.53%), Thursday (24.06%), Friday (8.49%), Saturday (0.47%), Sunday (5.66%)
- Alternative spelling: Altenrhein, St. Gallen, San Galo, San Gallo, São Galo, Санкт-Галлен, Санкт-Гален, Σανκτ Γκάλεν, سنگلان, سانت جالن, סנט גאלן, სანქტ-გალენი, गालन कैन्टन, 장크트갈렌 주, 聖加侖州, ザンクト・ガレン州, ซังท์ เลิน
Location
The airport is about 20 km or 14 miles north east of St. Gallen. Motorists please use the highway 1 to exit Rheineck or the national carriageway 7/13.
History
Air transport in St.Gallen-Altenrhein began in 1926, when the former aeroplane builder, Claude Dornier, decided to build an aeroplane near Altenrhein and then needed a runway for his flight attempts. The administration at the time decided to allow him the use of a 600 m long grass piste from which, until the beginning of WW2, scheduled flights to Basel, Dübendorf, Innsbruck and Munich were started. After World War II air traffic was temporarily suspended until 1954, which is when, due to the increase in air traffic in Switzerland, the decision was made to tarmac the runway and extend it to 1200 m. The runway was lengthened in the summer of 1979 to its present length of 1500 m. In the mid-eighties the private airline Rheintalflug Seewald GmbH requested permission to schedule regular flights to Vienna from Altenrhein. Permission was granted in 1988, but as the airport then no longer complied with international standards, the entire infrastructure of the airport had to be completely modernised in 1991. In the summer of the same year the airport was reopened with a route to Vienna. Further modernisation to todays standards then took place between 2001 and 2002.