Airport Basel - Euroairport

Location
Opened in May 1946, the airport is located about 6 km or 4 miles west of downtown Basel and about 25 km or 18 miles southeast of Mulhouse and 70 km or 45 miles southwest of Freiburg, in the French department of Haut-Rhin in the municipality of Saint -Louis. It is the only airport in the world which is operated by two countries at the same time.

Motorists coming from France should use the A35 highway, exit "Aéroport". From the Swiss side, use the toll free section of the A35 Nordtangente to the airport. Alternatively the terminal building is accessible using the D105 and D201.

Between the airport and Basel railway station, the airport bus number 50 operates a regular service. From the French station of Saint-Louis, use the number 11 shuttle bus operated by Distribus. There are also regualr shuttle services to Mulhouse and Freiburg. All current timtables are available either locally or on the Internet.

History
Basel-Sternenfeld airport was in use between 1920-1953, and was the first airport in the city of Basel. After a successful flight over Switzerland on 21st June 1919 by the Swiss aviation pioneer Oskar Bider, which took off close to the Basel suburb of St. Jacob in Birs, higher Baseler circles had the idea of building an airship base in Basel. Some wealthy Basel individuals then founded the association „Aviatik beider Basel“ and organised flight days, combined with a lottery. Profits from the lottery were then used to purchase land near the Birsfelden and Rhine region - the area of Sternenfeld.

Only one year later, on 12th September 1920, the military and civilian airfield was officially opened. The idea of the lottery was used again in 1921 and 1923 to procure money for the high rent and to construct more buildings. During these years, air traffic in Sternenfeld developed slowly, only noticeably increasing in 1923 when the first British aircraft manufacturing company, "Handley Page Aircraft and Transport Company" operated passenger aircraft on the route from London via Paris and Geneva to Zurich three times a week. A little later, the Belgian airline Sabena followed suit with scheduled flights from Amsterdam via Brussels to Basel. In 1924, Sternenfeld was able to count a total of 4 scheduled flights to European cities. In 1925, the mayor Balz Zimmermann established an aviation company by the name of „Balair“ in Basel. The founder of the company made reference to the French word "Bâle" when choosing the company’s name (in German: Basel). The first flights operated were on the routes Basel to Freiburg and Mannheim. Due to its excellent location, Basel airport was already the most important and largest airport in Switzerland in 1930.
It had already become clear a few years earlier that the airport building in Basel was far too small for regular use by 7-9 airlines and the decision was taken to build a new airport building and some additional hangars. The first Swiss night landing station was already constructed at the airport. In the fateful year of 1929 the city of Basel claimed the land to build a power plant and a shipping lock in the area of the Birsfelder Rheinhafen. There followed a difficult and long search for a new suitable airfield. Until the outbreak of the Second World War there were several alternatives, at first the idea was to build the runway southeast of Basel on the Gempenplateau, but this idea was quickly abandoned. Then it was thought to relocate the flights between the communities of Reinach and Esch or somewhere between the mountain in Binninger Birsig Valley and the road to Oberwil-Neuweiler. However, in the end all these ideas were rejected. Until shortly before the outbreak of the war, passenger numbers at the airport increased. At that point in time it was the second most important airport in Switzerland, coming behind Zurich with 13 daily connections to other European countries. After the war, by lucky coincidence France offered Switzerland the opportunity to build a joint airport in the region between Blotzheim and St.Lois. Just one year later, on May 8, 1946 a provisional airfield with a steel plate runway was ready to use. Operations in Sternenfeld continued until 27 August 1950. Today, only houses and industrial plants are located on the former airport grounds.

The construction of the Euro-Airport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg began on 8 March 1946 and was officially opened on 8 May at very short notice. There had been plans to build a joint airport since the 1930s, as even then the grounds in Sternenfeld had become too small to handle the traffic volume and a joint airport project on the shared border between Allschwil and Burgfelden had been agreed with the French government. This joint plan was unfortunately interrupted for a few years at the outbreak of the second world War. In 1946, talks between the French and the Swiss were resumed and it was agreed that France provide the airport grounds while the Swiss take care of the rest. The Basel Canton council then decided to move the aircraft hangars from the site at Sternenfeld to the new grounds. Without a joint state agreement which was only concluded much later on 4th July 1949 in Bern, the joint administration decided to build temporary facilities. Only later, on 1 st September, did the Basel Canton give the official go-ahead for building the airport.

Between the autumn of 1951 and spring 1953, the east-west runway was extended to a total of 1600m and the Swiss toll road built to the departure terminal. During this building work, the decision was made by referendum in Basel on 14 June to expand the main North-South runway from 2000 m to 2370 m. After many successful years of passenger transport and several renovations, the departure terminal was officially inaugurated on 1st July 1959 after being expanded and for that time highly modernised.

Further expansion plans and positive figures meant that the council of Basel finally agreed to give a credit of 2.45 million Swiss francs to enable the airport to be further developed. The administration used the money to tarmac the runways, renew the tower and in 1963, to install an improved instrument landing system. When the airport was finally financially independent, a new three part Hangar complex was built, which was completed in 1966. The passenger terminal and freight halls were also renovated. Lighting was installed on the main runway, which was completed in 1970.

On 27th June 1970, the Euro Airport was officially inaugurated after a period of building work lasting almost 20 years. The state president attended the ceremony. Passenger volume increased almost at once after the opening ceremony and in the summer of the following year, more than 100,000 monthly passengers could be counted at the airport. Due to this increase in passenger numbers, only five years later in November 1976 there were considerations in Basel to extend the main runway to accommodate even larger passenger and cargo aircraft.

After two months on 26 January 1977, the Bundesrat agreed to co-finance the project with a total of 13.3 million Swiss francs. This contract work on the runway, which in the end measured a total of 3,900 m, lasted until 28 December 1978. In fiscal year 1984, the magic number of 1 million departing passengers was reached in Basel.

The 40th anniversary of the tri-national airport fell on May 8 1986. Due to an unexpectedly large crowd of visitors, there was some unrest and the airport road was closed entirely. A year later, the new and now legally protected name "Euro-Airport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg" was officially used. In 1992, after only 8 years of successful economic management, the number of passengers had doubled to a total of 2 million passengers. Due to the good infrastructure, the service and links with 3 countries, the airport received the award of best European regional airport. A year later, passengers numbers had further increased to a total of 3 million. Faced with continually increasing passenger numbers, the airport management decided to construct two further passenger terminals, which were opened in 2002 and 2005.
In the meantime, easyJet became the first low-cost carrier to operate flights from Basel on 28 March 2004 and signed a 10-year contract as part of the fee structure of the Euro-Airport management. The annual report of 2006 showed an increase in the number of passengers to 4 million, and 4.5 million passengers were expected for 2007. The network of flights in Basel includes more than 70 different airports to over 25 countries which are all served regularly and partly even daily.