EuroAirport - Serving the needs of the RegioTriRhena

In 2006, EuroAirport celebrated its 60th Anniversary

"The Blotzheim miracle" is sixty years old. The first Basel-Mulhouse airport infrastructure was constructed within two months and inaugurated on 8th May, 1946, after the first civilian aircraft had landed there a few days before on 2nd May.

The Basel-Mulhouse airport, known under its trademark EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg, has a trinational vocation and as such is a symbol for the international co-operation which became absolutely vital after the Second World War.

Plans for the Basel-Mulhouse Airport, however, go back even further to the 1930s when the authorities of the Basel-City and Basel-County Cantons realized that the Basel-Sternenfeld airfield would soon become too small due to the increase in air traffic and the use of new planes like the DC3.

At that time the French government had given the go-ahead for a project on the border between Allschwil and Burgfelden. But once the Second World War broke out, negotiations were suspended.

They were resumed in May 1945 and eventually led to a basic agreement according to which France was to provide the land and Switzerland to build the runways and airport buildings. Without waiting for the signing of the Swiss-French treaty on 4th July, 1949 in Berne, the authorities decided to start building the first provisional infrastructure.

In the following years they pressed ahead with the extension of the airport. In 1951/52 the Swiss duty-free road connecting Basel city directly to the airport was built, in December 1952 the 1,600 m long east/west runway was completed and a year later the 2,370 m long main north/south runway was put into operation. After the runways and air traffic control equipment had been provided, the major buildings were erected: the airport buildings were completed in 1966, the cargo warehouses were put into operation in May 1970 and on 27th June, 1970 the "finished" airport was inaugurated.

Important milestones - history

1946 - After two months of building, the provisional airport is inaugurated
1949 - Franco-Swiss treaty signed in Berne
1952 - Opening of toll-free road between Basel and the airport
1966 - Completion of hangars with workshops and office wing
1970 - Inauguration of the passenger terminal with a capacity of 1 million passengers per year

1978 - Extension of the main runway to 3,900 m
1984 - The airport passes the 1-million-passenger mark for the first time
1987 - Launch of the EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg brand
1992 - The airport passes the 2-million-passenger mark for the first time
1996 - Award as Europe’s best regional airport
1998 - 3-Million-passenger mark passed for the first time
1999 - Foundation stone laid for new finger dock
2002 - Inauguration of the North Passenger Terminal
2005 - Inauguration of the South Passenger Terminal
2006 - 4 Million passengers for the first time, green light for expansion of the south zone

EuroAirport today

The extremely convenient location of EuroAirport at the heart of Western Europe and at the crossroads of three economically thriving regions (Alsace, North West Switzerland and Baden-Württemberg) explains the airport’s success. EuroAirport is the best equipped airport on the Upper Rhine and thanks to its infrastructure can cope with any kind of traffic.

4.3 million passengers have used EuroAirport in 2007. The scheduled flight network includes 62 airports in around 30 different countries that are usually flown to directly at least once every day without having to change. There are a total of 20 daily flights to Paris, London and Berlin.

The approximately 70 daily scheduled flights are handled by 20 different airlines at EuroAirport. easyJet, Air France, Lufthansa and their members in the Star Alliance Swiss International Air Lines, Austrian Airlines and SAS followed by British Airways are market leaders. The presence of the world’s leading alliances Star Alliance, SkyTeam and oneworld means that the customer has excellent connections to all major European hubs and from there to a wide range of intercontinental destinations.

EuroAirport is not just a gateway to the world, but also a gateway to the trinational region for all those who visit. In 2006 around 230,000 tourists passed through EuroAirport, an increase of 28% over the previous year. This potential can be further developed by specific regional tourism promotion.

Network

Outlook for the future

The offer of flights at EuroAirport will continue to develop – the future lies in extending the eastern European connections, optimising the range of traditional business destinations and holiday flights as well as in diversifying the choice of flights through attracting additional airline companies.

In order to support this further development, EuroAirport is planning to construct new shops and car parks. The airport is also striving to optimize its accessibility via public transport with the promotion of a direct rail link.