EuroAirport - Serving the needs of the RegioTriRhena
With 8.6 million passengers in 2018 EuroAirport reached a new milestone in its history
History of the airport
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 cantons of Basel-Stadt and Baselland
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
DC-3.
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 had broken 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 customs-free road connecting Basel city
directly to the airport was built, in December 1952 the 1,600 meters
long east/west runway was completed and a year later the 2,370 meters
long main north/south runway was put into use. 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 became operational in May 1970 and on 27th June, 1970 the
then "finished" airport was inaugurated.
Since then the existing
infrastructure has been systematically expanded and rebuilt according to
need. In 1978 the main runway was extended to 3,900 meters in order to
allow unrestricted takeoff and landing by all types of aircraft. The
extension of the cross runway by 220 meters followed in 2001. In 1979-81
the cargo hall, including the office wing was enlarged. In 1988 a
provisional hall for the upcoming express and courier freight was added
and replaced by the final "West End" in 1996. The old cargo hall was replaced by a modern new freight terminal in zone 4 in the south
east of the airport in the year 2015. It is adapted to the needs of the local industry,
particularly pharmaceutical firms.
In the Passenger
Terminal in 1990 the departure halls were redesigned and further
aircraft bays leading directly to the terminal were created through the
addition of a finger dock. In 2000-2001 this finger dock was extended to
form the present Y-shaped dock with about 25 aircraft stands.
Similarly, in order to cope with the steadily increasing numbers of
passengers, the terminal was considerably enlarged and modernized on the
land side; at the end of 2002 the extension of the French part was
opened, followed by the Swiss part in the summer of 2005. The still
existing old middle part of the terminal was rebuilt by early 2013
and its appearance adapted to that of the modern new buildings;
the renewed Hall 2 in the French part already came into service again in
the summer of 2011.
Important milestones
1946 - After two months of building, the provisional airport is inaugurated1949 - 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
2008 - The south west "6bis" zone (aircraft maintenance and outfitting) with wide-body hangars became operational
2011 - 5 million passengers for the first time
2012 - Renovation of the old part of the Airport Terminal
2014 - The airport passes the 6-million-passenger mark for the first time
2015 - 7 million passengers for the first time; inauguration of the new Cargo Terminal
2017 - Inauguration of the new F4 multi-storey car park with 2,700 parking spaces
2018 - 8 million passengers for the first time
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.
8.6 million passengers have used EuroAirport in 2018.
The scheduled flight network includes around 100 airports in more than 30 different countries. Normally they can
be reached directly every day or at least several times a week without
changing.
At EuroAirport more than 25 different airlines handle
approximately 100-120 daily scheduled flights. The market leaders are
easyJet and Wizz Air, followed by Lufthansa, TUIfly, Air France and British Airways. The
presence of the leading international airline alliances Star Alliance,
SkyTeam and oneworld, which offer connections to their hubs in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Munich, Düsseldorf, Amsterdam, Brussels, Madrid, Istanbul, Barcelona and Vienna several
times a day, provides the customer with optimum access to all the
European intercontinental hubs.
EuroAirport is not just a gateway
to the world, but also a gateway to the trinational region for all
those who visit. In 2016, approx. 1 million passengers were incoming tourists. This potential
can be further developed by means of specific regional tourism
promotion.
In the business of aircraft maintenance and
outfitting, EuroAirport, with the local firms Jet Aviation, AMAC
Aerospace, Air Service Basel and Nomad Aviation, is also one of the
world’s leading competence centres for better-class business and private
aviation.
Network
Outlook for the future
The range of services offered by EuroAirport will continue to develop. In the passenger sector there are prospects of extending the Eastern European connections, of optimizing the range of classical business destinations and holiday flights as well as of diversifying the choice of flights through attracting additional airlines.
In the freight sector the old freight hall is
rebuilt to meet the needs of express freight, and the express freight
activities will be united in one building.
Another important
project for EuroAirport and the region is the direct railway connection
to the airport. This project was officially revived by the French
government at the beginning of 2010. The association EAP EXPRESS,
which was set up in October 2010, is promoting the project with
different measures to enable travellers and staff to reach the airport
more easily.
Another future construction project is the erection
of a hotel with 200 rooms in immediate proximity
to the Airport Terminal.