St. Gallen-Altenrhein Airport

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St. Gallen-Altenrhein
Airport "People's Airport St.Gallen-Altenrhein"
Logo People's Airport St.Gallen-Altenrhein.jpg
Airport St.Gallen-Altenrhein LSZR ACH.jpg
Characteristics
ICAO code LSZR
IATA code OH
Coordinates

47 ° 29 '6 "  N , 9 ° 33' 39"  E Coordinates: 47 ° 29 '6 "  N , 9 ° 33' 39"  E
Height above MSL 398 m (1306  ft )
Transport links
Distance from the city center 20 km north-east of St. Gallen,
22 km west of Bregenz,
23 km north-west of Dornbirn
Street A1 - exit 85 - Rheineck
Local transport Bus route 305 from RTB Rheintal Bus AG
Basic data
opening 1927
operator Airport Altenrhein AG
Terminals 1
Passengers 145,000 (2019)
Air freight 11,973 kg (2010)
Flight
movements 		26,382 (2016)
Capacity
( PAX per year) 		250,000
Employees 80 (2015)
Runways
10R / 28L 1455 m × 30 m asphalt
10L / 28R 810 m × 20 m grass

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The St. airfield Gallen-Altenrhein ( brand name People's Airport St.Gallen-Altenrhein ) is a regional airport in eastern Switzerland in Altenrhein SG , community Thal , northeast around 20 kilometers from St. Gallen on the banks of Lake Constance and right at the border with Austria located . The operator calls it St.Gallen-Altenrhein Airport .

history

FFA P-16

In order to circumvent the construction ban on aircraft under the Versailles Treaty , the German Reich founded the AG for Dornier aircraft (Do-Flug AG) in the Altenrhein region near the border in 1925 . The plant also included a 600-meter-long grass runway, which was used for regular scheduled flights to Basel , Innsbruck and Munich from 1927 until the outbreak of World War II . Do-Flug AG later became part of the Dornier Works in Altenrhein , which Claudio Caroni took over in 1948 . He renamed the company Flug- und Fahrzeugwerke Altenrhein (FFA) and bought it completely in 1952. In addition to the grass runway, a 1200 meter long and 30 meter wide hard-surfaced runway was built in 1954, including for military use in the event of war. From 1950 the FFA built and tested five FFA P-16 aircraft at the airfield , but an order for 100 aircraft for the Swiss Air Force was suspended before the first series aircraft was manufactured. The hard surface slope was extended to 1,500 meters in 1979.

Claudio Caroni's son Luciano finally sold FFA in 1987 to Schindler Holding , which retained the wagon construction division and resold aircraft construction and the FFA naming rights to Justus Dornier Holding . From 1988 to 1990 the infrastructure of the airfield (including new hangars, airfield buildings, safety devices, instrument landing system ) was expanded. Several changes of ownership followed from 1994: the St. Margrethener construction company Gautschi AG and then the Dutch company Strikwerda bought the airfield one after the other . In 2007 the federal government allowed additional charter and scheduled flights at Altenrhein Airport, although talks with Austria about the licensing of the airport as a regional airport were blocked due to deficiencies in structural conditions. In 2008 the Zurich industrialist Dieter Bührle bought the majority of the shares in the airport and renamed the company Airport Altenrhein AG . In 2009 the airfield was renamed People's Business Airport (now People's Airport St.Gallen-Altenrhein ); a year later, the entrepreneur Markus Kopf became the sole owner and founded the airline People's Viennaline (now People’s ).

In the 2016/2017 winter flight schedule, People's offered the world's shortest international scheduled flight from St. Gallen-Altenrhein to Friedrichshafen with a flight time of around eight minutes. Due to insufficient utilization, the connection was closed again on April 14, 2017.

The number of flight destinations from St.Gallen-Altenrhein is increasing every year. In 2018 people could fly from St.Gallen-Altenrhein to Vienna, Pula, Olbia, Cagliari, Ibiza, Menorca, Mallorca, Lefkas & Epirus, Naples and Kefalonia.

Location and transport links

Overview map
Locations of the 11 Swiss regional airports

The bus route 305 of the RTB Rheintal Bus connects the St. Gallen-Altenrhein airport with the train stations of Staad , Rorschach and Rheineck and thus the network of the St. Gallen S-Bahn . Two shuttle buses, coordinated with the flight schedule and organized by the airport operator, depart from Vorarlberg from Bregenz train station and Dornbirn train station to the airport. The airports of Bregenz and Vaduz can be reached by car in 30 minutes, from St. Gallen in 20 minutes, from Feldkirch in 40 minutes and from Chur in an hour.

St. Gallen-Altenrhein Airport in figures

Check-in Altenrhein

The St. Gallen-Altenrhein airfield has an asphalt runway 10R / 28L 1455 meters long and 30 meters wide, as well as the grass runway 10L / 28R.

In 2016, 108,521 passengers (seven percent more than in the previous year) were handled with 26,382 flight movements (three percent less than in the previous year). There were fewer training flights overall, but more scheduled, charter and business flights.

In 2002 there were 35,000 aircraft movements with 111,000 passengers. After a decrease to 100,500 passengers in 2017, the number of passengers rose to around 125,000 in 2018.

In 2010 Dieter Bührle sold his 50 percent stake in the operating company of the St. Gallen-Altenrhein airport to Markus Kopf.

Economical meaning

Alpine scenery at Altenrhein Airport

In 1997, the Rheintalflug operated the Altenrhein-Vienna route 17 times a week. The airline Austrian Airlines (or Tyrolean Airways ) then connected St. Gallen-Altenrhein with three scheduled flights per day with Vienna , after a branch had been founded on February 19, 2003. This cooperation was terminated in March 2011 when the new operating company was transferred. This line was then operated independently by the airline People’s . Since a notice period of five years was provided for a unilaterally declared termination of the contract, Austrian Airlines continued to operate the People's Business Airport and intended to do so until 2015. Since March 28, 2011 (beginning of the summer flight schedule), six scheduled flights have been offered on weekdays between St. Gallen-Altenrhein and Vienna. In March 2013, however, Austrian Airlines announced that it would discontinue the Altenrhein flight for the summer flight schedule. From this point on , People’s was the only one to use this route. People's Airlines flew three times a day during the week and once a day to and from Vienna on the weekend. From April 2016 the frequency was increased to four flights and at the beginning of November 2016 the People's Viennaline started with scheduled flights twice a day from Altenrhein via Friedrichshafen to Cologne / Bonn and back. However, this route was discontinued on April 14, 2017. In summer there are charter flights to holiday destinations such as Sardinia .

The airfield is also important for business and private air traffic. It will be served by private jets, especially during the World Economic Forum in Davos .

Altenrhein has the Aviation Museum Altenrhein with airworthy oldtimers of national fame.

Airlines and destinations

People's ERJ-170 at the St. Gallen-Altenrhein airfield
airline
People's

Flight days

In 1988 and 1998 the so-called International Bodensee Airshow (IBAS) took place at the airport . Another major air show under the same name was planned for 2008 , but had to be canceled due to opposition from the neighboring Austrian community of Gaißau .

From August 26th to 28th, 2005, the Flying Bulls Aerobatics Team performed at the Airfield Show Altenrhein 2005 .

Waiver of license as an airport

The St. Gallen-Altenrhein airfield is the only Swiss regional airfield with scheduled flights with the status of a private airfield . According to Art. 36a of the Aviation Act, however, "an operating license would be required to operate airfields serving public transport (airports)." The Aviation Infrastructure Sectoral Plan stipulated that a license must be granted if scheduled services are expanded. Since the Austrian authorities are currently rejecting the development sought by the Swiss side and the associated licensing of the airfield, a license is to be waived for the time being.

Incidents

  • On February 23, 1989 the unexplained crash of a came Aero Commander 690D of the Rhine Valley flight eleven people while approaching the airport Altenrhein, among them the then Austrian Social Affairs Minister Alfred Dallinger , killed.
  • On January 24, 1994 , a Cessna 425 with five people on board crashed into Lake Constance while approaching Rorschach . All inmates were killed. The accident aroused great interest as it was initially suspected that the plane coming from Prague was carrying radioactive material.
  • On August 6, 2012, the pilots of a Moroccan business jet Embraer Phenom 300 touched down too late and at too high a speed on runway 10, then only applied emergency braking with a delay and rolled over the end of the runway by 30 meters. The machine broke through the fence, crossed the road behind it a few seconds after a bus had passed and came to a standstill in a maize field ( location ) . The three occupants were uninjured and the aircraft was badly damaged.

See also

Web links

Commons : St. Gallen-Altenrhein Airport  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ People's airline: focus on services from St.Gallen-Altenrhein. (PDF) Press release. In: People's Air Group. October 22, 2019, accessed on October 23, 2019 (mentioned in the footnote).
  2. ^ SIAA - Statistics. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on October 31, 2013 ; accessed on May 10, 2019 .
  3. ↑ People's Air Group: 2016 positive development at airport and airline. (PDF) Press release. In: People's Air Group. February 1, 2017. Retrieved April 23, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Vademecum 2016. (PDF) In: Aerosuisse. Retrieved August 9, 2016 .
  5. ↑ a b c SIL object sheet of the regional airfield St. Gallen-Altenrhein. Retrieved July 3, 2012.
  6. ^ Peter Hug: Flug- und Fahrzeugwerke Altenrhein (FFA). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . December 8, 2005 , accessed June 6, 2019 .
  7. ^ Eastern Switzerland: Bührle buys Altenrhein airfield. In: St. Galler Tagblatt . October 17, 2008.
  8. ↑ People's Airport homepage: Company history
  9. ↑ Shortest international scheduled flight: A mini flight over Lake Constance. In: aerotelegraph.com. Retrieved November 2, 2016 .
  10. ↑ Off for the world's shortest international flight. In: aerotelegraph.com. March 31, 2017, accessed April 1, 2017 .
  11. ↑ peoplesbusinessairport.ch: Directions to the airport. ( Memento from January 9, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  12. ↑ Altenrhein Airport with significantly more passengers , accessed on March 4, 2017
  13. ^ Vorarlberg Online: Altenrhein Airport: Vorarlberg is now sole owner. June 3, 2010, accessed November 14, 2012.
  14. ^ Tyrolean Airways Tiroler Luftfahrt GmbH, Innsbruck (A), Altenrhein branch in the commercial register.
  15. ↑ Altenrhein Airport disembarks Austrian Airlines. In: NZZ.
  16. ↑ Economy (...) AUA insists on a period of notice. In: oesterreich.orf.at. March 11, 2011, accessed May 11, 2011.
  17. ↑ Austrian gives up Lake Constance flights. At: aero.de. March 6, 2013.
  18. ↑ Peoples. ( Memento from November 18, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  19. ↑ People's Viennaline cancels Cologne flights: Shortest international flight in the world | aeroTELEGRAPH . In: aeroTELEGRAPH . March 31, 2017 ( aerotelegraph.com [accessed May 8, 2017]).
  20. ↑ IBAS08.ch: IBAS will not take place in 2008. ( Memento from April 20, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  21. ↑ Gaißauer resistance brings Bodensee Airshow down. In: vol.at.
  22. ↑ Federal Law on Aviation. (PDF; 270 kB), accessed on July 3, 2012.
  23. ↑ Michael Gasser: The drama about flight "Rheintal 102". Vorarlberger Nachrichten (Russmedia Verlag GmbH), February 15, 2014, accessed on May 10, 2019 . (Archived via WebCite as of July 14, 2015.)
  24. ↑ sda / lehs: 20 years after the Cessna crash: A unique Lake Constance crime thriller . In: Swiss Radio and Television (SRF) . ( srf.ch [accessed on October 9, 2017]).
  25. ↑ Swiss Accident Investigation Board SUST, final report CN-MBR Embraer EMB-505 of September 23, 2014 , accessed on August 6, 2016