Departure
96%
vs 95% ▲ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Sion Airport (LSGS), also known as Aéroport de Sion, sits in the Rhone Valley of the Swiss canton of Valais, close to some of the country's best-known ski resorts. It is unusual among alpine airfields in combining scheduled and seasonal charter traffic with a long-standing Swiss Air Force presence, and its ILS-equipped hard runway set among high terrain makes it a distinctive and demanding destination for visiting pilots.
Sion Airport, known locally as Aéroport de Sion, serves the city of Sion in the Swiss canton of Valais and has operated since 1935. It is a dual-use field, home to seasonal civil charter flights and to one of the Swiss Air Force's four jetfighter bases, giving it an unusual mix of light training and airline traffic alongside military jets and turboprops. For a simulator pilot the appeal lies in its Alpine setting in the Rhone Valley, its long hard-surface runway with an ILS, and the presence of both a grass strip and the operational quirks of a shared military-civil aerodrome.
The airport lies in the Rhone Valley about 2.5 km southwest of Sion city centre, in the canton of Valais, Switzerland. The nearest larger international airport is Geneva, roughly 110 km to the west, while Bern Airport lies at a similar distance to the north. The field's location within a mountain-bound valley shapes its approach and departure paths, and the presence of Swiss Military Radar approach control reflects its role as a Swiss Air Force base as well as a civil aerodrome.
Sion has two physical runways. The main runway, 07/25, has a hard, lit surface approximately 6,344 to 6,349 feet long and is equipped with an ILS serving runway 25. A secondary grass runway, 07L/25R, lit and roughly 1,833 to 2,165 feet long, lies alongside it. Field elevation is 1,578 feet.
Aerodrome traffic is handled on A/G at 134.275 MHz. Swiss Military Radar provides an approach service on 126.825 MHz and a ground radar service on 121.7 MHz, with an information frequency of 122.35 MHz and a tower frequency of 118.275 MHz. The main runway, 25, is served by an ILS.
Sion Airport opened in 1935 and has long combined civil and military flying. The Swiss Air Force has used it as one of its four jetfighter air bases, alongside Payerne, Meiringen and Emmen, operating under the designation Flugplatzkommando 14 Sion. Aircraft based or operating there have included the Pilatus PC-6, PC-7, PC-9 and PC-21 alongside helicopters, and the field has seen intensive use by F/A-18 and F-5 Tiger fighters; it is the home base of the militia pilot unit Fliegerstaffel 19 Swans, flying the F-5E. Both ends of the runway are equipped with retractable arresting gear for use by the F/A-18 and, if needed, the F-5. Plans once envisaged the Air Force leaving Sion after 2017 to leave the field to civil aviation, with the military retained only as an alternate airfield, though military flying has continued at the base.
Sion today functions as a mixed civil and military aerodrome under a concession held by the City of Sion, due to run until 2031 after regional plans for restructuring the airport's management were shelved in 2024. Seasonal charter and scheduled flights operate from Sion, including services to Palma de Mallorca and destinations such as Alghero, Calvi, Figari and Saint-Tropez. The field is also a base for general aviation activity, with local flying clubs and groups covering motor flying, helicopters, gliding and paragliding-related activity. Fuel is available on site, with published prices for AVGAS, JET A1 and UL91, and handling, hangarage and air taxi services are offered by companies based at the airport. Prior permission is required for visiting aircraft.