Bern-Belp Airport

Updated: October 2026 – Bern-Belp Airport is the airport of a capital that never got a big airport. Instead of widebody jets and connecting waves, at the Belpmoos you find a single asphalt runway, a compact terminal and a traffic mix that is more colorful than at almost any other Swiss airport: vacation jets in summer, Federal Council jets, Rega helicopters, business jets and light aircraft from flight schools and private pilots. Add to that a history full of highs and lows – from Alpar’s pioneering operation in 1929 through the boom with SkyWork to the hard cut in 2018. This page explains how Bern works, what you see there and when the trip is worthwhile.

The airport of the federal city

The airport lies about six kilometers southeast of downtown Bern in the Belpmoos, a flat alluvial plain in the Aare valley. That is also where the name comes from that many Bernese still use today – or they affectionately say “Mösli.” Officially, the grounds belong to the municipality of Belp, and the airport lies about 510 meters above sea level. To the west and south, the hills of the Gürbe valley and the Gantrisch area rise, and on clear days you see the Bernese Alps in the background.

The airport is operated by Flughafen Bern AG. The company has its roots in Alpar, which founded the airfield in 1929. The corporation came into being in 1948 under the name Alpar AG and has been called Flughafen Bern AG since May 2014. In marketing, the airport presents itself as “Bern Airport.”

Compared with Zurich or Geneva, Bern is tiny. In 2023, according to the figures published in reference works, the airport counted around 59,600 passengers and around 49,700 aircraft movements. The ratio already says a lot: a large share of the movements comes not from vacation jets but from light aircraft, helicopters, training flights and state aviation. For spotters, that is exactly the appeal.

History: from Alpar to today

Pioneer days with Alpar

It all began with a cooperative. The Alpar cooperative began flight operations at the Belpmoos on June 8, 1929, and the airfield was officially opened about a month later. In the 1930s, scheduled flights connected Bern via Biel with Basel, where connections to Paris and London were available. With the start of the Second World War, civil traffic came to a standstill.

A witness to these early years still stands on the grounds today: the Bider hangar, built for the Swiss aviation pioneer Oskar Bider. It is considered a cultural property of national significance – a rare piece of aviation history at an active airport.

The decision for Zurich

After the war, a decision was made that still shapes Bern today. In 1945, parliament decided to build the intercontinental national airport not in the capital region but in Zurich. Shortly afterward, Swiss companies other than the national airline were no longer allowed to offer international scheduled service, and Alpar lost its concession in 1947. In 1948, Alpar AG was created and in 1950 converted into a flight and airfield company; the same year, Belp got its first paved runway.

Plans for a larger Bernese airport came up several times in the 1960s – projects from 1963, 1966 and 1970 failed because of opposition in the affected regions. Bern remained a regional airport and left big aviation to Zurich Airport and Geneva Airport.

Expansion for regional jets

Important infrastructure steps followed only decades later. In 2008, the asphalt runway was extended by 220 meters to today’s 1,730 meters to meet European safety requirements. In September 2008, an instrument landing system (ILS) entered service on runway 14, making landings easier in poor visibility. In 2011, the airport expanded the terminal so that flights outside the Schengen area can also be handled.

SkyWork: rise and fall of a Bernese airline

No airline shaped Bern like SkyWork Airlines. The company was founded in 1983 in Belp as a flight school, turned into an air taxi and charter company with a Cessna Citation II from 1989 and entered scheduled service in 2009. In 2010, Daniel Borer took over the company. Bern was its home base from its founding to its end.

For spotters, SkyWork is remembered above all for its fleet. From 2003, the company used the Dornier 328, in 2008 the first Dash 8-400 was added, and from July 2016 came the Saab 2000, intended as a replacement for the Dornier turboprops. Two used Embraer 170s were ordered but never entered scheduled service. That made Belp for years one of the few places where you could see the Dornier 328 and Saab 2000 in scheduled service up close. If you want to tell the types apart today, the article Telling turboprops apart helps.

The peak came in 2012 with more than 250,000 passengers at the airport – a record that still stands. After that, things got harder. In October 2017, the Federal Office of Civil Aviation limited the operating license because financing of the winter schedule was not secured; SkyWork had to briefly stop operations at the end of October and flew again from November 1. From January 2018, the airline even flew troops and materiel for the Swisscoy mission from Basel to Pristina.

On the evening of August 29, 2018, it was over. Talks with potential partners had failed, SkyWork ceased flight operations, returned its license, and bankruptcy proceedings were opened. Around 11,000 passengers were affected. For the airport, it was a heavy blow: according to reference works, SkyWork had provided around 60 percent of the flights, and the airport lost more than a third of its revenue. In 2019, Bern counted only around 35,800 passengers. The whole company history is on the page for SkyWork Airlines.

Flybair: an attempt at a new start

After SkyWork’s end, a Bernese initiative wanted to build a new airline. Flybair raised money through crowdfunding from 2019 and wanted to offer vacation flights as a virtual airline with leased aircraft. It never took off: a planned sale of the company fell through in December 2022, and the restart never happened. Vacation traffic has been carried mainly by Helvetic Airways since 2020.

What you get to see in Bern today

Vacation flights in summer

Scheduled and charter traffic in Bern is almost entirely seasonal today. For 2026, the airport lists mainly vacation destinations around the Mediterranean. The most important airline is Helvetic Airways with connections to Palma de Mallorca, Heraklion, Kos, Rhodes, Mykonos, Larnaca, Djerba and Monastir. Helvetic uses Embraer jets, including second-generation types such as the Embraer E190-E2 and the E195-E2. Which aircraft actually comes to Bern depends on the rotation.

In addition, smaller providers serve individual routes: SkyAlps flies to Olbia and Cagliari, Chair Airlines flies to Jerez de la Frontera in spring and autumn, and Avanti Air flies to Calvi in Corsica. Added to that are offerings by smaller providers to Jersey, Malta and Elba as well as a short connection to Munich served several times a week.

Important for your planning: most flights run only on one or two days a week and only in certain weeks. For many routes, the 2026 season ends in early to mid-October. Check the current schedule on the airport’s website before you set off – as of October 2026, the winter schedule can differ significantly from summer.

The Federal Council jets

The real unique selling point of Belp is state aviation. The Federal Air Transport Service (Lufttransportdienst des Bundes, LTDB) has belonged to the Swiss Air Force since 2005 and has its base in Bern. It mainly flies members of the Federal Council and high-level delegations but also supports peace missions and other federal assignments. In everyday speech, its jets are simply called “Bundesratsjets” (Federal Council jets).

According to reference works, the fleet includes a Dassault Falcon 900EX with the registration T-785 and, since the end of January 2025, a Bombardier Global 7500 with the registration T-787. It replaces a smaller Cessna Citation Excel; the Federal Council had ordered the long-range business jet in August 2023. The fleet is complemented by turboprops such as a DHC-6 Twin Otter and a Beechcraft King Air as well as by helicopters.

You recognize the state aircraft by their military T registrations instead of a civil HB registration. How Swiss registrations are structured is explained in the article Swiss HB registrations. Schedules for state flights are not published in advance – you need luck or a watchful eye on the flight tracker. Tips are in the article Spotting government aircraft.

Business jets

As a capital with a federal administration, embassies and associations, Bern regularly attracts business and government flights from at home and abroad. The short runway limits the size, but typical business jets and turboprops such as the Swiss-built Pilatus PC-12 are part of everyday life. How to tell the many similar jets apart is shown in the articles Spotting business jets and Telling business jet types apart.

Helicopters, Rega and general aviation

A large part of the movements in Belp is accounted for by helicopters and light aircraft. Rega has operated a base here since 1976; its rescue helicopters for the Swiss Plateau come from the EC145/H145 family. Added to that are helicopter companies and a helicopter school that have been at the airport for decades, as well as the Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA) with its own aircraft and helicopters.

Flight schools, sightseeing flight offerings and private pilots provide plenty of light aircraft traffic. Glider pilots also have a tradition at the Belpmoos: the Bern gliding group celebrated one hundred years of gliding at the airfield in 2023. If you like collecting light aircraft, you’ll find much more variety in Bern than at the big airports – help with identification is offered by Identifying light aircraft and Helicopter spotting.

Runway, approaches and operating hours

The main runway 14/32 runs roughly from northwest to southeast through the Aare valley. On 14, aircraft land coming from the northwest with the support of the ILS, on 32 from the southeast. Because the valley narrows toward the south and the terrain becomes more demanding, the approach from that direction is more demanding to fly. For runway 32 there is a satellite-based RNP approach procedure, for which the airport provides pilots with a dedicated briefing.

Which direction is currently active depends on the wind, as everywhere. Check a flight tracker or the weather situation before your visit. You’ll find the basics in the guide Understanding the runway direction at airports, and why runways carry their numbers is explained in the article Runway designations at airports.

For you, that means: outside the vacation flights, traffic is concentrated in the day between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. In the evening, it quickly gets quiet.

Spotting in Belp

The airport does not name an official observation deck on its website. It does offer airport tours, has several restaurants and cafés including a hotel restaurant, bistro and pâtisserie, and operates a webcam with which you can take a look at the apron in advance. For questions about spotting, the airport refers to its contact form – a short contact beforehand is worthwhile if you’re planning bigger photo outings. What a guided tour offers is described in the article Airport tours and apron bus rides.

Because the grounds are small, the runway and apron are close to public roads and paths in many places. Follow the rules consistently: stay on public ground, don’t enter agricultural land, don’t climb over fences and don’t block access roads. What applies legally in Switzerland is summarized in the article Plane spotting in Switzerland. Drones are taboo near airports – details in Flying a drone in Switzerland.

Getting there

By public transport, you take the S-Bahn from Bern main station to Belp and change there to the bus to the airport. From Bern, the trip takes about 30 minutes in total. A direct bus connection from downtown to the airport existed between 2009 and 2012 but was discontinued.

By car, you reach Belp via the A6 motorway, Rubigen exit, or via the Flugplatzstrasse from Kehrsatz. There is paid parking at the airport. For spots around the grounds, a bicycle is practical – the Belpmoos is flat, and there are paths along the Aare.

New projects at the airport

Apart from flight operations, a lot is happening in Belp. In early 2023, the energy group BKW, the airport and Energie Wasser Bern announced a large solar plant on the airport grounds. An area of around 25 hectares was announced; the project is controversial because of the dry meadows affected. Also in 2023, the renovated airport hotel reopened as a hotel restaurant.

For traffic, the situation remains less certain. The airport relies on seasonal vacation flights and is testing new offerings such as a short connection to Munich. Whether this will become regular scheduled traffic again like in SkyWork days is open.

Bern in comparison

Within Switzerland, Bern is the counterpart to the big national airports. Zurich Airport is the hub of SWISS with three runways and long-haul traffic, Geneva Airport lives off easyJet and strong business aviation, and EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg connects three countries. Bern, by contrast, is a place for specialists.

If you’re planning a Switzerland tour, it’s best to combine Bern with one of the big airports – such as the observation deck B in Zurich or the observation deck in Geneva. You’ll find aviation history at the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne and at the Flieger-Flab Museum Dübendorf. More ideas for small airports are provided by the article Spotting at small regional airports.

Conclusion

Bern-Belp Airport is small, but it has character. A single asphalt runway in the Aare valley, a history from pioneer flight in 1929 through the SkyWork boom to the hard cut in 2018 and a traffic mix in which Federal Council jets, Rega helicopters and light aircraft carry more weight than scheduled traffic. Anyone expecting volume here will be disappointed. Anyone looking for rare registrations, state aircraft and quiet hours at the fence will find in Belp one of the most interesting small airports in Switzerland – provided you plan around schedule, wind and weather.