The Regional Aerodrome Bern-Belp (IATA: BRN, ICAO: LSZB / LSMB), (marketing designation "Bern Airport", officially referred to as Regionalflugplatz Bern-Belp in German), is a regional aerodrome serving Bern, the de facto capital of Switzerland. The aerodrome is located within the town limits of Belp, and used to feature scheduled flights to some European metropolitan and several leisure destinations. It handled 183,319 passengers in 2016, a decrease of 3.5 percent over 2015. The aerodrome was established in 1929 by Alpar, a private airline that operated within Switzerland until the outbreak of World War II. After the war, Alpar remained in business as the aerodrome's operator, supported by subsidies of the cantonal and city government. A planned expansion in 1947 did not pass in a popular referendum, and it was not until 1950 that the first concrete airstrip was built. In 2014, Alpar was renamed to Flughafen Bern AG.
It was the home base of now defunct SkyWork Airlines whose grounding caused the aerodrome to lose more than 1/3 of its turnover. Currently the charter operator Helvetic Airways and Peoples Airways offer a limited number of flights during the holiday season, the Swiss Federal Government's air transport service Lufttransportdienst des Bundes have based two business jets at the aerodrome, the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service operator REGA has one of its bases at Belp and two helicopter transport companies as well as two flying schools (one motorised, one for gliders) operate at the aerodrome.
FLICKR - PLANESPOTTING GALLERY