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Geneva International Airport

Located just 2.5 miles northwest of downtown Geneva, the Geneva International Airport serves millions of passengers every year. To be precise, the northern limit of the airport is situated along the French-Swiss border and hence the airport is accessible from both the countries. That said, the Swiss and French sectors are separate and maintain their very own channel (customs).

If you have a flight to catch, you do not have to worry much about the transportation. The airport is pretty easily accessed by both bus and train thanks to Geneva Public Transport and Swiss Federal Railways respectively.

A Quick Glance

The airport with the longest concrete runway in the whole of Switzerland is a hub for more than 50 scheduled airlines from British Airways to Lufthansa. The airport is a gateway to both intercontinental flights and flights from around Europe and the Middle East, and boasts of a hundred direct flight destinations.

The Geneva airport has two terminals, T1 and T2, with T1 being the main terminal. It’s divided into 5 Piers- A, B, C, D, and F. The Pier F is mainly used for passengers from or flying to France. Fitted with a couple of gates with jet bridges and a few bus gates, it exists as part of the agreement made by France and Geneva to facilitate travel to and from the airport and neighboring French areas to, thus avoiding customs in the Swiss sector.

Facilities

As you make your way through the check-ins and the security points, you will see a shopping centre with many stores, a few duty free shops, and first class restaurants that are open all through the week.

Other popular facilities include currency exchange agencies, internet kiosks, phone booths, business and conference facilities such as fax, photocopying, beauty salon, smoking lounge, pharmacies and many more.

History

It all started back in 1919 with a simple field. Ten years later the wooden sheds made way for concrete fields, though the air traffic was a little less with only Lufthansa and Swissair operating airplanes. While the airport was not operational during WWII, the authorities made sure that the airport was ready for use with a spacious new terminal and an enlarged runway for flights.

Since 1950, the Geneva airport has undergone several extensions and upgrades, and now stands as an efficient airport for both passengers and staff. No wonder why round about 13.9 million passengers used the airport in 2012!