New tower banner at EuroAirport: 75 years of the Franco-Swiss Treaty
With a new, giant banner on display at the Airport’s control tower, EuroAirport is celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Franco-Swiss Treaty. On July 4, 1949, the two neighbouring countries agreed the binational regulation on the construction and operation of Basel-Mulhouse Airport, which is still in force today. The tower banner displays the moment the treaty was signed.
The two signatories to the convention can be seen on the control tower's banner: Max Petitpierre for the Swiss Federal Council and Henri Hoppenot for the government of the French Republic. Max Petitpierre was Foreign Minister in the Federal Council at the time, and Henri Hoppenot was French Ambassador to Switzerland in Bern from 1945 to 1952. The Treaty was signed in Bern on July 4, 1949.
Basel-Mulhouse Airport was opened after the Second World War. With the founding of the world's first and only binational airport, a showcase project was created in the tri-border area that continues to make a significant contribution to the economic success of the region to this day.
EuroAirport ensures air transportation connectivity for the trinational economic area of the Upper Rhine. In doing so, it takes into account the principles of sustainable development. Today, the Airport is a key infrastructure for the economically important region in the tri-border area between Alsace (France), Northwestern Switzerland and Baden-Württemberg (Germany). Many important industries such as the largest European health and life sciences cluster are located in the Airport’s immediate vicinity. The airport platform itself is home to the world’s largest industrial center of competence, specialised in cabin interior customisation for VVIP aircraft.
EuroAirport is one of Switzerland’s three national airports and one of the most important regional airports in France. With over 6 000 jobs on its platform, the Airport and its partner companies strengthen the economy in the trinational metropolitan region.
EuroAirport’s greatest challenges today are environmental issues: decarbonisation on the one hand, and the reduction of night flight noise on the other. EuroAirport has therefore committed to significantly reducing night flight noise, and to limiting its own CO2 emissions to “net zero” by 2030.
