Switzerland

Air Charter Service's guide to the 2026 Alpine ski season

With the season in full swing, skiers in the know are utilising the benefits of private aviation to maximise their time on the slopes. Leading aircraft charter specialist, Air Charter Service, believes that experience is the key to navigating the Swiss regulations and optimising an itinerary.

Arthur Guibert, CEO of ACS’s Geneva office, explains: “The four main airports used for skiing trips in Switzerland are Geneva, Sion, Gstaad and Samedan (the highest airport in Europe), but of these four, only Geneva has regular international scheduled flights.

“Geneva is an exceptionally busy international airport, handling tens of thousands of passengers every day, which means advance booking is key, in order to secure a landing slot. Sion has extremely limited scheduled services, and Gstaad and Samedan don’t handle international commercial flights at all, so chartering an aircraft is by far the best option to get to these airports and thus closer to many resorts, in most cases cutting several hours off onward road transit times.

“Experience here is key in selecting the right operator, as pilots have to be specifically qualified to land at Sion airport, but it offers much better slot availability than Geneva. As parking is limited at both Gstaad and Samedan, clients often charter separate aircraft in and out – with turboprop aircraft being the most commonly used type at these two airports.

“The majority of charters to these latter three airports for skiing trips are from within Europe, as those from farther afield often fly into Geneva or Zurich before transferring to a private aircraft. Having said that, we have already seen direct private jet charters into Sion from other continents. And this season is already shaping up to be one of our busiest - in fact, taking just these four airports into consideration, we have seen increases in the number of private jet flights into and out of every one of them this year, adding up to a total growth in charter numbers of 52% year-on-year, across all four.”