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OUR BASE - COURCHEVEL // AIRPORT AND HELIPORT

Courchevel Altiport (45°23'51"N 6°38'06"E) is a French airport that serves the French Alpine ski resort of Courchevel. Courchevel's Altiport is infamous within the aviation industry with only specially certified pilots permitted to fly in and out.

Courchevel Altiport has been ranked as the 7th most dangerous airport in the world. The runway is very short, (525 metres / 1,722 ft) it is steeply sloped (gradient 18.5%) and it has an extremely dangerous approach through deep valleys, to top this all off Courchevel Airport has no instrument procedures.

Being in the aviation business (helicopters) and operating out of Courchevel we get asked on a regular basis about private jets and aeroplanes flying directly in and out of Courchevel airport, to which we reply, 'unfortunately the French Aviation Authority does not allow commercially chartered planes and jets to fly in and out of Courchevel, they only allow privately owned aircraft!'

• Private is when an owner of the aircraft (or one of their friends/ family) are using the aircraft for private use. No money changes hands for the use of the aircraft.
• Commercial is when the customer has paid for a commercial charter of that aircraft.

The rules for commercial flights are more stringent than private flights and include limitations on crew duty hours, runway length and other safety considerations.

Many, many years ago large propeller aircraft such as the Dash 7 and the Twin Otter capable of carrying up to 50 passengers used to bring visitors to and from the ski resort but have since been stopped due to safety concerns. VIEW: Rare footage of Tyroleans' Dash 7 landing at Courchevel

The Airport is now mainly used by much smaller Cessna's providing sightseeing and training flights as well as helicopters performing transfer flights from all the surrounding airports (Geneva, Chambery, Grenoble, Lyon and Annecy) and further afield. Courchevel has its own Duane (customs) which means helicopters with passengers from Switzerland, Italy, Austria, UK, etc... Can fly directly into Courchevel.

As Courchevel Airport is not able to cater for commercial planes and private Jets - the quickest and most effective way to get from the airport to Courchevel and vice versa is by helicopter! Please contact Courchevel Helicopters for details...