Europe · Switzerland

Handling at Geneva (LSGG)

We handle overflight permits, slots, flight plans, fuel, customs and the turnaround at Geneva. One coordinator owns the stop at Geneva, from the first filing to wheels up.

AERODROME

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ICAO: LSGG
IATA: GVA
Elevation: 1,411 ft
Position: 46.238, 6.109

RUNWAYS

04/223,900 m / 12,795 ftConcrete

Reference only, not for flight planning. Lengths are full declared runway length rather than declared distances, and this page is not amended on the AIRAC cycle. Check the current AIP and NOTAMs, or ask the desk and we will check them for you.

The field

What LSGG is actually like

Geneva is the business aviation capital of the Alps and the airport that serves the Swiss and French ski regions, the banking sector and the United Nations presence. Private movements share a single runway with a busy scheduled programme, which is why the slot matters so much here.

Operating brief

What we handle before you file

Permits

Switzerland is not an EU member, so the permit picture is its own. Private flights are generally straightforward, but commercial operators deal with FOCA rather than an EU authority and the traffic-rights question is separate from the EU answer.

Slots and parking

Geneva is slot coordinated, and in the peak weeks parking allocation is run as a separate and openly rationed process. This is the field where an aircraft is most likely to be required to drop passengers and reposition elsewhere for the stay.

Customs and border

Switzerland is inside Schengen but outside the EU customs union, so passengers move freely while goods, catering and spares do not. That split catches operators who assume a Schengen arrival means nothing to declare.

When it gets tight

The World Economic Forum in Davos in January is the single most constrained business aviation week anywhere in Europe, and Geneva absorbs most of it. The ski season from Christmas through March is the sustained version of the same pressure.

On the ground

Off the aircraft and into the car

Handling is quick and the terminal is built for the traffic. The drive is the problem: Courchevel and Verbier are three hours in good conditions and considerably more on a February Saturday when every transfer in the Alps is moving at once. Book the car before the slot.

Alternates

Where we go when LSGG will not take the trip

Every one of these is a field we would put to you with the reason attached, not a list of nearby runways.

LSZH
Zurich
The other Swiss option during Davos week, and often the one with parking left.
LSGS
Sion
Deeper into the Valais and closer to the eastern resorts, with terrain and weather minima to match.
LFLL
Lyon Saint-Exupéry
Across the French border with real capacity, which is what makes it work in January.

What we handle here