Nearest ski resort to airport option, Europe
 

So, I'm looking for an airport that can take a Fokker 100 or similar/bigger, as close as possible to the ski lifts.

Current winner is Aosta, followed closely by Sion - any others though?

I don't know, perhaps the Karpatian mountains are worth considering. Ostrava? Even Krakow? And in the Pyrenean, Lourdes/Tarbes and Pamplona?

There were rumours of a long-closed airport in the Italian Dolomiti, due to be re-opened; but I can't remember the name, nor can I recall recent news about it. Cortina d'Ampezzo, it may well have been.

Courchevel airport is very close to the slopes, but you just couldn't do it with such a big Fokker!

I thought of the same, and similar. Would certainly make the headlines, though!

Aosta would be a good bet but Innsbruck is as close to the slopes,

I would highly recommend Sion, there is great ski-ing nearby in Verbier

But you won't be taking an F100 in there and certainly not at 109Y....... max inbound pax count would be about 63.. and out due perf

I agree Aosta is about as close to the ski lifts as you're likely to find.
Another interesting possibility is Dagali in Norway. There used to be commercial services for the ski resort at Geilo with good alpine and Nordic options.
I think the runway got shortened after the commercial operations stopped.

How much do you need?

Alternatively get a C130 on skis and you have a lot more options!

Thanks. It's a private charter, so the Dagali idea is nice.

Now, the C130 idea is even nicer - but I suspect involves more paperwork! :)

If St George near Grenoble is still open may be a option, used to be alternate for Lyon. There is an airfield just east of Grenoble in the valley but may be a bit short.

Jan, that piqued my interest so I had a scan on Google maps & found it! Bit challenging....

https://goo.gl/JLEWut

Russ Ware

It does look as if Aosta is the closest 'mainstream' airport to a ski resort...

Samedan - 10min from St Moritz but not sure what 100 seat aircraft will get in there.
Sion - 25min to Le Chable which is the bottom of the gondola for Verbier.

AIUI Samedan has no published instrument approaches, which limits it to VFR. Not really handy, for planning an event well in advance. Weather is rather unreliable in most of Europe, especially in the mountains, especially in winter.

OTOH ISTR even B737 (BBJ variant) operated there, so an F100 would be feasible - if one can still be found for rent/charter in EU.

LESU Great for Andorra is a beautiful place to land and i have seen Citations etc there, however you might be a bit tight taking off from 1267m @2630' if the stats on here are close? https://aviostart-bg.com/portfolio/fokker-100/ The O/P didn't specify ILS capabilities in his post/
Minimum takeoff distance, would that be at max all up? i am biased as I think Andorra around Arcalis is the best Skiing in Europe.

Aosta RW 09/27 is 1490 m - surely thats a bit short for a F100 ?

B727 visual at LSZS

Hemavan (Sweden) - you could literally walk to the nearest lift in ski boots - but the skiing's a bit limited by Alpine standards.

As self-loading freight, I have to say no thank you very much. Yikes.

OK, here is a better one for you:

Not only 'challenging, but definitely closed since the bad 1976 accident.

I doubt you get a loaded F100 off Aosta, runway is about 200m too short for legal take-off.Leaves Sion, which would work. Why not make an adventure of the to us now unknown occasion? A C130 will only get you about max 64 parachute troops in there, s maybe hire two or a C-17 (we got 100 parachute troops barely in that) and drop the crowd above the ski resort?

100 people load will not get you a lot of chances and limiting will be take-off, or do you want to leave them there? A smaller aircraft and x shuttle flights may be a better choice.

"Definitely"? Yes, it is definitely closed today. But not definitively - after all not many decisions are free from reconsideration. Did you know its ICAO code LIDI is still reserved? And I do not wish to minimise the 1976 accident - six dead is six too much, indeed! - still, if all aerodromes were to be closed after such an accident then few would remain active. Close to none, in certain regions.

So, while I'm not holding my breath, I'd not be surprised to see Cortina d'Ampezzo reopen.

" A C130 will only get you about max 64 parachute troops in there, "
If your passengers have their guns, ammo, grenades, etc confiscated at the security gate, the C130 will not exceed max AUW with many more than 64.

Sion - as well as Verbier (had a reputation as skiing's most expensive resort) you could head to Crans Montana (30 - 35 minutes from Sion) lovely skiing and South facing aspect means you'll likely need a lot of sun cream, Val d'Anniviers (40 minutes or so from Sion made up of 5 resorts not all linked). Zermatt and Saas Fee (about 1.5 hours from Sion) are other options. There's a lot of good skiing in that area of the Rhone valley as it is the biggest area in the alps with summits in excess of 4,000 metres. Issues with Sion are the high minima and training requirements for instrument operations (higher minima applies to the self study training).

Sion is good, use it quite a bit, but still not as close to the resort as Aosta...