Helicopter to Gstaad

Sources:FOCA (BAZL): Flugfeld Saanen (LSGK), checked 19 October 2026FOCA, 29 November 2024: Saanen plan approval for large-helicopter stands and south parking (PDF)FOCA (BAZL): Winterheliport Gstaad-Inn Grund (LSEA), checked 19 October 2026Swiss Helicopter: bases, fleet and passenger flights, checked 19 October 2026Air Zermatt: transfer flights and flight times, checked 19 October 2026

Sources:Air Zermatt: transfer flights and flight times, checked 19 October 2026

• Air Zermatt flies its transfers depending on the weather and on sunrise and sunset times, and can arrange a road transfer as a backup when the weather stops a flight.
• Sightseeing flights are confirmed at very short notice, sometimes the day before or on the day, from local weather reports.
• St. Moritz (LSXM) and Gstaad Inn-Grund (LSEA) are winter heliports with no permanent infrastructure.
• Off-piste heliskiing usually runs from March to April or May, depending on snow and avalanche risk. On-piste heliski drops run once the resort's slopes are open.

Sources:Air Zermatt: transfer flights and flight times, checked 19 October 2026Air Zermatt: sightseeing flights and prices, checked 19 October 2026FOCA (BAZL): Winterheliport St. Moritz (LSXM), checked 19 October 2026FOCA (BAZL): Winterheliport Gstaad-Inn Grund (LSEA), checked 19 October 2026Air Zermatt: heliskiing, checked 19 October 2026

• Any take-off or landing outside a designated aerodrome is an off-aerodrome landing (Aussenlandung). Picking up or setting down people or goods counts too, even if the helicopter never touches the ground.
• The Off-Aerodrome Landing Ordinance of 14 May 2014 (OALO, in German AuLaV, SR 748.132.3) governs these landings: when authorisation is needed, the environmental rules, and when a site used often or given small infrastructure needs spatial planning and planning permission.
• Under the ordinance, off-aerodrome landings are allowed in principle. Swiss-registered helicopters generally need no FOCA authorisation; helicopters registered abroad do, on FOCA's application form.
• Take-offs and landings are generally banned in the nationally important protected areas listed in federal inventories, about 5% of the country. For landings in a built-up area, the operator informs the cantonal authority, usually the municipality.
• Off-aerodrome landings to set down or pick up tourist or sport passengers are limited to below 1,100 m. Exceptions above that height, such as sports events of national importance, need FOCA approval after the canton and municipality are consulted.
• Mountain landing sites (Gebirgslandeplätze) are landing places above 1,100 m with no infrastructure, used for training, practice, sport and tourist passenger flights. They are excluded from the OALO and governed by Art. 8 of the Aviation Act, Art. 54 of the Aviation Infrastructure Ordinance and the Sectoral Plan for Aviation Infrastructure (SIL). Art. 54 caps their number at 40.
• Heliskiing at a mountain landing site needs proof of a qualified overall tourism interest, for example through a regional or cantonal tourism concept.
• A helicopter may touch down within a reasonable radius of up to 400 m around a site's published coordinates, under a Federal Council decision of 7 May 1980. Cantons can also designate wildlife rest zones.

Sources:FOCA: Off-aerodrome landing, checked 19 October 2026FOCA (BAZL): Aussenlandestellen, checked 19 October 2026FOCA: explanatory report on the Off-Aerodrome Landing Ordinance (AuLaV), 30 April 2014 (PDF)FOCA: Helicopters, national law and AuLaV application forms, checked 19 October 2026FOCA (BAZL): Gebirgslandeplätze (mountain landing sites), checked 19 October 2026FOCA: Mountain landing sites, checked 19 October 2026