Binational airports: how many exist, where they are located and how they work

A Binational airport It is an air terminal that, due to its location in a border area or special agreements, serves the air transport needs of two different nations.

This can be achieved through separate facilities within the same airport for each country (with its own customs and immigration controls), through its proximity to important border cities on both sides, or even through infrastructure that directly connect the airport with the territory of the other country. The main goal is to simplify travel and cross -border trade.

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This type of air terminals can have special agreements that allow passengers who arrive from O a traffic facilitated to another country. Although there is no exact and official record of how many air terminals of these characteristics there are in the world, the EUROAIRPORT BASILEA – MULHOUSE – FRiburg (which serves three countries) and Geneva airportwhich serves two.

Some examples

– Euroairport Basel – Mulhouse – Freiburg (BSL/mlh/EAP): This airport has the peculiarity of serving three countries: Switzerland, France and Germany. Its location is in French territory, but it has Swiss and French sectors with different access and customs controls.

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– Rivera International Airport (RVY): Located on the border between Uruguay and Brazil, it serves the cities of Rivera (Uruguay) and Santana do Livramento (Brazil). It is the first binational airport in Latin America, where domestic flights between the two countries are treated as internal flights.

– Cross Border Xpress (CBX) / Tijuana International Airport (TIJ): Although the airport itself is in Tijuana, Mexico, the CBX is a terminal and pedestrian bridge that crosses the border to San Diego, California, in the United States. It allows passengers to fly through Tijuana directly access the United States and vice versa, functioning as a binational extension of the airport.

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-Saint-Martin Princess International Airport Juliana (SXM) / Grand Case-Espérance Airport (SFG): While there are two different airports located on the same Caribbean island of San Martín/Saint-Martin, the island is divided by two nations: the south side is Sint Maarten, a constituent country of the kingdom of the Netherlands, and the north side is Saint-Martin, a grocery collective of France. The Princess Juliana airport mainly serves the Dutch part, while the Grand Case airport mainly serves the French part. Given the proximity and political division of the island, they are often considered together in the context of international trips to the Binational Island.

– Geneva Airport (GVA): Although it mainly serves Switzerland, it has a French sector. Passengers can access the French part directly from the airport without going through the Swiss customs, facilitating the connection with destinations in France.

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