Sion Airport PC-6, Pilatus PC-7, Pilatus PC-9 and Pilatus PC-21 as well as helicopters it uses Sion intensively with the fighter jets F/A-18 and F-5 Tiger. It is the home base of the militia pilot unit Fliegerstaffel 19 Swans with F-5E. Sion Airport is, at both ends of the runway, equipped with retractable arresting gear devices (used by the F/A-18 and in case of a problem by the F-5). Because of the redimension of the Swiss Air Force it is planned that the Air Force will leave Sion after 2017 and Sion will be used by civil aviation only, acting only as
Order of Sion Order of Sion The Order of Sion was a mediaeval order of canons which, according to a papal bull of the 12th century, had abbeys on Mount Sion in Jerusalem, on Mount Carmel, in Southern Italy (Calabria), and in France. The Order occupied its "mother" abbey, the Abbey de Notre Dame du Mont Sion, built on the foundations of the original apostolic Cenacle, or Coenaculum, traditionally assumed to be the location of the Last Supper. The abbey was maintained up until c1291, when it fell to the Muslims. Supposed connections with the Priory of Sion are now believed to be