More than 45,000 visit Château-d'Oex Swiss balloon festival

More than 45,000 visitors attended this year's international balloon festival in Château-d'Oex in the Swiss canton of Vaud. +Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox Thanks to "exceptional" weather conditions, it was possible to fly on seven of the nine festival days. Some 350 balloon flights with a total of over 450 flight hours were completed, the organisers of the 46th Festival International de Ballons announced on Sunday. Balloon flights transported 640 passengers while over 1,000 children experienced their first launch in a captive balloon. A highlight of the festival took place on Thursday, when almost 40 balloons travelled together to the Gruyères region in the canton of Fribourg to take part in the precision competition. Balloons were dropped onto a target in the courtyard of Gruyères Castle. A total of 81 launches were counted on Saturday. The balloons used a wind inversion close to the ground to return and land not far from the launch site, the festival ...