Summer season was not the most punctual at Zurich aiport

As most Swiss schools re-opened and holidays come to a close this week, Switzerland’s biggest airport drew a gloomy assessment of punctuality in summer 2024.

While punctuality has improved year-on-year, the diligence of air traffic control, numerous thunderstorms and a “tense” geopolitical situation in Eastern Europe and the Middle East caused a downturn compared to in spring, airport authorities have said.

Overall, it said, adherence to schedules in June and July was deemed unsatisfactory.

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Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) has also warned some passengers that they will have to be patient in processing their claims for compensation for delays or cancellations, due to the large number of requests.

The AWP news agency calculated that while the proportion of flights delayed by more than 15 minutes at landing had eased by two percentage points year-on-year from July to mid-August (to 41%), late departures had risen by the same amount to 58%. Residents living near Zurich airport also faced by a sharp rise in the number of flights after 11pm, from 710 to 844.

The airport says it is working with SWISS, ground and in-flight service provider Swissport, and air traffic controller Skyguide on a package of measures to rectify the situation as quickly as possible, but warns that the most effective ones will need time to take effect.

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Passenger numbers this summer also remained lower than before coronavirus pandemic. The peak of 111,000 passengers on July 26 was some 4,000 fewer than in 2019.

That said, waiting times at ticket desks and checkpoints have been reduced. New label-printing and self-luggage drop-off machines have also shortened check-in times. Two full-body scanners currently under evaluation have also been extensively tested.

Translated from French by DeepL/dos

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