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In no other country in Europe are planes delayed as often as in this country. There are many reasons for that.
Switzerland is generally considered a punctual country. But now the company Flightright from Germany, which specializes in air traffic, does not give you a good report in terms of punctuality.
Flight data from the summer shows that 35 percent of flights in Switzerland were delayed by at least 15 minutes. In addition, an above-average number of flights were canceled, as Oskar de Felice from Flightright explains. “It doesn’t look so good.” In a European comparison, Switzerland is the least punctual country. She ranks fourth in terms of cancellations.
The difference to the other countries is relatively large, says de Felice. Around 30 percent of flights are delayed in the UK, Italy and the Netherlands, 20 percent in Sweden and around 15 percent in Poland and Spain.
Vulnerable Node
There are a number of reasons for the delays in Switzerland. According to Flightright, the problems that exist in international air traffic are cumulative in this country. Switzerland with its central location – in the middle of Europe – is more vulnerable than countries on the periphery.
Caption: Many factors have influenced punctuality in Swiss air traffic. KEYSTONE/URS FLUEELER
Skyguide flight control also sees the central location of Switzerland and the associated dependencies as an important reason for the above-average delays. “Switzerland is a transport hub – also in the air,” says media spokesman Vladi Barrosa. “If, for example, air traffic controllers go on strike in France, this will automatically affect the punctuality of Geneva and Zurich airports.” This causes delays.
Airports closed due to bad weather
European air traffic is not only affected by strikes and staff shortages, but also increasingly by extreme weather conditions. This was particularly evident again this summer, as de Felice says. Airports should have been closed due to heavy rain, thunderstorms or fires. “These are clearly the drivers of this year, which are causing the delays and cancellations to a large extent,” he says.
And so the extreme weather conditions also had an impact on flight operations in Switzerland. The heavy thunderstorms and storms led to significantly more cancellations and delays in Geneva and Zurich than last summer.
Handling challenges
In addition to the weather and the international strikes, there are also additional home-made problems in Swiss air traffic. Above all, there are staff shortages in a wide variety of areas. At Zurich Airport, there was a temporary lack of staff for passport and baggage control.
In addition, Swissport, which is responsible for check-in and baggage handling, works at the limit. Swissport has employed 1,200 additional people since the beginning of the year. A spokeswoman writes, however, that there are bottlenecks in handling if the flight schedules are changed at short notice. Such irregularities would have accumulated.
Swiss is planning buffers
The airline Swiss, in turn, is reacting to the delays by planning more buffers, for example with staff and aircraft on standby, as Oliver Buchhofer, Head of Flight Operations, says. “This allows us, if a flight is delayed, that we can replace it.”
There is a lot at stake for Swiss, because in European comparison it is now seen as a company with frequent delays, which is bad for its image.