Punctuality at Zurich Airport has improved – SWISS remains stagnant
Keystone-SDA
Punctuality at Zurich Airport improved during the peak summer season of 2026. Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS), on the other hand, had to contend with more cancellations and diverted landings, meaning that its punctuality did not improve.
Across Zurich Airport as a whole, departure punctuality in June and July was significantly higher than in both of the previous two years, the airport’s chief operating officer, Stefan Tschudin, told the media on Tuesday.
In July, for example, 56% of flights took off with a delay of less than 15 minutes. That is five percentage points more than in July 2025. Since the start of the year, punctuality at Switzerland’s largest airport has averaged 66%.
“We’ve made a great many improvements,” said Tschudin. For example, staff numbers have been adjusted and the airport has hired its own meteorologist to provide local weather forecasts. This enables the airport to take operational measures in the event of adverse weather conditions, such as the Bise wind or thunderstorms.
Similarly, the docking stations at the gates have been fitted with cameras. The aim is to analyse and improve aircraft handling processes. Nevertheless, Tschudin admitted that the airport had not quite met its own punctuality target of 65% for July.
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SWISS stagnates
The same applies to SWISS, where punctuality has shown no improvement. Throughout the summer, 59% of flights departed with a delay of less than a quarter of an hour. Punctuality thus remained at the previous year’s level. The airline failed to meet its own target of 65%.
The main cause was the weather, said SWISS’s Chief Operating Officer, Oliver Buchhofer, in an interview with the AWP news agency. “The thunderstorms were stronger and more intense than last year.” The thunderstorm on June 30 alone – which raged over Zurich Airport for two-and-a-half hours without moving – accounted for a third of all last-minute flight cancellations at SWISS this summer.
As a result, 26 aircraft had to divert to other airports. In total, over 10,000 passengers were affected by the thunderstorm on June 30.
SWISS also faced difficulties due to strikes abroad and technical issues. The cancellation of flights to Tel Aviv and Dubai due to the war in Iran also had an impact, said Buchhofer. Flight schedule reliability fell to 97.1% from 98.5% the previous year.
The number of last-minute cancellations was 80% higher than in the previous year. A total of 337 flights were cancelled at short notice. However, in 2024 the figure had been just over twice as high.
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Series of peak days
Zurich Airport and SWISS struggled to cope with the high passenger numbers: from mid-July to early August, over 120,000 travellers passed through the airport on each of five peak days.
The busiest day was August 2, with just under 122,000 passengers, around half of whom were travelling with SWISS. That was only around 500 fewer than the all-time record set on October 5, 2025.
The pressure was high, said Tschudin. There were almost no breaks at all. The heatwaves had been an additional strain. When it was 35°C outside, it was 55°C on the tarmac near the aircraft and, in the belly of a plane, sometimes over 60°C.
This placed an enormous strain on the baggage handlers. To cool them down, the aircraft de-icing machines were used, said Tschudin.
Despite the mixed results this summer, SWISS manager Buchhofer believes the annual target of 70% punctuality is still within reach. “At the moment, things are still looking good.” SWISS is currently still slightly above last year’s level. “I haven’t given up on the target yet. It would be too early for that. We’re working on it,” Buchhofer told the AWP.
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Translated from German, reviewed by an English Department journalist.
