Zurich landlord prefers renting to foreign nationals; instigators of Switzerland’s ‘Neutrality Initiative’ launch campaign; and more news in our roundup on Wednesday.
A matter of ‘justice’: Zurich landlord prefers renting to foreign nationals
Despite Zurich’s chronic housing shortage and fierce competition for available flats, one landlord is bucking the general trend of giving preferential treatment to Swiss citizens.
In an ad for a 70 m/2 2.5-room apartment he owns, Enrico Zingg is emphasising that he prefers to rent it to foreigners.
Ad screenshot, Homegate real estate platform
His reason: immigrants face disadvantages in the housing market, and he wants to remedy that.
“It is my contribution to universal justice,” he explained.
READ MORE: How foreign tenants in Switzerland face discrimination when flat hunting
Instigators of the ‘Neutrality Initiative’ launch their campaign
As the issue will be decided at the ballot box on September 27th, the supporters – the sovereigntist organisation Pro Schweiz, which is closely related to the populist Swiss People’s Party (SVP) – has officially began its campaign on Tuesday.
The initiative calls for enshrining perpetual armed neutrality in Switzerland’s Constitution, arguing that the current version has over the years been watered down by various international alliances that Switzerland has formed with foreign governments.
READ MORE: The future of Swiss neutrality to be decided at the ballot box
Passengers flying out from Zurich airport often pay a premium
The Lufthansa Group takes advantage of its near monopoly on many routes from Zurich – and sometimes Geneva as well – to charge very high fares.
According to an analysis carried out by a Swiss publication Handelszeitung, flights operated as monopolies by Lufthansa and its subsidiaries – of which SWISS is a member – are on average 31 percent more expensive than those on routes where another airline is present.
The most striking example is the Vienna-Zurich route, served exclusively by Austrian Airlines (also part of the Lufthansa Group): an economy-class ticket could cost as much as 945 francs – more than twice the price of a 10-hour long-haul flight to Bangkok.
In contrast, the Zurich to Rome flight where Swiss faces competition from ITA Airways and EasyJet, is significantly cheaper.
In total, the Lufthansa Group operates 90 routes without competition to or from Switzerland. It controls approximately 63 percent flights in Zurich, compared to just 13 percent in Geneva, where competition from EasyJet is much stronger.
General travel cards will cost less than planned
Some good news for Swiss commuters: the announced price hike for the General Travel card will not be as steep as originally planned.
Initially, the SwissPass Alliance had announced that the travel card will become 3.9 percent more expensive from December 13th – the date on which the 2027 public transport timetable goes into effect.
However, due to the successful intervention of the government ‘PriceWatchdog’, the increase will be slightly lower – to the tune of 3.6 percent.
“This reduction will benefit customers most reliant on public transport,” the Price Watchdog Stefan Meierhans announced.
Additionally, his office had negotiated with the SwissPass Alliance and the Swiss national rail company, SBB, for more discounted train tickets to be made available.
READ MORE: How Switzerland’s price watchdog can help you save money
