Boeing 777 causes flight delays for Swiss to the US West Coast
Published: Friday, May 17th 2024, 14:30
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Delays at Zurich Airport fell slightly between January and mid-May compared to the same period last year. However, travelers who wanted to travel to the US West Coast had to be more patient than last year. The reason for this was the Boeing 777 aircraft.
33% of the more than 39,000 commercial flights that took off from Zurich between the beginning of the year and mid-May were delayed by more than 15 minutes. In 2023, the figure was slightly higher at 36%, according to an analysis of Zurich Airport's departure schedule by the news agency AWP. Last year, bottlenecks and strikes caused a strikingly high number of delays.
So far this year, flights to the US West Coast have been particularly affected: Three out of four flights to Los Angeles took off late, compared to two out of three last year. San Francisco followed in second place among the destinations with at least 100 flights with the most delays, followed by Tel Aviv, Montreal and Lisbon.
Overall flight schedule in view
While only Swiss aircraft fly to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Montreal, the other destinations are also served by other airlines. The reason for the frequent delays on departures to the US West Coast were apparently problems with Boeing aircraft.
For various technical reasons, not all Boeing 777 aircraft have been available in recent weeks, explained Swiss spokeswoman Meike Fuhlrott on request. If this is the case, Swiss will deploy the available aircraft in such a way that the impact on the overall system is kept to a minimum.
Specifically, departure delays are most likely to be accepted where there is the most buffer on arrival. "Basically, our top priority is to offer a stable and reliable flight schedule," says Fuhlrott. However, the delays should now decrease again. All twelve aircraft in the fleet are now back in regular service, said the Swiss spokeswoman.
Also fewer arrival delays
The proportion of delays to arrivals at Zurich Airport was also lower this year than in 2023. In the first four and a half months of the year, 24% of the almost 39,000 arrivals of commercial flights were delayed by 15 minutes or more. In the previous year, the delay rate was 27 percent.
Since the beginning of the year, flights from Bangkok have been the most unpunctual. Around every second flight there landed later than planned. Aircraft arriving from Manchester (43 percent), Tel Aviv (42 percent), Singapore (40 percent) and Gothenburg (37 percent) also had a high delay rate. Several airlines fly to Zurich from Bangkok, Tel Aviv and Singapore, while the Manchester-Zurich and Gothenburg-Zurich routes are only served by Swiss.
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