Storms make for a turbulent start to the summer travel season
Published: Friday, Jul 19th 2024, 10:40
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Air travelers in Zurich needed nerves of steel for the start of the summer vacations. Even before the major IT glitch on Friday (today), there were numerous delays: Airlines and the airport had to contend with difficult weather conditions in particular.
Of the 3423 aircraft that landed at Zurich Airport in the period from July 5 to 14, a total of 41 percent were delayed by more than 15 minutes, according to an analysis of arrival and departure times on the airport's website by the news agency AWP. This is slightly less than in the same period last year, but the average delay has increased by around 1.5 minutes to just under 45 minutes.
There was also a slight deterioration in the average delay for take-offs compared to the previous year. This also increased by just under 1.5 minutes to 43 minutes. In addition, 60 percent of all aircraft took off late.
However, the delays in departures are less indicative of the actual delay than the arrivals, because aircraft can often make up for delays, at least partially.
United top, Turkish flop
Of the airlines with more than 30 landings in Zurich, United Airlines and Vueling were the most punctual, with just 15 and 16 percent of flights delayed respectively. Easyjet (23%), Iberia (24%), Chair (28%), TAP (34%) and Edelweiss (32%) also had comparatively few delays.
At the other end of the scale are the airlines Sunexpress (50%), Croatia Airlines (53%), British Airways (59%) and Turkish Airlines (59%), where at least every second flight was delayed. Looking at the airlines with fewer than 30 landings, Air Serbia stands out. Of its 29 flights to Zurich, 23 - or 80 percent - arrived late.
Swiss below the average
Both the airline Swiss and its parent company Lufthansa performed worse than average in terms of delays. However, Swiss also operated by far the most flights.
Almost two thirds of Swiss flights took off from Zurich with a delay. On average, passengers had to wait 40 minutes. This figure is almost the same as last year. However, Swiss was not yet able to quantify the average delay of flights arriving at their destination airport on request.
In Zurich, almost every second Swiss flight arrived late. Although the proportion of delays fell slightly from 49 percent to 46 percent, the average delay increased from 42.8 minutes to 45.5 minutes.
On request, a Swiss spokeswoman spoke of a "mixed start to the vacation". However, some of the delays were due to factors beyond the airline's control.
Storms with a major impact
According to the spokesperson, the weather in particular had a major negative impact at the beginning of July. The many thunderstorms in Europe led to "capacity bottlenecks in European air traffic control", which resulted in many delays and sometimes even cancellations.
Zurich Airport also cited severe weather as the main reason for the frequent delays at the start of the summer vacation. On the other hand, punctuality improved year-on-year over the entire first half of the year, the airport said on request. "The delay situation throughout Europe is still not satisfactory for anyone," said a spokeswoman.
Measures initiated
At the beginning of 2024, airport boss Lukas Brosi acknowledged deficits in punctuality and vowed to improve: "We need to make progress in terms of delays," he said. Measures to improve this had therefore already been introduced the previous year.
In 2023, the coronavirus pandemic still had a major negative impact on punctuality at Zurich Airport: In particular, the shortage of skilled workers at the airlines and also among ground staff was a major problem. Companies had cut staff during the pandemic and were unable to build them up again as quickly as they would have liked.
According to Swiss, it has worked intensively with Zurich Airport, the ground handling company Swissport and the airport security company Skyguide to prepare for the summer. For example, Swiss and Swissport worked together to ensure that more experienced employees were available.
Swiss also announced that measures have been implemented to improve punctuality on early and late flights. Flights with many connecting passengers will also be prioritized in order to reduce delays on long-haul flights.
Zurich Airport is also working on further improvements to improve punctuality in bad weather conditions. For example, additional meteorological forecasters are being deployed at Meteo Switzerland to improve the planning of weather-related effects.
©Keystone/SDA
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