Zürich Airport

Zürich Airport Flughafen Zürich
IATA: ZRH – ICAO: LSZH
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Flughafen Zürich AG
Serves	Zürich, Switzerland
Location	Kloten, Rümlang, Oberglatt, Winkel and Opfikon[1]
Hub for	Belair Edelweiss Air Germania Flug Helvetic Airways Swiss International Air Lines Swiss Global Air Lines
Elevation AMSL	1,416 ft / 432 m
Coordinates	47°27′53″N 008°32′57″E / 47.46472°N 8.54917°E / 47.46472; 8.54917Coordinates: 47°27′53″N 008°32′57″E / 47.46472°N 8.54917°E / 47.46472; 8.54917
Website	zurich-airport.com
Map
ZRH Location of airport in Switzerland
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 10/28 8,202 2,500 Concrete 14/32 10,827 3,300 Concrete 16/34 12,139 3,700 Concrete
Statistics (2014)
Passengers 25.512.134 02.5%
Source: List of the busiest airports in Europe

Zürich Airport (German: Flughafen Zürich, IATA: ZRH, ICAO: LSZH), also known as Zürich Kloten Airport, is the largest international airport of Switzerland and the principal hub of Swiss International Air Lines. It serves Zürich, Switzerland's largest city, and, with its surface transport links, much of the rest of the country. The airport is located 13 kilometres (8 mi) north of central Zürich, in the municipalities of Kloten, Rümlang, Oberglatt, Winkel and Opfikon, all of which are within the canton of Zürich.^[1][2]

The airport is owned by Flughafen Zürich AG, a company quoted on the SIX Swiss Exchange. Major shareholders include the canton of Zürich, with 33.33% plus one of the shares, and the city of Zürich, with 5% of the shares. No other shareholder has a holding exceeding 3%.^[3]

History

Before 1980

A Swissair Douglas DC-8 at Zurich Airport in 1965

The first flight abroad from Switzerland was on July 21, 1921, but the search for a location for a major airport in the Canton of Zürich was not started until 1943. In 1945, the federal government decided that Zürich was to be the site of a major airport, and sold 655 hectares (1,620 acres) of the Kloten Ordnance Depot to the Canton of Zürich. Thus the Canton of Zürich had control of the airport. The construction of the airport began the next year.^[4]

The first flights off the west runway were not until 1948. The new terminal opened in 1953 with a large air show that ran for three days. In 1947 the airport handled 133638 passengers on 12766 airline flights; in 1952, 372832 passengers on 24728 airline flights. The first expansion of the airport was submitted in 1956, but the budget for the expansion was not approved by the Swiss Government until 1958 and the expansion was completed in 1961.^[4][5]

On 18 February 1969, an El Al aircraft was attacked, whilst being prepared for takeoff, by four armed members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The attack was repulsed the aircraft's security guard, resulting in the death of one of the terrorists, whilst the Boeing 720's co-pilot subsequently died of his injuries. On 18 January 1971, an inbound Balkan Bulgarian Airlines Il-18D approached Zurich Airport in fog below the glideslope. It crashed and burst into flames, 0.7 kilometres (0.43 mi) north of the airport, when both left wingtip and landing gear contacted the ground. Seven crew members and 38 passengers were killed.^[6][7]

The airport was again submitted and approved for renovation in 1970, and Terminal B was completed in 1971. The first signs of noise mitigation for the airport were in 1972, when a night-time curfew was enacted, as well as in 1974 when new approach routes were introduced. Runway 14/32 was opened in 1976, and 16/34 began renovation.^[4]

1980 onwards

The noise of aircraft became an issue and a noise charge was instituted in 1980, and in 1984, an agreement was made regarding arrivals and departures to the airport via German airspace. The next largest event for the airport was in 1999, when the Parliament of the Canton of Zürich approved privatization of Zurich Airport. It was not until 2000, that Flughafen Zürich AG, trading under the brand Unique was appointed as the new airport operator. The brand Unique was dropped in favour of Zurich Airport and Flughafen Zürich in 2010.^[4][8]

On the 2 October 2001, a major cash-flow crisis at Swissair, exacerbated by the global downturn in air travel caused by the September 11 attacks, caused the airline to ground all its flights. Although a government rescue plan permitted some flights to restart a few days later, and the airline's assets were subsequently sold to become Swiss International Air Lines, the airport lost a lot of traffic. Since Lufthansa took over Swiss International Air Lines in 2005, traffic has started growing again.

On 18 October 2001, a treaty was signed in 2001 between Germany and Switzerland regarding the limitation of flights over Germany. Under the terms of this treaty, any incoming aircraft after 22:00 had to approach Zürich from the east to land on runway 28, which, unlike the airport's other runways, was not equipped with an instrument landing system. A month later, on the 24 November, an inbound Crossair Avro RJ100 using this approach crashed into a range of hills near Bassersdorf and exploded, killing 24 of the 33 people on board.^[4][9]

In 2003, Zurich Airport completed a major expansion project in which it built a new parking garage, a new midfield terminal, and an automated underground people mover to link the midfield terminal to the main terminal. In November 2008, a complete renovation and rebuild of the old terminal B structure was announced. The new terminal B opened in November 2011, and provides segregated access to and from aircraft for Schengen and non-Schengen passengers.^[10] Zurich Airport handled 25.5 million passengers in 2014, up 2.5 percent from 2013.^[11]

On 18 February 2015, Etihad Regional ceased two thirds of its scheduled routes without further notice, amongst them all services from Zürich except the domestic service to Geneva.^[12][13][14] Etihad Regional blamed the behavior of competitors, especially Swiss International Air Lines as well as the Swiss aviation authorities for their failed expansion.^[13]

Infrastructure

Terminals

The airport has three airside piers, which are known as terminals A, B and E (also signposted as Gates A, B/D and E). A central air-side building called Airside Center, built in 2003, is directly linked to terminals A and B, which take the form of finger piers.^[15][16]

Alongside the Airside Center, the ground-side terminal complex named Airport Center^[15] comprises several buildings, and includes airline check-in areas, a shopping mall, a railway station, car parks, and a bus and tram terminal. All departing passengers access the same departure level of the Airside Center, which includes duty-free shopping and various bars and restaurants, via airport security. They are then segregated between passengers for Schengen and non-Schengen destinations on the way to the gate lounges, with the latter first passing through emigration controls. Arriving Schengen and non-Schengen passengers are handled in separate areas of the Airside Center and reach the Airport Center by different routes, with non-Schengen passengers first passing through immigration controls.

Terminal A

Terminal A for domestic and Schengen destinations

Terminal A, containing gates prefixed A, opened in 1972, and it is used exclusively by flights to and from destinations inside the Schengen Area, including domestic flights within Switzerland.^[15]

Terminal B

Terminal B, containing gates prefixed B and D, opened in 1971 but was reopened in November 2011, having been extensively rebuilt over a period of three years. In its new guise, it is designed to handle both Schengen and non-Schengen flights at the same gates. Each such gate has two numbers, one prefixed B and the other D, but with different passenger routes to and from the gates in order to keep the flows of Schengen and non-Schengen passengers separate.^[15][17]

Terminal E

International Terminal E

Terminal E, containing gates prefixed E, also known as the midfield terminal or Dock E, is located on the opposite side of runway 10-28 from the Airside Center, and is situated between runways 16/34 and 14/32. It is entirely used by non-Schengen international flights and became operational and was opened on September 1, 2003. It is connected to the Airside Center by the Skymetro, an automated underground people mover.^[15]

Runways

Zurich Airport has three runways: 16/34 of 3,700 m (12,100 ft) in length, 14/32 of 3,300 m (10,800 ft) in length, and 10/28 of 2,500 m (8,200 ft) in length. For most of the day and in most conditions, runway 14 is used for landings and runways 16 and 28 are used for takeoffs, although different patterns are used early morning and in the evenings.^[18]

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Countries served by flights from Zürich Airport as of December 2014

The following airlines offer regular scheduled and charter flights at Zürich Airport:^[19]

Cargo

Statistics

Statistics of the Zurich Airport from 1982 to 2014 incl. passengers, transfer passengers, flights handled and freight in metric tons

Zurich Airport with the Swiss Alps visible in the background

Interior view of the landside area

Route statistics

Passenger development

Zurich Airport Passenger Totals 1950-2014 (millions)

Updated: 16 January 2015

Ground transportation

Zurich Airport railway station

Train

Zurich Airport railway station is located underneath the Airport Centre. The station has frequent Zürich S-Bahn services on lines S2 and S16, plus direct InterRegio, InterCity and Eurocity services to Basel, Bern, Biel/Bienne, Brig, Geneva, Konstanz, Lausanne, Lucerne, Munich, Neuchâtel, Romanshorn, St. Gallen and Winterthur. There are 10 trains per hour to Zürich Hauptbahnhof, Zürich's main city centre station, with a journey time of between 10 and 15 minutes. By changing trains at Hauptbahnhof, most other places in Switzerland can be reached in a few hours.^[41]

Bus and tram

In front of the Airport Centre is the airport stop of the Stadtbahn Glattal, a light rail system that interworks with the Zürich tram system, together with a regional bus station. Both the bus station and light rail stop provide service to destinations throughout the Glattal region that surrounds the airport, with the light rail stop being served by tram routes 10 and 12. Tram route 10 also provides a link to Zurich Hauptbahnhof, albeit with a rather longer journey time than that of the railway.^[42]

Car

The airport is served by the A51 motorway and other main roads, which link to the airports own road network. Drop-off areas are available by the Airport Centre whilst a total of over 1000 spaces are available in six car parks for short and long term parking. A car hire centre is located in the terminal, and taxi ranks are available outside the Airport Centre.^{[43][44][45][46]}

Other facilities

Swiss International Air Lines Airbus A330-300 and Airbus A340-300 at Zurich Airport

• Swiss International Air Lines has an office on the property of Zurich Airport and in Kloten, consisting of the Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie buildings.^[47][48] Several subsidiarys of Swiss are headquartered here as well: Swiss World Cargo has its head office in the Alpha and Bravo buildings.^[49][50] Swiss Private Aviation has its head office in the Swiss complex.^[51] Swiss European Air Lines and Swiss AviationTraining are also headquartered on the airport property.^[52][53]

• Edelweiss Air has its head office in the Edelweiss Air Operations Center (OTC) on the airport grounds.^[54]

• gategroup has its head office on the airport property.^[55]

• Helvetic Airways has its head office on the grounds of the airport in Kloten.^[56]

• The corporate offices for Swissôtel are located in the Prioria Business Center on the property of Zurich Airport and in Kloten.^[57][58]

• Rega, the Swiss air rescue service, has its head office in the Rega Centre, a hangar located in the northeast section of Zurich Airport. This hangar has direct access to the runways of the airport.^[59] It is within the municipality of Kloten.^[60]

• When Swissair existed, its head office was at Zurich Airport and in Kloten.^[61][62] The head office was in proximity to the main airport facilities.^[62] In 1985 Crossair was headquartered in Kloten.^[63]

See also

• Transport in Switzerland

References

External links

Media related to Zurich Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website
• Accident history for Zurich Airport at Aviation Safety Network
• Aeronautical chart for Zurich Airport at SkyVector
• Current weather for Zurich Airport at NOAA/NWS

Airports in Switzerland Major international Basel–Mulhouse–Freiburg Geneva Zürich Minor international Bern Lugano Sion St. Gallen–Altenrhein Unscheduled Grenchen Lausanne Samedan