A European comparison that falls short Most flight cancellations in Kloten? Swiss is fighting back

This summer has once again seen significant weaknesses in European air traffic, with Swiss and Zurich Airport performing the worst. Those affected disagree.

According to the consumer portal Flightright, there was an unprecedented number of flight cancellations and delays during the summer vacations, particularly in Germany and Switzerland. Switzerland even took first place in the area of flight cancellations and delays. 2.5 percent or 1,227 flights were canceled. Of these, 38.78 percent of 49,004 flights were delayed. This corresponds to 19,006 flights that landed late in Kloten.

Swiss comments: A comparison such as the one that took place is usually not entirely representative. Furthermore, the fundamentally different operating models of individual airlines, for example point-to-point airlines versus network airlines such as Swiss, are not comparable. "This applies, for example, to consideration for connecting passengers, for whom we also accept delays if necessary," says Swiss.

If you look at the figures by airport, Switzerland, or more precisely Zurich Airport, is in fourth place. It is followed by Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich. Feyza Türkön, an expert in air passenger rights at Flightright, emphasizes that German airlines and airports continue to have the highest cancellation rates in Europe, which points to deeper structural problems in the industry.

Swiss denies ranking

At the request of blue News, the report continues: "The framework conditions under which the airlines operate also differ considerably in some cases. At Zurich Airport, for example, the bise (easterly wind) and a complex runway system with intersecting runways regularly lead to a significant reduction in capacity."

Internal work steps such as boarding, ground handling by partner companies or unscheduled technical work are currently responsible for around a quarter of all departure delays. "The other three quarters are due to external factors over which we as an airline have no direct influence. Above all, bottlenecks in European air traffic control, the airspace capacities made available and weather-related restrictions such as thunderstorms and all the resulting delays," says Swiss.

In addition, Swiss has increased its punctuality to 64 percent since the beginning of the year until mid-August thanks to comprehensive measures. "We have therefore exceeded the previous year's figure, even though we carried over 2.8 million passengers between the beginning of July and mid-August, around eight percent more passengers than last year."

In conclusion, Swiss says: "Last year we were the most reliable airline in Europe with a flight schedule stability of over 98 percent. Our goal is to improve further and achieve a punctuality rate of 70 percent for the year as a whole."

Swissport draws a positive interim balance

Swissport, the service company for airlines and airports, made early preparations for the "travel-intensive period" in the summer season. "One focus was on recruiting additional staff and training employees. At the Zurich site, Swissport was able to increase its workforce by around 400 employees from summer 2023 to summer 2024 and currently employs over 2,500 people," writes Swissport in response to a blue News inquiry.

It continues: "The aviation system, and thus also the ground handling service providers, is exposed to a number of external factors. During the summer, thunderstorms, the air traffic control situation, disruptions to infrastructure such as the baggage sorting system and the crowdstrike IT outage were particularly noticeable." These external factors led to several handling stops and flight delays.

Nevertheless, passenger and flight volumes increased again compared to the previous year and almost reached pre-corona levels. Despite high passenger numbers, the number of forwarded baggage rose to a similar level to the previous year. However, the trend is declining.

The Flightright ranking shows that the Lufthansa Group, which already attracted negative attention at the beginning of the year with its high cancellation rates, was particularly affected. Airlines such as Eurowings, Lufthansa and Swiss were at the top of the European cancellation statistics, while other airlines such as TAP Portugal and Ryanair performed significantly better.

The DACH region performs worst across Europe

Overall, the figures indicate that the Lufthansa Group is struggling with internal problems and staff shortages, which is also reflected in dissatisfied passengers.

Almost a third of flights took off with a delay of at least 15 minutes. In addition to natural disasters, this was also due to numerous strikes, particularly within the Lufthansa Group.

Airports in the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) were particularly badly affected. German airports also performed poorly compared to other European countries.