Busy summer at Zurich Airport. Photo: Zurich Airport Zurich Airport concludes the 2026 summer season with an exceptionally high demand for flights, alongside a series of operational challenges.
During the month of July alone, 3,334,827 passengers passed through the airport, an increase of 2.4% compared to July last year. SWISS flew approximately 1.75 million passengers this month.
The busiest day of the summer season was recorded on August 2, when 121,981 passengers passed through the airport. Almost 62,000 of them flew with SWISS. Between the end of June and mid-August, the company flew just under three million passengers on 22,160 flights.
SWISS' most popular long-haul destinations were New York, Chicago and Boston, while within Europe, London, Berlin and Palma de Mallorca stood out. Among all airlines operating in Zurich, particularly significant growth was recorded on routes to Dallas, Istanbul and Delhi.
Despite the congestion, the airport has maintained relative stability through cooperation among some 300 companies and entities operating there. A digital system called Airport Operations Plan, in use for the third year, provides some 7,400 users with real-time information on departure gates, weather, and operational developments.
However, punctuality figures are still far from ideal: only 56% of flights departing in July departed on time, albeit an improvement of 5 percentage points over last year. Since the beginning of the year, the on-time departure rate has been 66%.
The port notes that the main summer challenges were unusual thunderstorms, airspace restrictions, congestion in Europe's air navigation systems, and the consequences of the geopolitical situation.
In the long term, infrastructure upgrades and runway extensions are also planned to improve stability and meet schedules.
At the same time, the airport completed the installation of new CT scanners at security checkpoints, allowing passengers to go through security more conveniently without removing liquids and electronic devices from their luggage. Approximately 90% of passengers wait less than six minutes at security checkpoints