As most Swiss schools re-opened and holidays come to a close this week, Switzerland’s biggest airport drew a gloomy assessment of punctuality in summer 2024. While punctuality has improved year-on-year, the diligence of air traffic control, numerous thunderstorms and a “tense” geopolitical situation in Eastern Europe and the Middle East caused a downturn compared to in spring, airport authorities have said. Overall, it said, adherence to schedules in June and July was deemed unsatisfactory. + Zurich airport CEO: ‘Our mission is to meet all demand’ Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) has also warned some passengers that they will have to be patient in processing their claims for compensation for delays or cancellations, due to the large number of requests. The AWP news agency calculated that while the proportion of flights delayed by more than 15 minutes at landing had eased by two percentage points year-on-year from July to mid-August (to 41%), late departures had risen by the ...