Travel through Zurich Airport continues to increase. In July, just over 3.33 million passengers passed through the airport, 2.4 percent more than in the same month last year. At the same time, operations were put under severe pressure by severe weather, airspace restrictions and geopolitical unrest.
The summer of 2026 was another busy period for Zurich Airport. In July alone, 3,334,827 passengers travelled through the airport, with SWISS accounting for 1.75 million of them.
Between the end of June and mid-August, SWISS carried almost three million passengers on 22,160 flights. However, there were 3.4 percent fewer travelers than in the same period last year.
The busiest day was Sunday, August 2, when 121,981 passengers used the airport. Almost 62,000 of them traveled with SWISS.
USA popular during the summer
New York, Chicago and Boston were SWISS' most popular long-haul destinations during the holiday season. Within Europe, London, Berlin and Palma de Mallorca topped the list.
Looking at all airlines at Zurich Airport, particularly strong passenger growth was noted on routes to Dallas, Istanbul and Delhi.
Transfer traffic is also significant. In July, 27.3 percent of travelers were transfer passengers, while almost three out of four began or ended their trip in Switzerland.
Punctuality improves – but does not reach targets
The summer was marked by several factors over which the airport and the airlines themselves have limited control. Severe thunderstorms, the international situation, capacity problems within European air traffic control and new regulations affected operations.
Departure punctuality for the entire Zurich Airport reached 56 percent in July, five percentage points better than in July 2025. So far this year, it is 66 percent.
For SWISS, punctuality during the busy summer period was 58.7 percent, while operational stability was 97.1 percent. The airline also suffered significantly more rerouting and cancellations than last summer.
“We cannot and will not be satisfied with this. We know where we need to improve and will take on the task together,” says SWISS Chief Operating Officer Oliver Buchhofer.
90 percent wait less than six minutes at security checkpoint
On the ground, passenger flows worked better. All new CT scanners in the central security checkpoint were operational ahead of the holiday season, which has simplified the handling of liquids and electronics in hand luggage, among other things.
Around 90 percent of passengers now wait less than six minutes at security.
However, border control sometimes has longer waiting times. According to the airport, this is due to the introduction of a new EU system for registering biometric data for travelers from non-EU countries.
7,400 use common real-time system
An important part of the work to stabilize operations is the Airport Operations Plan, AOP. The system is now in its third year and provides around 7,400 users within the airport system with access to the same real-time information on, for example, gate changes and weather.
The idea is that the airport's various stakeholders will be able to make coordinated decisions more quickly when disruptions occur. In total, around 300 different partners are involved in operations at Zurich Airport.
Want to build away future disruptions
In the longer term, changes to the infrastructure are also planned. These include extensions to runways 28 and 32, as well as measures to separate flight paths and use the existing runway system more efficiently.
The goal is to increase both stability and punctuality, not least in difficult weather conditions such as fog and easterly and westerly winds.
“The results from the summer show that our investments and measures are having an effect. Now it is important that the structural measures in the medium and long term also have an impact,” says Stefan Tschudin, Chief Operating Officer at Zurich Airport Ltd.
