Zurich Airport

Aerial photograph of Zürich Airport
Source: Rama


IATA: ZRH ICAO: LSZH

Airport type	Public
Owner	Flughafen Zürich AG
Serves	Zürich, Switzerland
Location	Kloten, Rümlang, Oberglatt, Winkel and Opfikon
Hub for	Edelweiss Air Swiss International Air Lines
Focus city for	Chair Airlines Helvetic Airways
Elevation AMSL	1,416 ft / 432 m
Coordinates	47°27′53″N 008°32′57″ECoordinates: 47°27′53″N 008°32′57″E
Website	zurich-airport.com

Zurich Airport (German: Flughafen Zürich, IATA: ZRH, ICAO: LSZH) 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.

In 2019, the airport received the World Travel Award in the category “Europe’s leading airport” for the 17th time in a row. The Skytrax Award also ranks Zurich Airport among the top 10 airports in the world for millions of travellers each year

Corporate affairs

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%. Flughafen Zürich AG used the brand name Unique from 2000 until 2010.

In March 2017, Flughafen Zürich AG announced it had acquired 100% of Brazil’s Hercílio Luz International Airport, and will operate it under a concession until 2047. The company also has stakes in the operation of airports in Belo Horizonte, Bogotá, Curaçao, Antofagasta, Iquique, and Bangalore. More recently, the company has also won the concession to operate both Eurico de Aguiar Salles Airport in Vitória and Macaé Airport in Macaé, Brazil.

Infrastructure

Terminal complex

The airport has three airside piers, which are known as terminals A, B, and E (also signposted as Gates A, B/D, and E). These are linked to a central air-side building called Airside Center, built in 2003. Alongside the Airside Center, the ground-side terminal complex named Airport Center 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. The three airside terminals are:

Terminal A

Terminal A contains gates prefixed A. It opened in 1971, and it is used exclusively by flights to and from destinations inside the Schengen Area, including domestic flights within Switzerland. Since its expansion in 1982-1985, it takes the form of a finger pier, directly connected at one end to the Airside Centre. Terminal A will be torn down and replaced by an entirely new facility from 2021.

Terminal B

Terminal B contains gates prefixed B and D. It opened in 1975 and reopened in November 2011 after an extensive three-year reconstruction. Like terminal A, it takes the form of a finger pier directly connected at one end to the Airside Centre. Since reconstruction, it can accommodate both Schengen and non-Schengen flights at the same gates. Each gate has two numbers, one prefixed B and the other D, but with different passenger routes to and from the gates to separate the flows of Schengen and non-Schengen passengers.

Terminal E

Terminal E contains gates prefixed E, and is also known as the midfield terminal or Dock E. It is a stand-alone satellite terminal 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.

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.

Zurich Airport with the Swiss Alps visible in the background
Source: Hansueli Krapf

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines offer regular scheduled and charter flights at Zurich Airport:

Airlines	Destinations
Aegean Airlines	Athens Seasonal: Heraklion, Rhodes, Thessaloniki
Aer Lingus	Dublin
Aeroflot	Moscow–Sheremetyevo
airBaltic	Riga
Air Canada	Toronto–Pearson Seasonal: Vancouver
Air Europa	Madrid
Air France	Paris–Charles de Gaulle
Air Malta	Malta
Air Serbia	Belgrade
Alitalia	Rome–Fiumicino
AlMasria Universal Airlines	Seasonal charter: Hurghada
American Airlines	Philadelphia
Austrian Airlines	Vienna
BH Air	Seasonal: Burgas, Varna
Blue Islands	Seasonal charter: Guernsey, Jersey
British Airways	London–City, London–Heathrow Seasonal charter: Edinburgh
Bulgaria Air	Sofia
Cathay Pacific	Hong Kong
Chair Airlines	Beirut, Hurghada, Marsa Alam, Ohrid, Pristina, Sharm El Sheikh, Skopje Seasonal: Burgas, Calvi, Djerba, Heraklion, Ibiza, Kos, Larnaca, Rhodes, Zadar
Corendon Airlines	Seasonal: Antalya
Croatia Airlines	Zagreb Seasonal: Dubrovnik, Pula, Split
Cyprus Airways	Seasonal: Larnaca
Delta Air Lines	New York–JFK Seasonal: Atlanta
easyJet	Amsterdam, Berlin–Schönefeld, Berlin–Tegel, Lisbon, London–Gatwick, London–Luton, Naples, Nice, Porto
Edelweiss Air	Antalya, Buenos Aires–Ezeiza, Cagliari, Cancún, Catania, Edinburgh, Fuerteventura, Funchal, Gran Canaria, Havana, Hurghada, Lamezia Terme, Lanzarote, La Palma, Larnaca, Marsa Alam, Mauritius, Ohrid, Orlando, Palma de Mallorca, Pristina, Punta Cana, Rio de Janeiro–Galeão, San José (CR), Seville, Skopje, Tampa, Tenerife–South Seasonal: Agadir (begins 3 September 2020), Bodrum, Calgary, Cape Town, Chania, Colombo–Bandaranaike, Corfu, Dalaman, Denver, Djerba, Dubrovnik, Faro, Heraklion, Ho Chi Minh City, Ibiza, Jerez de la Frontera, Kalamata, Kos, Las Vegas, Mahé, Malé, Marrakesh, Menorca, Mykonos, Olbia, Paphos, Phuket, Puerto Plata (resumes 19 January 2021), Pula, Rhodes, Samos, San Diego, Santiago de Compostela (begins 4 July 2020), Santorini, Split, Tirana, Vancouver, Varadero, Varna Seasonal charter: Kittilä, Reykjavík–Keflavík, Rovaniemi, Tromsø
El Al	Tel Aviv
Emirates	Dubai–International
Etihad Airways	Abu Dhabi
Eurowings	Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Hamburg Seasonal: Palma de Mallorca
Finnair	Helsinki Seasonal: Kittilä
FlyEgypt	Seasonal charter: Hurghada
Hainan Airlines	Shenzhen
Helvetic Airways	Seasonal: Calvi, Kittilä, Kuusamo, Olbia, Tromsø Seasonal charter: Araxos, Heraklion, Kos, Lourdes/Tarbes, Palma de Mallorca, Rhodes
Iberia	Madrid
Icelandair	Reykjavík–Keflavík
Israir Airlines	Seasonal: Tel Aviv (begins 29 June 2020)
KLM	Amsterdam
Korean Air	Seasonal: Seoul–Incheon
LOT Polish Airlines	Warsaw–Chopin
Lufthansa	Frankfurt, Munich
Montenegro Airlines	Podgorica
Nouvelair	Seasonal charter: Enfidha
Oman Air	Muscat
Onur Air	Antalya
Pegasus Airlines	Istanbul–Sabiha Gökçen
Qatar Airways	Doha
Royal Air Maroc	Casablanca
Royal Jordanian	Amman–Queen Alia
Scandinavian Airlines	Copenhagen, Oslo–Gardermoen, Stockholm–Arlanda
Singapore Airlines	Singapore
SunExpress	Ankara, Antalya, Dalaman, Gaziantep, İzmir
Swiss International Air Lines	Amsterdam, Athens, Bangkok–Suvarnabhumi, Barcelona, Beijing–Daxing, Belgrade, Berlin–Tegel, Bilbao, Birmingham, Bordeaux, Boston, Bremen, Brindisi, Brussels, Bucharest, Budapest, Cairo, Chicago–O’Hare, Copenhagen, Dar es Salaam, Delhi, Dresden, Dubai–International, Dublin, Düsseldorf, Florence, Frankfurt, Gdańsk, Geneva, Gothenburg, Gran Canaria, Graz, Hamburg, Hanover, Hong Kong, Johannesburg–O. R. Tambo, Kiev–Boryspil, Kraków, Lisbon, Ljubljana, London–City, London–Heathrow, Los Angeles, Luxembourg, Madrid, Málaga, Manchester, Marseille, Miami, Milan–Malpensa, Montreal–Trudeau, Moscow–Domodedovo, Mumbai, Munich, Muscat, Nairobi–Jomo Kenyatta, Naples, Newark, New York–JFK, Nice, Nuremberg, Oslo–Gardermoen, Palma de Mallorca, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Porto, Prague, Rome–Fiumicino, Saint Petersburg, San Francisco, São Paulo–Guarulhos, Shanghai–Pudong, Singapore, Sofia, Stockholm–Arlanda, Stuttgart, Sylt, Tel Aviv, Tokyo–Narita, Valencia, Venice, Vienna, Warsaw–Chopin, Wrocław Seasonal: Alicante, Bari, Bergen, Cork, Figari, Heringsdorf, Malta, Palermo, Thessaloniki
Tailwind Airlines	Seasonal charter: Antalya
TAP Air Portugal	Lisbon, Porto
Thai Airways	Bangkok–Suvarnabhumi
Tunisair	Djerba, Tunis Seasonal: Enfidha
Turkish Airlines	Istanbul Seasonal: Gaziantep (begins 10 July 2020)
Twin Jet	Lyon
Ukraine International Airlines	Kiev–Boryspil
United Airlines	Chicago–O’Hare (begins 24 October 2020), Newark, Washington–Dulles Seasonal: San Francisco
Vueling	Alicante, Barcelona, Lanzarote, Málaga, Palma de Mallorca Seasonal: Santiago de Compostela

Ground transportation

Train

Zürich Flughafen railway station is located underneath the Airport Centre. The station has frequent Zürich S-Bahn services, plus direct InterRegio, InterCity, and Eurocity services, to many places including Basel, Bern, Biel/Bienne, Brig, Geneva, Konstanz, Lausanne, Lucerne, Munich, Romanshorn, St. Gallen, and Winterthur. There are some 13 trains per hour to Zürich HB (Hauptbahnhof), Zürich’s main city centre station, with a journey time of between 9 and 13 minutes. By changing trains there, most other places in Switzerland can be reached in a few hours.

Zürich Flughafen, the airport’s railway station
Source: Chris j wood

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.

Road

The airport is served by the A51 motorway and other main roads, which link to the airport’s own road network. Drop-off areas are available by the Airport Centre whilst a total of over 14000 spaces are available in six car parks for short and long term parking. A car hire centre is located in the terminal complex. Theairport is served by a fleet of dedicated airport taxis, which operate from taxi ranks in front of the arrival areas. Alternative chauffeur driven airport limousines can be arranged.

Other facilities

The Circle

The Circle, a complex intended to include a medical center, a conference center, shops, restaurants, offices, and hotels, is under construction opposite the Airport Centre. The complex was designed by Japanese architect Riken Yamamoto and is planned for completion in 2019 with opening for the public in 2020.

Company headquarters

Several companies have their headquarters on or about the airport. These include Swiss International Air Lines, Swiss World Cargo,Swiss AviationTraining, Edelweiss Air, gategroup, Helvetic Airways, Swissôtel, and Rega. Other companies that were formerly based on the airport include Swissair and Crossair.

Accidents and incidents

On 4 September 1963, Swissair Flight 306 experienced an in-flight fire shortly after take-off and crashed, killing all 80 people on board.
On 18 February 1969, four armed members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine attacked El Al flight 432 whilst it prepared for takeoff. The aircraft’s security guard repelled the attack, resulting in the death of one of the terrorists, whilst the Boeing 720’s co-pilot subsequently died of his injuries.
On 21 February 1970, a barometrically triggered bomb exploded on Swissair Flight 330 some nine minutes after takeoff from Zurich en route to Tel Aviv and Hong Kong. All 47 occupants were killed. The bombing was attributed to the PFLP-GC.
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.
On 24 November 1990, an Alitalia Douglas DC-9 operating Flight 404 crashed on approach to Zurich, killing all 46 passengers and crew on board.
On 10 January 2000, a Crossair Saab 340 operating Flight 498 crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all 10 occupants. The cause of the crash was determined to have been the result of spatial disorientation and pilot errors.
On 24 November 2001, a Crossair Avro RJ100 operating Flight 3597 crashed into hills near Bassersdorf while on approach to Zurich. Twenty-four of the 33 people on board were killed.

Source: wikipedia