Switzerland was the worst country in Europe when it came to flight delays this summer, new data from German passenger rights organisation Flightright has revealed. Nearly four in 10 people flying to Swiss airports were delayed, with Zurich having the fourth-highest cancellation rate on the continent.

Switzerland is Europe's worst country for flight delays

According to Flightright, the entire DACH region was the problem child of Europe when it came to cancellations and delays this summer. Between June 20 and September 4 this year, of the 49.000 flights that landed in Switzerland, 19.000 were classed as late - meaning they landed with a delay of 15 minutes or more.

With 38,78 percent of flights arriving behind schedule, this makes Switzerland the worst country in Europe for delays, just ahead of Greece (36,97 percent) and Turkey (36,52). In addition, 2,5 percent of flights to Switzerland were cancelled during the period, the worst rate on the continent ahead of Germany (2,4 percent) and Austria (1,46 percent).

German and Swiss airports rate poorly for punctuality

In terms of specific airports, Zurich saw the fourth highest rate of flight cancellations in Europe at 2,37 percent, with the top three consisting of Berlin (3,01), Frankfurt (2,52) and Munich (2,49 percent). 40 percent of flights landing at Switzerland’s largest airport arrived late, the joint-third-highest in Europe alongside Rome and behind Munich (45,19 percent) and London Gatwick (42,34 percent). 

The findings did not make for pleasant reading for SWISS and other members of the Lufthansa Group either. Eurowings and Lufthansa had the highest rate of cancellations during the summer at 3,09 and 2,9 percent respectively, with SWISS coming third with 2,61 percent. 

For delays, 43,03 percent of SWISS flights were delayed during the period. This means the flag-carrier airline of Switzerland had the third worst delay record of the summer, only behind Italian airline ITA (48,45 percent) and easyJet (43,11 percent).

Why are flight delays in Switzerland so bad?

While the report laid into German airports, noting that they face “significant challenges” like shortages of staff and strike action, authors failed to explain why Switzerland faired so poorly. In many ways, the excessive delays can be explained by external factors.

For instance, the terrible weather in Switzerland seen at the beginning and midpoint of the summer forced Swiss airports to limit arriving traffic on many of the peak days. As Switzerland is surrounded by busy European flight paths, in the past both Zurich Airport and SWISS have blamed their delays on unavoidable traffic restrictions put in place by neighbouring countries.

Skyguide, the air traffic controller for all major airports in Switzerland, also admitted in June that bugs in their system were responsible for a third of flight delays in the alpine nation. Finally, July 19 saw Zurich, Geneva and airports around the world hit with a major tech outage, which suspended landings and take-offs for hours.

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