Corporate social responsibility

With 31.5 million passengers and 275,000 flight movements, Zurich Airport is by far the largest airport in Switzerland and is consequently an infrastructure of national importance. 69 airlines connect Switzerland directly to 203 destinations all over the world. On the one hand, operating infrastructure like this creates thousands of jobs and boosts the attractiveness of Switzerland as a business location (study on economic importance). On the other hand, flight operations are also not without some negative impacts, especially in the immediate vicinity of the airport.

Zurich Airport has operated on the same runway system for over forty years now. Like individual road transport and other forms of public transport, aviation has also seen considerable growth during this time. Today Zurich Airport handles more than double the number of flight movements and almost five times as many passengers as it did when the runway system was last extended in 1976. Measures will therefore be necessary in the medium term to expand capacity so that Zurich Airport can fulfil the Swiss government’s mandate to provide a safe and efficient transport hub to meet the demand for air travel. Such expansion will only be possible if the negative impacts of aviation operations can be further reduced and it can be shown that the positive benefits of this transport infrastructure clearly outweigh the disadvantages. Flughafen Zürich AG engages in regular dialogue and discussions on such issues with its many stakeholders, fostering trust in its activities and laying the foundations for adapting its operational framework to meet growing demand. Zurich Airport will then be able to continue operating as Switzerland’s sole intercontinental hub airport as mandated by the federal government and in the interests of the country as a whole.

Associations, interest groups and political dialogue

As in previous years, Flughafen Zürich AG regularly engaged in dialogue with political stakeholders during 2019. As well as periodically publishing (for example in its political newsletter), these efforts focused on liaising with neighbouring municipalities, political decision-makers at a cantonal and federal level, and various public agencies. Flughafen Zürich AG also successfully continued to collaborate with a variety of regional and national business and industry associations.