Hey all, genuine question: do you know which are the reasons why Swiss Airlines delays their flights more often than other airlines? It seems they are in top 3 according to [1] and other such tops I found on google, above even low cost airlines like Easyjet and Ryanair. Lufthansa (which iiuc owns Swiss) stands much better according to this top.
by EasyTechnician5444
8 comments
Because their scheduling is just very tight. Short turnaround times don’t leave much room for error.
Because they schedule too many flights per day with one aircraft. Just 1 flight less per day and per aircraft would resolve all of this mess.
So people can complain about it on Reddit
As others mentioned, the schedule is very tight and they have slots to arrive/depart, if the slot cannot be made they have to arrange for another resulting in a delay.
This graph gives you an idea of the schedules at each major European airport: https://www.eurocontrol.int/Economics/DailyOperatedSchedules-Airports.html
Some good answers here already. I’d add that Zurich airport‘s layout is wind prone. Once wind starts coming from the north/east everything gets messed up due to crossing flight paths and capacity get’s reduced significantly resulting in serious delays.
Infos:
[https://www.meteoschweiz.admin.ch/ueber-uns/meteoschweiz-blog/de/2025/05/warum-die-bise-fuer-verspaetung-im-flugbetrieb-sorgt.html](https://www.meteoschweiz.admin.ch/ueber-uns/meteoschweiz-blog/de/2025/05/warum-die-bise-fuer-verspaetung-im-flugbetrieb-sorgt.html)
I was surprised to learn they only have 90 aircraft.
Pilot here ✌🏻
Most of the delays in the SWISS Network are due to Zürich airport imposing restrictions on airlines with how many aircraft per hour the airport is capable of landing/taking off. SWISS and all other airlines are completely at their mercy.
During a normal weather day its usually fine. But as soon as the wind comes above a certain speed value from the west, or even worse, from the east. Chaos ensues at the airport since it has to change which runways it uses for takeoff/landing, and in those scenarios those runways or their approach/takeoff paths intersect and thereby drastically reduce the capacity of Zürich airport. The airport is then forced to „spread out“ departing/arriving aircraft over a larger time window.
Often it isnt only the airport but also an air traffic control sector enroute that will impose a restriction due to weather in its area, or shortage of air traffic control staff etc…
In fact as I am writing this I am sat in the cockpit in Romania with a 30min takeoff delay due to an airport arrival restriction due to strong Westwind in Zürich aswell as bad weather enroute over western austria/southeastern germany.
The comments by many people here saying that Swiss has too tight schedule is incorrect.
Low cost carriers like EasyJet/Ryanair have turn around times often of 25-35min (scheduled time between arriving at the gate and leaving again)
SWISS has a minimum time of 35min but it very rarely uses it. Usually its more like ~50min to allow the flights to make up for prior delays.
An argument can be made however, that some connections are planned too tightly in the SWISS Network. These times are often based on figures published by the airport, where the airport tells airlines it can „guarantee“ X minimum connection time. The airlines rely on this when they sell tickets. In my personal opinion Züricj is way too optimistic with this value.
My recommendation to avoid delays would he to take flights as early as possible in the morning to avoid experiencing knockon delays from earlier in the day
Airspace must be overcrowded. How to eliminate the probleme? Fly less.
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