Geneva, 5 March 2025 – In 2024 Switzerland's air navigation service provider Skyguide safely guided a record number of 1'328'974 flights under instrument flight rules through its airspace. This represents an increase of 10.2 percent compared to the previous year. With 479'314 IFR take-offs and landings, Swiss airports registered 4.9 per cent more movements than in 2023. Despite the significant increase in civil traffic, Skyguide achieved a net financial result of -18.9 million francs in 2024. The main reasons for this were high investments in technical infrastructure and fixed regulatory air traffic fees.

In 2024, Skyguide managed and monitored a record number of 1’328’974 flights under instrument flight rules (IFR). This is 10.2% more than in the previous year and 101.8% of the traffic level of 2019. That is well above the average traffic growth in Europe (4.94 per cent). Individual peak values exceeded the pre-pandemic level. At the same time, air traffic was marked by exceptionally high volatility last year.

Compared to 2023, IFR traffic has increased at the airports of Geneva and Zurich, as well as most regional aerodromes. This period of extremes has been characterised by high traffic peaks in commercial aviation and very different demand in the various aviation segments[1].  While scheduled and business flights have increased, charter and cargo flights have decreased.

Development by aviation segment (change compared to 2023 and 2019):

  • Scheduled airlines: +8.1 percent (compared to 2019: -4.5 percent)
  • Low-cost airlines: +15.4 percent (compared to 2019: +6.4 percent)
  • Charter flights: -4.1 percent (compared to 2019: -13.2 percent)
  • Business flights: +1.3 percent (compared to 2019: +11.8 percent)
  • Cargo flights: -0.9 percent (compared to 2019: +18.9 percent)

The number of military flight movements declined further in 2024, falling by 2.0 per cent to 83’519 (previous year: 85’237). Skyguide supported 222 live and hot missions and 2’284 tactical air force missions last year (previous year: 193 and 2’363).

Slight decline in punctuality – still above the European average

Skyguide recorded a slight decline in punctuality in 2024 compared to the previous year. 95.3% of all flights controlled by Skyguide were handled punctually according to the traffic flow management (ATFM) figures (previous year: 97.7%). The delays at the airports were mainly weather-related, while the en-route delays were due, in equal measure, to technical problems, weather conditions and capacity bottlenecks caused by the unexpected increase in traffic.

Nevertheless, with an average ATFM delay per flight of 0.73 minutes, Skyguide’s punctuality is still well above the European average (1.58 minutes ATFM delay per flight).

Stable operating income despite high traffic volume

Despite the very high traffic volumes in summer, with peaks above those of 2019, Skyguide’s operating revenue remained relatively stable in 2024 at CHF 528.4 million francs compared to 529.7 million francs in the previous year. Skyguide’s operating costs increased by 26.4 million francs from their 2023 level to 545.3 million francs. The main reasons for this were additional investments in the stability and maintenance of the systems and in regulatory requirements in the IT sector, which could not be covered by the predetermined air navigation fees. Skyguide closed the financial year with a net result of -18.9 million francs.

The Annual Report 2024 is available on the Skyguide website.

 

[1] The figures for the market segments relate exclusively to the Swiss “Flight Information Region” (FIR), while all other figures refer to the airspace controlled by Skyguide.