Switzerland airspace reopens after technical ATC system malfunction

Switzerland reopened its airspace after a technical problem with the country’s air traffic control system (ATC) grounded flights nationwide.

According to swissinfo.ch, the country’s airspace was reopened at around 8.30 a.m. (UTC+2) as Swiss air navigation service provider Skyguide managed to solve the issues.

“The technical malfunction at Skyguide has been resolved. The airspace closure was lifted at 8.30 am. Swiss airspace is now open again and air traffic over Switzerland and operations at the national airports of Geneva and Zurich are resuming,” Skyguide announced on Twitter.

“Skyguide regrets this incident and its consequences for its customers and partners, as well as for the passengers at the two national airports. We are doing everything in our power to handle the flights efficiently and to keep delays to a minimum,” the statement continued.

The technical problem occurred in the early hours of June 15, 2022, prompting air traffic control to halt take-offs and landings at Swiss airports, including Zürich Airport (ZRH) and Geneva Airport (GVA). The issue led to further travel chaos across Europe as thousands of flights were delayed.

Earlier on the day of the incident, Zürich Airport announced that it was expecting to resume flight operations at reduced capacity before midday. “Flight operations are scheduled at 50% capacity until 09:30, and at 75% capacity from 09:30. We recommend passengers to pay attention to the flight information of the airline,” the airport noted in a travel update.

Skyguide apologized for “the incident and its consequences for the clients, partners, and passengers of Geneva and Zurich airports”. However, the ATC services provider did not provide any further details about the reasons behind the system malfunction.