Two years ago, as he made his debut as SAirGroup chief executive, Philippe Bruggisser raised a local political storm by pulling back the bulk of Swissair's intercontinental flights from Geneva to the main Zürich hub. Now he has issued a blunt warning that Zürich "is in danger of losing its position as an intercontinental hub" if plans to expand the airport's capacity continue to be delayed.
"Swissair will be faced over the next five or six years with having long-haul flights starting from Brussels or Milan," he claimed at the group's annual press conference, in a veiled threat clearly earmarked for consumption by local press and politicians. "I don't want to hear the same complaints as in Geneva that you weren't warned. I warn you now," he said, adding for good measure that local politicians would have to decide between economic growth or turning the wealthy Zürich area into a "nostalgic" theme park. "We can live with either decision - aircraft are mobile."
The airport problems centre around expansion work which was sanctioned by a local vote in 1995, but has become entangled with legal action in the federal courts from local opponents.
Bruggisser admits that engine emissions (now the subject of penalties at the airport) remain a longer-term problem, but argues that fleet upgrades have actually abated overall noise despite increased flying. A recent simulation showed how another 100,000 movements could be added with no more nuisance.
As it stands, the airport is "constrained by sheer runway capacity" at the peaks, he says, adding that Swissair is "not even asking for more runways, just that we do a couple of intelligent things". One of those is to extend the runway by another 800m (2,600ft), so that aircraft can turn both north and south, alleviating noise restrictions.
Source: Airline Business
