Europe’s Air Traffic Controller Shortage Delays Flights, Slows Recovery
Photo Credit: Swiss planes parked below the control tower at the Zurich Airport. (Flughafen Zürich AG) Flughafen Zürich AG
Skift Take
There is no magic bullet to an air traffic controller shortage in the heart of Europe.
The morning of Monday, July 24, did not start out well for Swiss International Air Lines. Thunderstorms — the bane of all airline operations — hit its home base of Zurich a little before 7 a.m. local time and temporarily halted flights at the airport.
The ground stop delayed many of Swiss' first flights of the day from getting out on time, and that cascaded into what Head of Operations Steering Mark Ansems said was the carrier's "worst" operational days of the summer so far. Additional thunderstorms, and ground stops, throughout the day only exacerbated the situation. The result was roughly 60% of all of Swiss flights operating at least 30 minutes late and 7% cancelling.
“There was no way to recover," Ansems told Skift. "What happened that day is an unacceptable figure."
Swiss, and all European airlines, face more challenges than just weather this summer. A shortage of air traffic controllers across Europe is contributing to an increase in f
