New traffic statistics released on 15 January by the Board of Airline Representatives in Switzerland (BAR-CH) reveal that the country’s two main hubs handled more passengers in 2025 than in any year before the pandemic even as aircraft movements continued to fall. Zurich Airport welcomed 32.6 million travellers (103.4 % of the 2019 level) on 270,116 flights—still 1.9 % below the 2019 movement count—while Geneva processed 17.85 million passengers on 177,288 flights, down 4.7 % from 2019. (bar-ch.org)
Higher-capacity aircraft, stronger load factors and a tariff structure that discourages low-yield rotations allowed both airports to deliver record throughput with fewer take-offs, a trend hailed by the Federal Office of Civil Aviation as proof that efficiency and sustainability goals can align. Night-time departures after 22:00 at Geneva dropped a further 24.6 %, and latest-generation jets now make up 34 % of its traffic mix.
![Zurich and Geneva Airports Top Pre-Covid Passenger Numbers While Cutting Flights]()
For mobility managers the headline is resilience: seat supply into Switzerland has not only recovered but grown on key long-haul routes. Zurich added a Shanghai service on China Eastern, and both hubs expect additional North-American frequencies once the World Economic Forum (WEF) starts on 19 January. Nevertheless, parking stands at Zurich will be saturated during WEF week, and corporate flight departments are urged to lock in slots and Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) allocations early.
Meanwhile, travellers and programme managers looking to stay ahead of Switzerland’s entry formalities can lean on VisaHQ’s digital platform, which consolidates the latest visa and transit requirements, offers step-by-step application support and even integrates with corporate booking tools—details are at https://www.visahq.com/switzerland/.
BAR-CH’s report also foreshadows higher airport fees for noisier aircraft from April 2026, a move that could influence fleet-planning decisions for carriers serving Switzerland and, by extension, corporate travel budgets. Companies should revisit travel-policy fare caps for the second quarter and brief travellers on likely terminal congestion spikes tied to the phased rollout of the EU Entry/Exit System (EES) biometric gates beginning in March.
Higher-capacity aircraft, stronger load factors and a tariff structure that discourages low-yield rotations allowed both airports to deliver record throughput with fewer take-offs, a trend hailed by the Federal Office of Civil Aviation as proof that efficiency and sustainability goals can align. Night-time departures after 22:00 at Geneva dropped a further 24.6 %, and latest-generation jets now make up 34 % of its traffic mix.
For mobility managers the headline is resilience: seat supply into Switzerland has not only recovered but grown on key long-haul routes. Zurich added a Shanghai service on China Eastern, and both hubs expect additional North-American frequencies once the World Economic Forum (WEF) starts on 19 January. Nevertheless, parking stands at Zurich will be saturated during WEF week, and corporate flight departments are urged to lock in slots and Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) allocations early.
Meanwhile, travellers and programme managers looking to stay ahead of Switzerland’s entry formalities can lean on VisaHQ’s digital platform, which consolidates the latest visa and transit requirements, offers step-by-step application support and even integrates with corporate booking tools—details are at https://www.visahq.com/switzerland/.
BAR-CH’s report also foreshadows higher airport fees for noisier aircraft from April 2026, a move that could influence fleet-planning decisions for carriers serving Switzerland and, by extension, corporate travel budgets. Companies should revisit travel-policy fare caps for the second quarter and brief travellers on likely terminal congestion spikes tied to the phased rollout of the EU Entry/Exit System (EES) biometric gates beginning in March.
