Swiss airspace closed due to IT glitch – all flights canceled

A hardware defect at Skyguide air traffic control is currently paralyzing air traffic – take-offs and landings are not possible at any Swiss airport.

Due to an IT glitch at the Swiss air traffic control Skyguide, Zurich and Geneva airports are currently paralyzed. Neither planes can take off nor land, as a spokeswoman in Zurich said on request. Dozens of flights have already been cancelled. The disruption is likely to continue throughout the morning, and Zurich Airport expects flight operations to “restart at reduced capacity before noon”.

Skyguide reports that there was a technical fault in the early hours of the morning, which is why Swiss airspace was closed to traffic for safety reasons. "This airspace closure applies until further notice," says a press release

Skyguide media spokesman Vladi Barrosa confirms the technical fault on request. "At the moment we are not assuming a hacker attack," says Barrosa. It is a hardware defect in a network component. "Our technicians are working flat out to fix this error."

The Swiss airspace was completely closed for safety reasons because of the breakdown, both for instrument and visual flights, explains Barrosa. "So there are no flights possible at all." The longtime Skyguide spokesman can't remember that this has happened before. There are regular restrictions, for example during the WEF flights are prohibited in a certain part of the airspace. And after the volcanic eruption in Iceland in 2010, flights were also temporarily restricted, but the entire airspace never had to be closed.

Arriving planes are now being diverted to other airports. "The airlines are obliged to define an alternative landing airport for each connection," explains Barrosa. The flights that should take off, however, are delayed. "We try to process them as quickly as possible as soon as the airspace is open again," says the Skyguide media spokesman.

Zurich Airport's website was also overloaded at times, but the information for passengers is now available again. According to a press release, check-in at Zurich Airport continues, but travelers should contact their airline to find out about the planned flight: "We recommend that passengers read the airline's information before departing for Zurich Airport."

The Euroairport Basel-Mulhouse is not directly affected by the incident, since the French air traffic control DSNA (Direction des Services de la Navigation Aérienne) is responsible here, the airport is on French territory. Swiss does not fly to the airport. However, the closure of Swiss airspace has an indirect impact.

So the Swiss planes could not all switch to this nearest airport. The planes from Chicago and Montreal landed in Basel, but those from Dubai and Johannesburg diverted to Milan. The flight from Shanghai will land in Vienna.

United flights from Chicago and New York will be diverted to Frankfurt, while Thai Airways from Bangkok and Etihad from Abu Dhabi will land in Munich. All European short-haul flights to or from Geneva and Zurich have been canceled, and dozens of routes are affected.

In Geneva, the Ethiopian flight from Addis Ababa to Marseille was diverted, the United flight from New York to Paris.