Swiss airspace temporarily completely blocked: "I've never seen anything like it"
Created: 06/18/2022, 04:54
By: Martina Lippl
The airspace over Switzerland was blocked for hours due to a disruption in the Swiss air traffic control system Skyguide.
Update from June 15, 5:08 p.m
.: Because of the mega breakdown at Skyguide, thousands of passengers were stuck in Zurich and Geneva.
Take-offs and landings were no longer possible.
According to a Skyguide spokesman, a hardware component no longer worked properly.
A hacker attack is unlikely.
After the system failure, all air traffic in Swiss airspace was blocked for hours on Wednesday morning for safety reasons.
The airspace was blocked from just before 4 a.m. until 8.30 a.m. Swiss air traffic stopped working.
A total of 100 flights had to be canceled or diverted.
Final figures are not yet available.
According to SRF, Skyguide cannot yet quantify the financial consequences.
Experts expect damage in the millions.
Update from June 15, 12:21 p.m
.: After the computer breakdown at Swiss air traffic control Skyline and an hour-long flight stop, the airlines at Zurich and Geneva airports resume flight operations.
But there were no flights for several hours.
The consequences are massive.
Thousands of passengers are affected.
Many of them landed hundreds of kilometers from their destination because of the restricted airspace.
According to information from Zurich Airport, 77 flights had to be canceled in Zurich and 15 flights land elsewhere, reports
Blick.
The Lufthansa subsidiary Swiss was particularly affected.
The airline diverted long-haul flights to various airports in neighboring countries.
A Swiss plane coming from Shanghai had to land in Vienna.
European flights did not start.
30 short-haul flights to and from Zurich and Geneva have been canceled so far.
The airline is looking for solutions for 6,400 affected passengers.
Other airlines are also affected.
In Geneva, a Boeing 767 bound for New York was sent to Paris by United, reports
aerothelegraph.com
.
Swiss airspace temporarily completely blocked: "I've never seen anything like it"
Update from June 15, 10:20 a.m
.: Swiss airspace was blocked for more than two hours on Wednesday morning due to a computer malfunction.
No take-offs, no landings and no overflights were possible for safety reasons.
First of all, it is still unclear how many passengers have now landed in the wrong place, how many flights were affected in total.
Anyone who wanted to fly to Zurich or Geneva landed in Basel, Munich, Frankfurt or Milan, a pilot at Zurich Airport reports to a
Blick
reporter .
In such cases, it is important as a pilot to make decisions at an early stage.
Basel Airport is now full.
"Anyone who wants to fly over Swiss airspace, for example flying from Munich to Madrid, bypasses Swiss airspace or lands somewhere else if they don't have enough fuel.
As a pilot, I plan to use additional fuel in such a situation to be on the safe side,” says the pilot.
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The pilot remembers that traffic over Swiss airspace was temporarily restricted after a fire alarm at Skyguide.
Air traffic controllers had to leave the building in 2013.
The airspace was closed for 20 minutes.
"But I've never seen anything like this before."
Swiss airspace open again after computer failure
Update from June 15, 9:31 a.m
.: Swiss airspace is open again.
"The technical fault at Skyguide has been resolved," tweeted the Swiss air traffic control Skyline.
"Air traffic over Switzerland and operations at the Geneva and Zurich airports will resume." Accordingly, the airspace was closed until 8:30 a.m.
The first notification of the flight stop went out on Wednesday morning at 6.30 a.m.
The drastic security measures are likely to have consequences for flight operations.
Numerous flights to Switzerland were already canceled on Wednesday morning.
It could hit other flights, says Geneva Airport on its website.
Air traffic has been gradually resumed since 8.30 a.m. on Wednesday.
Travelers are asked to check with their airline whether their flight will be maintained.
Zurich Airport expects to gradually start up operations again.
At 9:30 a.m., a capacity utilization of up to 95 percent is planned.
But here, too, passengers are asked to note the flight information provided by the airlines.
Around 10,000 passengers were stranded in Zurich alone.
Swiss airspace completely closed - flights are diverted or remain on the ground
First report from June 15, 2022
Geneva – All take-offs and landings are suspended.
Planes that should land in Zurich or Geneva have been diverted to neighboring countries since early Wednesday morning.
Overflights are also not possible.
According to the Swiss air traffic control Skyguide, in the early hours of the morning "a technical fault occurred".
For security reasons, the entire Swiss airspace was closed.
Passengers were stranded at Geneva and Zurich airports on Wednesday morning.
Swiss airspace closed!
Nothing worked at Geneva Airport due to a computer glitch.
© FABRICE COFFRINI/afp
Swiss airspace completely closed
As Skyguide announced, it is a system failure.
"We are not assuming a cyber attack," Skyguide spokesman Vladi Barrosa told the dpa news agency.
It's about a hardware problem in the IT network.
The entire airspace was closed for safety reasons.
Not only take-offs and landings, but also overflights do not take place, as Barrosa said.
He could not quantify how many flights were affected.
In any case, it hits the morning wave of European flights between Geneva and Zurich and the surrounding area, as well as early arrivals from the USA.
Lufthansa subsidiary Swiss affected
The flight schedule of the Lufthansa subsidiary Swiss was particularly affected.
"The incoming long-haul flights are currently being diverted to various airports in neighboring countries, including Lyon, Milan and Vienna," the company said.
"Short-haul flights are currently not taking off." The airline is trying to find solutions for the passengers quickly.
The lock will be maintained until the problem is resolved, said the Skyguide spokesman.
It was initially unclear how long this would take.
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(dpa/ml)