Skyguide reports tangible traffic growth and top punctuality in 2011
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Skyguide reports tangible traffic growth and top punctuality in 2011
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Geneva, 25 January 2012. Skyguide, Switzerland's air navigation services
provider, saw a 3.1% increase in the volume of flights it handled last year:
1.19 million, compared to 1.16 million in the prior-year period. While the
numbers of landings and departures handled were a substantial increase on 2010,
the rise was far more modest in en-route traffic volumes. On the punctuality
front, skyguide posted a further improvement on its prior-year performance: an
average of 96.9% of all daily flights were handled without delays, setting a
further new record in punctuality terms.
Steady traffic growth in the first half-year
2011 got off to a dynamic start: skyguide's traffic volumes for January were
6.4% above their prior-year level. The tangible increase was due largely to the
relatively low traffic levels in January 2010, as a result of adverse weather
conditions and strike action abroad. From February onwards, the traffic volumes
handled per month were some 2-3% above their 2010 levels. The growth levelled
off in the second half-year, however, as Europe's financial crisis began to
bite. Skyguide saw a 2.1% year-on-year decline in its November traffic volumes.
On average, the company managed and monitored 3,268 flights a day in 2011. The
peak traffic day was 16 September, with 4,051 flights.
IFR flights[1] handled in 2011:
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 2011 2010 Change 10-11 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Total IFR flights 1,192,940 1,156,960 + 3.1% |
| |
| of which en-route traffic 712,830 706,165 + 0.9% |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[1] IFR or "instrument flight rules" flights are performed in controlled
airspace and require air traffic management services to ensure their safe and
efficient operation.
Substantial growth in landing and departure traffic
The total number of landings and departures handled at airports managed by
skyguide in 2011 amounted to 517,314 movements, a 5.9% increase on the previous
year. Skyguide's Zurich Airport operations handled 268,384 movements (up 4.5%),
while its Geneva operations managed 176,009 movements (an increase of a sizeable
7.0%). The company's area control centres in Dübendorf and Geneva, which are
primarily responsible for managing and monitoring en-route traffic, reported
aggregate traffic growth of 3.2%. As in 2010, Europe's financial crisis clearly
had less impact on the volumes of arrivals and departures at Swiss airports than
it did on en-route traffic levels.
Punctuality maintained consistently high
Skyguide handled 96.9% of its daily traffic volumes without delays in 2011 - a
new record annual performance that surpassed the previous 96.0% high for 2010 by
almost a full percentage point. In en-route traffic, the number of delays
attributable to air traffic management was reduced by as much as 60%. The
favourable punctuality performance is attributable to various actions taken to
increase system capacity, including steps at the end of 2009 and 2010 to
reorganise Switzerland's upper airspace. In addition, the efforts that the
company intensified over the past few years in its recruitment activities have
resulted in an increase in air traffic controller numbers. 2011 also saw
skyguide adopt a new planning tool that permits more precise forecasts to be
made of expected traffic volumes. This allows both capacity and personnel
resources to be aligned even more closely to projected traffic levels.
On the airport operations front, delays at Geneva were halved from their prior-
year level - a substantial achievement, given that the airport also saw a 7%
increase in its movement volumes. At Zurich, by contrast, adverse weather
conditions led to an increase in the number of delays.
Flight punctuality: a key indicator
Flight delays can occur for any of a wide range of reasons on the ground (such
as baggage handling or security requirements) or in the air (such as the
weather). Around 12% of all delays to flights can be attributed to air traffic
management. These ATM delay levels are a key indicator when it comes to
monitoring the performance of an air navigation services provider. ATM delays
occur when the number of flights planned exceeds the capacity available in the
airspace concerned. For safety reasons, a maximum number of flights per hour is
specified for every airspace sector monitored by an air traffic controller. If
demand exceeds the capacity available, Europe's Central Flow Management Unit
will reschedule some of the "slots" it has assigned to the flights concerned.
And this in turn will result in the flights' delay.
skyguide
swiss air navigation services ltd
media relations
CH-1215 Geneva 15
Contact:
phone: +41 22 417 4008
email: presse(at)skyguide.ch
internet:www.skyguide.ch
Skyguide is responsible for providing air navigation services within Swiss
airspace and in the airspace of certain adjoining regions in neighbouring
countries. The company guides the civil and military aircraft entrusted to its
care - around 3,270 flights a day or 1.2 million a year - through the busiest
and most complex airspace in Europe. Skyguide is a non-profit limited company
which has its head office in Geneva. The majority of its shares are held by the
Swiss Confederation. The company generated total operating revenue of over CHF
365 million in 2010, and employs some 1,400 people at 14 locations in
Switzerland. Skyguide is also a member, together with its partner organizations
in Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, of the FABEC
initiative to create a common functional airspace block that will bring greater
efficiency to Central Europe's air traffic management services and activities.
The media release can be downloaded from the following link:
Media release (PDF):
http://hugin.info/134388/R/1579397/492828.pdf
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Source: skyguide via Thomson Reuters ONE
[HUG#1579397]
Unternehmensinformation / Kurzprofil:
Datum: 25.01.2012 - 11:01 Uhr
Sprache: Deutsch
News-ID 107522
Anzahl Zeichen: 7483
contact information:
Town:
Zürich-Flughafen
Kategorie:
Business News
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