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Swiss government employees rack up 36 million air miles

Plane looping in the sky during an air show
Employees of the Swiss foreign ministry are the most likely to have flown in 2017. Keystone

Swiss government employees flew 58 million kilometres (36 million miles) in 2017 as part of their work, according to Le Matin Dimanche. That is the equivalent of going 1,442 times around the world.

They also travelled 29 million kilometres by train and another 11 million kilometres by car.

These figures are only partial, notes the French-language newspaper. Only 59 administrative units representing 19,600 full-time equivalent jobs out of 34,000 have reported details of their journeys to the resource management system.

By comparison, civil servants travelled 49 million kilometres by plane in 2006. Car use has decreased significantly, while train use has increased significantly.

Employees of the foreign ministry (16,700km per full-time job) are the most likely to have flown in 2017. They are ahead of those of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (8,446km) and those of the Federal Office of Civil Aviation (6,926km).



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