One in three planes delayed at Geneva airport

With one plane out of three taking off late, Geneva International Airport (AIG) ranks third worst in on-time performance among European airports, according to a survey released on Thursday.

The European Airline Association says 30.4 per cent of all planes taking off from Geneva’s Cointrin airport are delayed.

Philippe Roy, spokesman for AIG, said the airport authority would not dispute the figures, which were published in the American magazine “Time”. However, to find out the real extent of the delays, it would be necessary to know the reasons for the late departures.

Roy explained further that the AIG had set up a working group to study the statistics and try to find a way to solve the problem.

However, the number of planes landing late at the Geneva airport, 34.4 per cent, is even higher than the number of late departures. Roy blames the late arrivals and departures partly on the fact that planes often leave late from their stopover destinations.

Last year nearly eight million passengers travelled through Geneva airport, an 11.4 per cent increase over 1999, when the seven million passenger mark was exceeded for the first time.

The largest share of traffic at Geneva airport comes from flights of Swissair and EasyJet.

swissinfo with agencies