Swiss government ministers spent more time in the air in 2025
The seven members of the Swiss government made slightly more use of planes and helicopters last year. A total of 104 more flight hours were recorded than in the previous year, according to the latest figures from the Federal Air Transport Service.
+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox
Government ministers flew a total of 704 hours last year, the Federal Air Transport Service said on Friday. Around 39 of those hours were empty flights. In 2024 government ministers spent around 600 hours in the air, an increase of around 17.5%.
The majority of these flights were carried out by aeroplane in both years. Last year, helicopter flights accounted for less than 14%. They rose only slightly compared with 2024.
+ Swiss government officials required to travel green
Unsurprisingly, Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis flew the most in 2025, clocking up 212 flying hours; as part of his official duties, he must visit other countries and maintain relations with them within the framework of international diplomacy.
In second place was Economics Minister Guy Parmelin with more than 146 hours. Third place went to Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter, who held the rotating Swiss presidency last year, with 128 flight hours.
Adapted from German by AI/ts
We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools to translate them into English. A journalist then reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication.
Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.
If you have any questions about how we work, write to us at english@swissinfo.ch
External Content
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.