Early years In the Zurich area, mixed civil and military air traffic developed from 1909 onwards at
Dübendorf airfield, northeast of the city. From 1919, the airport was home to
Swissair's predecessor , and from 1932 also to Swissair. The first regular international flight service began on 1 June 1922 with an Ad Astra route to
Fürth, Germany. In the early years of aviation, the Dübendorf Air Base, located around southeast of Zurich Airport, also served as the city's commercial airfield. The need for a dedicated commercial facility led to the search for a location to build a replacement airport. In 1939, civil air traffic had to be suspended at the outbreak of the
Second World War for military strategic reasons. Although Swissair was allowed to resume scheduled air traffic in September 1940, this remained on a modest scale during the conflict. Locher & Cie submitted "Project I" to the Government on 31 December 1943. Four runways were planned and together with the buildings the required area was . Without the purchase of land, the project would have cost
CHF 87 million. The government found the costs too high and ordered a revision. The "Project II" of 29 April 1944 still provided for an area of at a cost of CHF 65 million, but the government council demanded a further reduction. For "Project III" of 31 July 1944, CHF 54.4 million and were required. The project nevertheless met the requirements of an
intercontinental airport. The Government formally approved it and submitted it to the Federal Government, strongly emphasising that the Zurich project was "far superior" to the also planned (and ultimately abandoned) Swiss Central Airport
Utzenstorf, near
Bern. In December 1944, the responsible
Federal Councillor,
Enrico Celio, explicitly spoke out in favour of Zurich-Kloten, in a letter to his counterparts, as did the governments of the cantons of Eastern and Central Switzerland and
Ticino a month later. The
National Council and
Council of States followed this view and on 22 June 1945 approved the "Federal Decree on the Expansion of Civil Airports".
Basel,
Bern and
Geneva were to receive smaller continental airports and be supported with a 30 percent share of the costs. The Zurich project was granted the status of an intercontinental airport and the highest possible subsidy rate of 35 percent. Switzerland's federal parliament decided in 1945 that Zurich was to be the site of a major airport, and sold of the Kloten-Bülach Artillery Garrison () to the canton of Zurich, giving the canton control of the new airfield. Construction of the airport began the following year. Initial plans for the airport, as laid out in the Federal Government's scheme of 1945, were centred on facilities capable of handling international airline traffic. Aircraft of up to 80 tonnes were envisaged. The primary runway was to be designed for use in all weather conditions and at night, with a -wide hard surface running to in length. Additional areas were to be provided on the shoulders for lateral protection in case of
runway excursions. Additional domestic runways, between in length, were also to be built. "Project IV" never came to fruition, as it was further developed by adapting it to the
ICAO standards which were changing rapidly at the time. Instead of four runways, the new "Project V" of 20 May 1946 provided only three. Project VI" of 9 October 1946 increased the dimensions of all three runways. Finally, the slightly modified "Project VII" of 20 December 1947 was realised. Within three years, the design on the drawing board had completely changed from a purely grass airfield with a four-runway system without taxiways to a three-runway system with paved taxiways. The staggered design meant that it was possible to react to changes without having to impose a complete halt to construction. Construction works finally began on 5 May 1946 with the diversion of the Altbach stream. The long West Runway 10/28 was the first runway which was opened on 14 June 1948, and on which the first Swissair
Douglas DC-4 took off for
London. On behalf of the canton as airport owner, Cantonal Councillor Jakob Kägi gave a speech to mark the inauguration of the new runway and the start of provisional flight operations. Shortly after, on 17 November 1948, the long blind runway 16/34 (runway with
instrument landing system) was opened for operation, which was attended by the seven members of the cantonal government. In the presence of guests from politics and the media as well as representatives of the construction companies and airlines, the new airport was inaugurated, which meant that the relocation of the entire civil flight operations from Dübendorf to Kloten had already been completed and full operation could begin at the new Zurich Airport. On 27 October 1948, the canton outsourced the development, construction and operation of the buildings to the newly founded "Flughafen-Immobilien-Gesellschaft" (FIG), a mixed-economy
public limited company in which the public sector held half of the shares (canton of Zurich 22.5%, city of Zurich 18%, "
Zürcher Kantonalbank" 5%, city of
Winterthur 3.6% and municipality of
Kloten 0.9%). The
FIG took over projects that had been started and was thus able to hand over the completed "shipyard I" to
Swissair for use as early as late autumn 1948, followed by offices for Swissair's technical departments, which were finally able to leave
Dübendorf by the end of April 1949. Further workshops, the striking arched hangar and the "Heating Centre I" for the heat supply were completed by the end of 1949. The new building consisted of a central passenger wing, flanked by a restaurant and an office wing. In addition there was a spectator terrace of length. The new terminal opened in 1953 with a large air show that ran for three days. In 1947, the airport handled 133,638 passengers on 12,766 airline flights; in 1952, 372,832 passengers on 24,728 airline flights.
Second stage of construction Locher & Cie was commissioned in 1954 to design various project options for the second construction phase. In March 1956, the canton submitted an extended project to the Federal Council. In addition to mandatory runway extensions for the incipient "jet age", the project also provided for the extension of the public facilities, which were already overused and dominated by various provisional arrangements;
two finger docks were to defuse the situation. On 12 October 1956, the Federal Council recommended that Parliament approve the bill. On 19 December 1956, the
Council of States approved the federal contribution of CHF 54.8 million (at a total cost of 181.8 million), and the National Council followed suit on 7 March 1957. The contribution of the canton of Zurich of CHF 74.3 million was still outstanding, the rest was to be raised by
FIG and Swissair. The concrete expansion project included the extension of the blind runway to and the western runway to , as well as the extension of the buildings. Opponents described the "super airport Kloten" as a "luxury" and criticised that the canton had "lost every measure". Another issue that planners had completely neglected until then was the aircraft noise. With a high turnout of 72.3%, the expansion project failed in the cantonal referendum of 23 June 1957 with 97,603 votes to 83,196 (no vote of 54.0%). Just four days later, Zurich's cantonal government commissioned a redimensioned expansion project. The blind runway was to be only long, the western runway 2500 m; the construction of the finger docks was abandoned. Thus the canton's share of the project to be approved was only CHF 49.1 million. The government paid far more attention to the aircraft noise. On 6 July 1958, voters approved the project by 107,050 votes to 56,872 (yes share 65.3%), with a 65.6% share. Due to time pressure - the landing of the first jet aircraft was planned for the following year - construction work began without waiting for approval of federal funding. In December 1958 and March 1959 respectively, the National Council and the Council of States granted subsidies of 55.6 million. In 1959,
BOAC started regular flight connections to Zurich with the revised
"Comet IV", while the airport was still a construction site. The first buildings were completed in 1960, and the terminal building, which had been considered an attractive design, lost its symmetrical appearance. To the east, towards the former shanty town, office wing A1, office wing B and the air traffic control building were added with a connecting structure. The "Fracht West" building, which had been extended at short notice during construction to provide additional office space, was located somewhat off the main building. In the hangar area in the southwest, Heating Station II was put into operation and the Hangar II, which was designed for jet aircraft, was handed over to Swissair, shortly after the arrival of the
Sud Aviation "Caravelle III" and the Douglas DC-8-32 in May 1960. Finally, in the summer of 1961, Swissair's in-flight catering service was given a new building between the head of the airport and the hangar area. The canton of Zurich acquired a further of land for the expansion of the civil engineering works, which lasted until the beginning of 1961 in parallel with the construction of the buildings. The apron areas were enlarged, particularly at the airport head and in the hangar area; the pier was also extended from 16 to 28 aircraft parking spaces, and
buses were purchased to provide access to them. The west runway 10/28 was extended by to the west, towards
Rümlang, and opened on 1 January 1961 with its new operating length of . Blind runway 16/34 was extended to the south in the direction of
Opfikon and to the north in the direction of
Oberglatt. At its new operating length of , it was released on 15 March 1961. By the time work was completed, the paved area at the airport covered . During the conference, FIG's airport planners and the canton of Zurich prevailed against the federal government. The canton only had to make concessions for the commercial parts of the project, such as the restaurant wing. The dispatch of the Federal Council, submitted on 1 March 1965, requested a federal contribution of 23.1 million to the total costs of 129.4 million. Of this, 2.1 million was earmarked for the connection of the airport to the national road network and the preparation of a connection to the planned (but never built)
Zurich underground railway. The National Council and Council of States adopted the bill in October 1965, allowing construction work to begin the following year. The motorway loop was in operation from 1968. Finally, with the opening of the last new hall wing on 1 April 1971, the extension of the terminal building was completed. The first signs of noise mitigation for the airport were in 1972, when a night-time curfew was enacted, as well as in 1974 when new approach routes were introduced. Runway 14/32 was opened in 1976, and 16/34 began renovation. The attack marked the beginning of a discussion about airport security that had never been raised until then in Switzerland. On 21 February 1970, a parcel bomb exploded in Swissair's
Convair CV-990 on the flight
SR330 (Zurich–
Tel Aviv). In the crash near
Würenlingen all 47 people on board were killed. Investigations revealed that a PFLP terrorist group had carried out the bomb attack. The actual target, however, had been an El Al flight from Munich to Tel Aviv, whose mail had been sent with Swissair to Zurich due to long delays. In 1970, the PFLP obtained the release of the three terrorists convicted in Switzerland and other comrades-in-arms imprisoned abroad through coordinated hijackings. Flights affected were
SR 100 (Zurich–
New York),
TWA flight TW741,
Pan Am flight PA93 and
BOAC flight BA775.
Third stage of construction In January 1969, the Zurich's Cantonal Council approved a loan for preparatory work for the third stage of expansion. The project that was subsequently drawn up exceeded the previous dimensions. The plans included the extension of the existing runways, a long runway, additional taxiways, the enlargement of the pier to 47 stands, a new terminal with finger dock, two
multi-storey car parks, additional technical buildings, an airport railway station and a new
hangar. In addition, there were various extensions and conversions of existing buildings. The costs were estimated at CHF 777.6 million (not including the air traffic control building and railway station). Since this project was hardly different from the "super airport" rejected in 1957, criticism was immediately voiced again by the "Protection Association of the Population around Zurich Airport" (SBFZ) and the community of
Höri, which was located directly in the approach corridor. The SBFZ even demanded the resumption of the central airport concept that was dropped in 1945 – instead of
Utzenstorf this time in the
"Grosse Moos", with two runways jutting into
Lake Neuchâtel. The supporters of the Zurich airport expansion argued primarily for the economic benefit. To take the wind out of the sails of aircraft noise criticism, the government and cantonal council drafted an aircraft noise law (including a ban on
night flights), which was to be submitted to a referendum at the same time as the expansion bill. After the Cantonal Council had approved both bills in July 1970, the referendum was held on 27 September 1970. The proposal for expansion was approved by 103,867 votes to 64,192 (61.8% yes), and the Aircraft Noise Act by 134,501 votes to 32,590 (80.5% yes). The following year, the Federal Assembly approved a federal contribution of 240.3 million. Construction work on the third stage also began in 1971. In 1973, Hangar III, Cargo Hall East, Car Park F and the
General Aviation Centre were completed. In 1974 the "Werkhof" (work yard), an office building and
multistorey car park E were added, in 1975 the apron, multi-storey car park B and Terminal B with finger dock, and in 1976 the Airport Plaza shopping and service centre located in multi-storey car park B. Additional costs were incurred due to numerous adjustments to the construction project. The additional credit of 25.8 million was accepted by Zurich voters on 7 December 1975 with 178,723 to 87,303 votes (67.2% yes). The canton supplemented this credit with ordinary and extraordinary budget credits from the building department. In March 1976 the Federal Assembly approved an additional federal contribution of 39.7 million. As the centrepiece of the third stage, runway 14/32 was opened on 1 April 1976, increasing capacity by a third. In the early days, the new runway served exclusively for landing traffic. The rail link, which had been approved by parliament in 1975 in a separate federal decree, was still outstanding. As this was a project of the
Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), the cost allocation differed greatly. Of the total costs of 285 million, the SBB contributed 60%, the Federation 33% and the canton of Zurich 7%. The project comprised the
Zurich Airport railway station under Terminal B (on which construction had been underway since 1971) and a new line between
Bassersdorf and
Glattbrugg. After nine years of construction, the ceremonial opening of the
airport line took place on 29 May 1980.
Fourth stage of construction In the second half of the 1970s, the volume of traffic continued to rise sharply, so the canton of Zurich, the FIG and Swissair worked out a project for the fourth construction phase. On 28 September 1980, with 142,240 to 104,775 votes (57.6%), Zurich voters accepted a loan of CHF 48 million for civil engineering works, which were part of the forthcoming construction work. Based on this concept, the Federal Assembly approved the "Building Programme 1981–1985". This programme provided for investments of CHF 393.3 million in Zurich-Kloten, but the subsidy contribution of 10.3% was significantly lower than for the
Geneva and
Basel-Mulhouse airports. This was justified by the catch-up demand of the two other major Swiss airports. The central element of the fourth stage was the finger dock in Terminal A with 13 docking positions. Also planned were a new
control tower, a
baggage sorting system, an additional multi-storey car park, waiting rooms and an operations centre for aircraft crews. Later, Zurich's cantonal government also decided to renew the damaged western runway, which had to be closed for two and a half months in the summer of 1985 for this purpose. Fingerdock A was put into operation on 1 November 1985, and the new 41 m high control tower on 29 April 1986.
Zurich 2010 project The next major event for the airport was in 1999 when the Parliament of the canton of Zurich approved the privatization of Zurich Airport. The following year, Flughafen Zürich AG, trading under the brand "Unique", became the new airport operator. The company dropped the brand "Unique" in favour of "Zurich Airport" and "Flughafen Zürich" in 2010. On 2 October 2001, a major cash-flow crisis at
Swissair, exacerbated by the global downturn in air travel caused by the
September 11 attacks, caused the airline to ground all its flights. Although a government rescue plan permitted some flights to restart a few days later, and the airline's assets were subsequently sold to become
Swiss International Air Lines, the airport lost a large volume of traffic. After
Lufthansa took control of Swiss International Air Lines in 2005, traffic began to grow again. On 18 October 2001, Germany and Switzerland signed a treaty regarding the limitation of flights over Germany. Under the terms of this treaty, any incoming aircraft after 22:00 had to approach Zurich from the east to land on runway 28, which, unlike the airport's other runways, was not equipped with an
instrument landing system. A month later, at 22:06 on 24 November, an inbound
Crossair Avro RJ100 using this approach in conditions of poor visibility
crashed into a range of hills near
Bassersdorf and exploded, killing 24 of the 33 people on board. The flight had originally been scheduled to land on runway 14 before 22:00, but it was subject to delay and was therefore diverted to runway 28. Zurich Airport completed a major expansion project in 2003, in which it built a new parking garage, a new midfield terminal, and an automated underground
people mover to link the midfield terminal to the main terminal. In November 2008 a complete renovation and rebuild of the old terminal B structure was announced. The new terminal B opened in November 2011 and provides segregated access to and from aircraft for
Schengen and non-Schengen passengers. Zurich Airport handled 25.5 million passengers in 2014, up 2.5 percent from 2013. Etihad Regional ceased on 18 February 2015 to fly two-thirds of its scheduled routes without further notice, amongst them all its services from Zurich except the domestic service to
Geneva. Etihad Regional blamed the failure of its expansion on the behavior of competitors, especially
Swiss International Air Lines, as well as the Swiss aviation authorities. Terminal A has reached the end of its life cycle and will be completely rebuilt – including the tower of the
Skyguide Air Traffic Control. The project was originally put on hold due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, but was restarted in 2023 with construction to begin in 2030. The earliest expected completion is 2033. The replacement will be built largely of sustainable wood and be used for photovoltaics, thus making a major contribution to the airport's CO2 reduction strategy. ==Corporate affairs==