The number of flights in and out of Switzerland’s biggest airport increased by 14.5% in 2023, but activity is still 10% lower than pre-pandemic years.

A total of 241,005 aircraft took off and landed in Zurich last year, according to figures from the airport website analysed by news agency AWP. In 2019, it was 268,968.

In the wake of travel restrictions to contain the spread of coronavirus in 2020, flights had plummeted to 40% of the 2019 level. Since then, traffic has steadily recovered – in 2022, the gap compared to 2019 was still around a fifth. …