GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A rundown of some of this week’s news highlights:
Nestlé charged with lack of protection, death of former worker
Charges were filed against Vevey-based multinational Nestlé in Zug by a Colombian trade union and a human rights group for not adequately protecting a former employee, Luciano Romero, who was murdered in Colombia by paramilitaries in 2005. The case could have broad implications according to Germany-based human rights group ECCHR (European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights) because it is the first filed against a Swiss company in Switzerland for a crime committed outside the country. ECCHR – Nestle, Newsletter French, pdf (Fr)
The charges come as world media are focused on the safety of foreign multinational workeres in conflict areas, notably in Nigeria, with the deaths Thursday 8 March of two foreigner workers in Nigeria. In separate news, Nestlé announced Friday morning that it is offering scholarships to a number of its trainees in Nigeria, to bring them to Switzerland to see home office operations.
Solar Boat evades pirates, navigates way to world record
PlanetSolar, the world’s only entirely solar-powered boat, whose home is Yverdon, made it through the pirate-infested waters of the Gulf of Aden. The MS Tûranor PlanetSolar is now navigating the waters of the Red Sea and expects to arrive 4 May 2012 in Monaco, at which point it will become the first solar boat to circumnavigate the globe.
Crans-Montana says yes to Women’s World Cup in 2013 in a turn-about (correction)
World Cup in Crans-Montana, 2012
The Valais resort of Crans-Montana said Monday it would not be hosting the 2013 Women’s World Cup in skiing, despite the success and nearly 50,000 visitors to the men’s event in late February.
A turn-around was announced Thursday 8 March after a meeting Wednesday night when the concerns of some players about hosting the event at the height of the ski season, which could mean closing to the public the popular Nationale run for several days.
The group of communities in the region, ACCM, has thrown its support behind not only a bid for the Cup next year, but an investment of CHF400,000 a year to keep Crans-Montana on the World Cup circuit. The funds require final approval, but the signal at the end of the week was clear: the resort is ready to fight to get the events.
Also under discussion are the re-creation of two or three significant runs.
One former Swiss president gets pie in face, another joins Rousseau protesters in NY
Micheline Calmy-Rey, who completed her year as president of Switzerland in December 2011, was shocked, as were many in the political world, by a pie that was shoved in her face earlier this week by a man angry over her role in the losses incurred by bank BCGE several years ago. The incident, outside the human rights film festival in Geneva, appeared to be more a form of aggression than a humorous incident.
Another former Swiss president, Pascal Couchepin, joins a group in New York Friday 9 March, for Occupy Rousseau, to hold up the Geneva philosopher’s example of fighting inequality and social injustice.
Cern technology behind Geneva airport’s solar panels
The airport in Geneva Friday received delivery of the first of some 300 high-temperature solar thermal panels that will cover a surface of 1,200m2 on the roof of the main terminal building. The panels will be used to heat the buildings during winter and cool them in summer. Their vacuum technology was developed at Cern for particle accelerators.
Nuclear power plant told by judge it must close early
Muehleberg, Switzerland’s aging nuclear power plant that has been the focus of protesters’ calls for closure because of the high cost of keeping it safe, was told it must shut down by June 2013. Safety issues were cited as the reason. The decision was made by the Swiss Administrative Court 1 March but announced the 7th, Wednesday. It is one of five nuclear power plants in the country and was scheduled to be phased out as Switzerland gets rid of its nuclear energy programme, but the decision speeds up the process by several years.
British passengers are by far the largest group flying into Geneva, followed by the French, US passengers and Spanish (source: Genève Aéroport, December 2011)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – It was a very good year for Geneva’s international airport: 2011 saw 10.5 percent growth in the number of passengers, with 13.1 million people flying in and out of the city.
Planes carried more passengers, with the number of takeoffs and landings increasing by 6.6 percent.
Financial information will be published later, the airport noted while announcing its traffic figures for 2011, Wednesday 4 January.
Growth will slow considerably in 2012, according to airport projections.
Rolle, Lake Geneva, 16 December 2011
GENEVA / ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Zurich airport is suffering major disruptions due to storms Friday evening 16 December and Geneva airport saw delays during the day, as winter blew into Switzerland with a vengeance.
Valais police are reporting several roads closed due to heavy snow, and the car/train link between Goppenstein and Kandersteg was closed Friday. Trees are down in several parts of Vaud, with one tree hitting three cars in Lausanne.
Joachim is the name of the storm that blasted its way across parts of the Jura and Bern Friday morning, bringing high winds and storms that churned up Lake Neuchatel.
Zurich airport reported some cancelled or delayed flights Friday morning, notably from Nice, London and Amsterdam, all affected by storms. By Friday evening Swiss was sending people to a “bad weather in Europe” page and Zurich airport was showing several flights cancelled or delayed, including Paris and London flights.
Geneva airport, which opened its new visitor center officially 16 December was only lightly touched, with some London flights cancelled and minor delays as the Lake Geneva region was drenched by winds and torrential rains.
The Swiss Institute for snow and avalanche danger has put most of canton Valais on a red alert (level 4) for avalanche danger. Postal cars on the Gampel-Steg and Blatten (Lötschen) line are not running because of the danger of avalanches.
Weather has also closed several regional train lines, including Rochers-de-Naye.
Lake Geneva at Rolle 16 December, looking towards Evian and the French Alps where the clouds are dumping snow
vines ripening above Sierre, in late summer
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A note to GenevaLunch visitors: the four-day Ascension weekend taken by many Swiss businesses has begun. The cold rainy weather will give way to warmer temperatures and partly sunny skies starting Thursday 2 June. This is a popular holiday for travelling inside Switzerland, so traffic will be heavy frequently, not just during the peak travel times for European’s who are crossing the country as they take the long weekend.
Temperatures are expected to rise to 20-23C for the highs in western Switzerland, with lows of 8-9C.
A reminder for air travellers: Wednesday 1 June is the first day of the new Swiss rules on duty free: you can now purchase duty free goods on arrival as well as when leaving the country. You can order your goods online, in advance, and the shops are open from 06:00 to 23:00 seven days a week. Details on Genève Aéroport‘s duty free pages.
Canton Valais, Switzerland’s largest wine-producing region, is holding its open days 2-4 June. The canton is noted for its spectacular Alpine vineyards along the banks of the Rhone and the rich variety of its wine grapes. Details in French; GenevaLunch will provide suggestions and more information Thursday.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Iranian officials said Tuesday 24 May that the country will take Switzerland to court at the United Nations over what the officials say is a recent decision not to allow Iranian aircraft to refuel in Geneva. The Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviation (Foca) told GenevaLunch that the Swiss government has not made any such decision. “Yes, it’s correct that Iran’s planes are not being refueled in Geneva”, a Foca spokesperson says, “but it’s because the oil companies will not do it. We are working with Seco (Swiss economic ministry) and the Foreign Affairs Department to find a pragmatic solution.”
The weekly IRNA Tehran-Geneva flight has not been cancelled, but in late April major oil companies began to refuse to fuel the planes, which have stopovers in Eastern and Central European cities. Swiss news agency ATS quotes Geneva Fuelling Services as saying that it has had no business relations with IRNA since April. It and other companies reportedly have refused to refuel the planes because sanctions against Iran are not clear.
Switzerland in January tightened its sanctions against Iran to bring them in line with European Union ones, over Tehran’s nuclear activities.
One Swiss official implied to GenevaLunch that sanctions may not even be the issue, without expanding on the remark.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Sale of CHF320 million and a profit of nearly CHF49m have given Geneva’s international airport a record year for 2010.
The airport published the figures 18 April.
Passenger numbers were up 4.91 percent for the year to 11.88 million, despite winter storms and volcanic ashes in the first part of 2010.
The number of passengers at the airport has grown by about one-third in the past 10 years.
London was the top destination in 2010, with 1.9 million flights, and Paris was the second with some 859,000 flights.
Share of traffic at Geneva Airport, by airline, 2010 (source: Geneva Airport) - click on image to view larger
The airport says it is in good financial health, with 2010 called a “transition year”, with CHF51m invested in completing renovations and starting work on a new east wing.
Robert Deillon, Geneva councillor with responsibility for the airport, said it invested CHF320m between 2006 and 2010 without turning to public funds.
Aviation revenue such as landing fees and passenger fees accounted for 49.5 percent of total income.
Non-aviation revenue, which includes income from shops (23.5 percent) was 50.5 percent of the total.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Geneva Airport has been given the right by the Swiss federal government to dip into the country’s strategic petrol supplies to cover emergency fuel needs until the end of 2010.
The airport’s supplies have fallen due to the French strikes of recent weeks. Zurich and Basel airports’ petrol supplies have not been affected.
In other airport news: Swiss this week announced it will offer two flights a day between Geneva and Madrid starting 17 December and Baboo, which is struggling to stay profitable without cutting services, 26 October announced a revised winter schedule, with flights to Athens and London cut starting in early November.
Swiss is doubling the number of planes based in Geneva from four to eight in 2010.
Geneva airport, vacation week
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A very small number of Geneva airport’s Swissport baggage handlers remain on strike after lengthy negotiations with cantonal officials failed to bring about a settlement by 8 January. Airline passengers took little interest in the striket, faced with their own concerns about lost bags and missed flights: bags misplaced a week ago have still not all been found and UK weather forced scores of flights to be canceled.
GenevaLunch has been flooded with e-mails and comments on our articles about the chaos at the airport 2-3 January, which resulted in thousands of bags going missing for most of the week.
For those who have still not received their bags, or who were bumped from canceled flights to the UK, due to weather, this week, Swiss law provides the same compensation as European Union law. Details are available in German, French and Italian, the national languages, on a federal government site. Key points include:
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Thousands of airline passengers trying to head for the UK have found themselves stranded at Geneva’s Cointrin Airport, with flights canceled because of the coldest weather in the UK in 30 years and fresh snow in many parts of Britain. Airport spokesperson Bertrand Staempfli has recommended that passengers contact their airlines for more information. London is the top destination from Geneva. Flights from Zurich and Basel have also been delayed or cancelled.
Easyjet was one of several airlines affected by the Geneva baggage handlers strike
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Thousands of pieces of baggage that did not make it onto airplanes with their owners Saturday 2 January in Geneva, are now headed home, many of them for passengers who flew to the UK. A strike by baggage handlers for two companies, Dnana and Swissport, which appears to have caught airlines and the airport by surprise on one of the busiest days of the year, resulted in bags not being loaded onto planes Saturday. Some arriving planes’ bags were apparently also not sorted immediately.
Spokesperson Bertrand Staempfli at Geneva’s Cointrin Airport says the last pieces are being sorted now and will be delivered to owners Friday at the latest. British bags handled by Dnana, whose strike has ended, are being loaded onto three trucks this afternoon and Wednesday morning. They will be driven to Zurich and from there flown to Britain.
A small group of 25 persons, who work for Swissport, are still on strike in Geneva, slowing down efforts to clear up the delayed baggage blockage. Swissport Tuesday afternoon issued a press release apologizing for the inconvenience to passengers. “The strike action is affecting baggage sorting activities mainly. Additional Swissport staff has been drafted in from Zurich and Basel to support the Geneva workforces. The resulting delays have been substantially reduced from the levels seen at the weekend, and the situation here continues to improve. The missing bags will be delivered and distributed with immediate effect.”
The company has promised to provide more details as they become available.
Swissport, in its press release, refers to the strikers’ demands as unrealistic, given the current economic situation in the airline industry. “Swissport remains open to further discussions but cannot afford to meet the tremendous union expectations. The continued resulting irregularities in Swissport’s ground handling operations are currently minor, and are being kept to a minimum through the assistance of management staff, airport partners and additional personnel from Zurich and Basel.”
Quieter times at Geneva airport's baggage area
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Passengers who lost their luggage in the chaos at the airport this weekend, 2-3 January, should have it today, Monday, or at the latest within 36 hours, says Cointrin Airport spokesperson Bertrand Staempfli. He told GenevaLunch “We’re really sorry for the confusion and the lack of information for some of the time, but we were caught by surprise by the strike.”
Flying back from warm climates, other time zones to Geneva: keep up your guard at the airport
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Passengers at Geneva’s Cointrin airport are more than normally the target of thieves and purse snatchers during the holidays, and airport security services are cautioning people to be extra-vigilant over the holiday season. A well-known graphic designer was robbed of his bag containing ID, credit cards and money as he was loading his things into a car after a trip, reports 2o Minutes 22 December.
The first holiday weekend, 19-20 December, saw 100,000 people pass through the airport, nearly double the usual number. Signs at the airport remind passengers to be wary: thieves find that tired and disoriented arriving passengers and stressed departing ones are easy prey.
Geneva's Cointrin Airport Saturday 17 October: long lines, but quick service
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – British Airways flight A319 turned back Wednesday 14 October after striking a bird at Cointrin Airport while climbing out of Geneva, reports Aviation Herald, which tracks airline incidents. The crew reportedly landed in Geneva 12 minutes after takeoff, after noticing a burning smell: emergency services were on standby, and the flight was delayed by two hours.
The incident was not, in fact, that unusual, but it might have given pause to the crowds of people flying out of Geneva Saturday 17 October at the start of the Geneva school holidays. The new security check area, which has replaced the old passport control booths, had two long lines of travelers, but the system appeared to operate efficiently: some 300 people were moved through several security gates in 20 minutes.
Noise guns to disperse birds in a direction away from the tarmac are used after other preventive measures fail
Cointrin takes its bird incidents very seriously: “bird strikes” as they are known in the business cause the aviation world $1.1 billion a year and they can provoke deadly airline crashes, such as one at JFK airport in New York in 1975 and another in Paris in 1996. Geneva airport had more than 60 strikes in 2008, but most caused no serious harm and only a handful were responsible for more serious damage, according to airport figures.
Geneva,Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Cointrin International Airport in Geneva shows no signs of suffering from the global economic downturn, with 2008 results showing a record year in terms of profits. The airport’s newly released figures show profits up 17 percent to CHF61 million, with turnover up 7 percent to CH300 million. The airport’s income was nearly evenly divided between flight-related services such as passenger income and other sources such as parking fees, 49.2 and 50.3 respectively.
First Geneva-Washington non-stop flight - Photo ©Geneva Airport
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A new alternative for flying to the United States from Switzerland began Monday 20 April, with a non-stop flight connecting Geneva’s Cointrin Airport and Washington DC Dulles airport in under nine hours.
Update 19 March 08:25 Paris, France (GenevaLunch) – More than one million people are expected to take part in a major French strike today, reports the BBC. Many of France’s public servants but also private sector companies began striking late Wednesday, 18 March, and they are expected to stay away from work until Friday 08:00 20 March.
Flying past the Saleve
Geneva, Switzerland (Le Temps, Fre) – International security police at Cointrin Airport in Geneva are being investigated for using violence against two refugees who were being escorted to planes to leave the country, at the end of January and early in February. One was from DR Congo, being sent home from Zug and the other man, from Jordan or Irak, was being forced to leave by canton Vaud. Both refused and ended up with bruises and other injuries.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The electricity was out for six hours Monday at Cointrin International Airport in Geneva due to an electrical fault, and the airport is encouraging passengers to arrive two hours earlier than usual to check in while the system gets back to normal.
Staff are also advising that passengers check departures and arrivals before heading for the airport, with flights from several parts of Europe still suffering delays due to heavy snowfalls.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Geneva’s Cointrin Airport has been recreating its food offer as part of a major programme of renovation and expansion.
Wednesday night the Altitude restaurant, for which a new floor was added to the airport building, held its grand opening.
Chief marketing officer for SSP, the international company charged with managing the airport’s food services, says Altitude is its showcase restaurant for Europe. “I don’t think there’s another airport restaurant that can boast this view and a Michelin-starred chef!” he says.
GenevaLunch will publish this weekend a series of photos and detailed reports on the restaurants at the airport and the other changes travellers can expect in coming weeks.
Flying somewhere other than France on 29 January, view from terminal 10 at Geneva airport
Switzerland (Le Temps, Fre) – France’s general strike Thursday 29 January is widespread, to the point where it appears that even Prime Minister Nicolas Sarkozy has nothing scheduled, reports Le Temps. The Swiss newspaper provides a useful list of flights and trains cancelled today due to the French strike.
Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss has extended its online check-in service so that passengers can now visit their check-in page several times to make changes such as moving to another seat or checking in a group of up to nine people.
Britain and Ireland are not members of the Schengen Area.
St Prex, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland officially becomes part of the Schengen Area today. To celebrate, and as a reminder that customs officers are still at the borders, GenevaLunch has revised its popular guide, How to make it happily through Swiss customs. (Ed. note: Details on Swiss customs and Schengen 2008, from the federal government). Media coverage in other countries of Switzerland’s membership has been heavy because the change means that people can move along Europe’s main north-south roads without halts for passports, in theory.
Lake Geneva region (GenevaLunch) – [Update, 13:00, fast trains are now operating, but with "delays." Service between Renens and St Prex is not operating and bus service is limited [CFF news link] The train line between Morges and Rolle is not in service for part of the morning, the CFF reports, due to an electricity malfunction. Service is expected to return at 10:00. The lines between Geneva and Lausanne are partially operating: Lausanne-Renens service is available and Geneva-airport to Rolle is in service. A bus has been added between Renens and Morges.
