Inauguration of Altitude, part of the recent overhaul of restaurants and bars at Geneva Airport
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Geneva Airport is in the black for 2009: the good news about its CHF40 million in profits for last year comes as the airport is getting back to work after a six-day closure due to volcanic ash from Iceland.
Geneva International Airport had turnover of CHF295 million for 2009, and airport authorities, in announcing the figures Monday, say development plans for the airport can move ahead.
Empty airports, big losses - Photo Peter Brodbeck
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Geneva international airport (AIG) has lost at least CHF5 million as a result of the five-day closing caused by Icelandic volcanic ashes.
According to Francois Longchamp, president of the Geneva executive council, new measures are in place to facilitate partial unemployment.
“Everything that had been earned since the beginning of year, was lost in five days,” he says.
The AIG had earlier estimated losses at CHF3.8 million.
A rarity: Saturday morning air traffic usually crisscrosses the skies above the Swiss Alps. Not a single streak in the sky 17 April!
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Update 23:00, 17 April Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss civil aviation authorities announced Saturday late afternoon that Swiss air space will remain closed until at least 14:00 (2pm) Sunday, and the time is likely to be extended. The airline Swiss is canceling all flights on Saturday and Sunday. Travelers should not go to the airport.
Health impact: The WHO (World Health Organization) in Geneva says that as long as there are no concentrations of ash in the lower atmosphere the fine particles pose no significant health problems. Nevertheless, “people with chronic respiratory conditions like asthma, emphysema or bronchitis may be more susceptible to irritation if ash is in the lower atmosphere in high concentrations,” according to the WHO web site.
“‘Since the ash concentration may vary from country to country depending on the wind and air temperatures, our advice is to listen to local public health officials for the best guidance for individual situations,’ says Dr Maria Neira, head of public and environmental health. ‘If people are outside and notice irritation in their throat and lungs, a runny nose or itchy eyes, they should return indoors and limit their outdoor activities.’”
MeteoSwiss has not published any alerts and recommends that people who are interested follow the UK Met office’s map of the cloud, updated every few hours. Its web page, in French, carries images of the cloud early Saturday, and its team notes that the cloud moved lower during the night, to 3,600 metres above Payerne.
All three airports in Paris will remain closed until Monday morning. The SNCF says Saturday evening that rail traffic, affected by a strike, is nearly back to normal except in the southeast of the country.
French Alps, view leaving Geneva airport
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The UK-based travel company Thomson, has issued the following statement for passengers who lost their luggage when a small group of baggage handlers went on strike in Geneva 2 January. Thousands of bags were misplaced 2-3 January and many are still being returned, to Thomson customers but also those of some airlines.
“Customers returning from Geneva Airport (GVA) Saturday 2 January 2010
We regret that due to an unofficial handling strike by ramp agents at Geneva Airport (GVA) on Saturday 2 January 2010, ski baggage was not returned to the UK.
Update 12:30, 11 January 2010
We can confirm that all bags from the 2nd of January 2010 have been returned back to the UK from Geneva for onward processing by our Baggage Handling Teams. The remaining bags are currently being matched and tagged for onward delivery.
Kloten International Airport, Zurich, Switzerland
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Geneva’s Cointrin International Airport will most likely end 2009 with 2 percent fewer passengers, a figure that is healthier than those most airports will show this year. The figure was provided by Robert Deillon, president of AIG, which manages the airport, in an interview with Swiss wire service ATS. Deillon says that only four months showed drops, while traffic increased by 4 percent each month in October and November, compared to a year earlier.
Zurich’s Kloten airport is expected to show similar figures, says Deillon.
The figures contrast with the bigger industry picture, provided 15 December by Iata (International Air Transport Association) at an annual press conference in Geneva.
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.
Wheels down: landing in Geneva
Geneva, Switzerland (TSR, Fre) – Economic crisis or not, we still love to travel, as traffic at Geneva’s Cointrin International Airport made it clear over the Easter holidays: 84,000 passengers flew in or out Easter weekend, the same as for Easter 2008.
The other busy travel area was Lake Geneva, with the opening of the CGN lake boats season: 23,000 people were out on the lake in big boats during the relatively balmy holiday.
Terminal 10, Geneva's Cointrin airport (GVA)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Cointrin Airport won’t look the same to you Sunday if you’re fliying to or from Britain or Ireland or any other non-Schengen country. Swiss airports have been working with the European Union for some months to bring security systems into line, the last step in Switzerland dropping routine border controls to allow the free movement of people within the Schengen Area, to which Switzerland belongs.
Passport controls go, customs checks remain
Land border controls ended in 2008, but airports caused a problem, in part because of the large amount of traffic between Switzerland and two EU countries that are not part of the Schengen area, the UK and Ireland.
