Air Traffic Control Issues: Geneva Airport Temporarily Limitations on Landing Aircraft due to Technical Problem
Air Traffic Woes at Geneva Airport: A Temporary Hiccup
It seems Skyguide, the air traffic control service in Switzerland, encountered a technical glitch that required a bit of a workaround. In a statement, Skyguide explained that this was a "temporary safety measure," put in place until they could sort out a nagging technical issue. Thankfully, air traffic safety was never compromised.
In the past few months, there had been seven instances of a system malfunction at Geneva Airport. These incidents caused individual workstations to lose radar images for a few seconds; however, they never posed a risk to air traffic safety.
To ensure safety, Skyguide decided to cap the number of arrivals an hour by 20%. This reduction resulted in around 18 flights an hour instead of the usual 22. This decision could lead to delays for some flights, as was the case last night when adverse weather conditions added to the chaos.
Ignace Jeannerat, a spokesperson for Geneva Airport, broke down the effects: "This may/could lead to delays for a number of flights today, as was the case last night, when another challenge was added: numerous weather disturbances across Europe disrupted air traffic."
A taskforce has been set up to monitor the situation. As of today, June 3, 2025, Skyguide has managed to resolve the technical issues and lift the 20% capacity restriction.They've successfully implemented a software update at Geneva Airport, making everything back to normal.
Geneva International Airport is quite a hub, handling 17.8 million passengers in 2024 and reporting 179,106 landings and takeoffs, according to official data. The airport serves as a major hub for low-cost airline EasyJet, and it's popular amongst diplomats visiting the UN European headquarters in Geneva.
Skyguide has had its fair share of technical glitches over the past couple of years. For instance, in June 2024, the company was forced to reduce its air traffic management capacity in Geneva due to a violent storm outage. Zurich Airport also experienced a Skyguide computer outage in October 2023, lasting two hours. Furthermore, Swiss airspace was closed for several hours on June 15th, 2022 due to a different computer outage affecting air traffic control. But they've managed to bounce back each time, demonstrating their resilience.
In response to the temporary technical issue, Skyguide implemented a 20% reduction in flight arrivals at Geneva Airport, citing the need to ensure safety despite no compromise of air traffic safety. Concurrently, Skyguide has made significant strides in enhancing its financial sectors by investing in technology upgrades, aiming to improve its system's reliability and prevent future technical glitches.
