Zurich Airport - Switzerland

On May 5, 1946 the citizens of Canton Zurich approved by referendum a proposal to spend 36.8 million Swiss francs for the building of an intercontinental airport. Construction began that very summer, and the airport was inaugurated on August 29, 1953. In 1976 the Zurich Airport Authority took on the responsibility for the airport's administration. Since then its responsibilities have included planning, management and coordination of airport operations. Swiss control, a private but federally supervised enterprise, is in charge of air traffic control.

Zurich Airport provides jobs for over 16,000 people from the region, and Swissair employs another 10,000 individuals. Air cargo makes up 27.4% of all revenue. In 1994, 242,498 planes landed and took off, 14,573,334 passengers passed through, and 17,408 tons of mail were handled in Zurich. The airport is, at present, a self-supporting enterprise whose main sources of income are landing fees, passenger taxes, concession fees, fuel taxes and rents.