Zurich Airport deemed safer by pilots than Geneva and Basel airports by pilots' assessments
In the year 2025, the German Pilots' Association, Vereinigung Cockpit, identified crucial areas of focus for airport safety analyses. The key emphasis areas include the prevention of runway incursions, the implementation of advanced lighting systems, technical backup infrastructure, and annual safety assessments with pilot involvement from Swiss airlines [1][2][3].
Runway incursions, or unauthorized access to runways, have been linked to serious accidents, such as the 2001 Milan Linate collision. To address this concern, the focus is on enhancing taxiway and runway lighting systems, like the "Follow the Greens" system and 24/7 stop bar operation. Backup technical infrastructure is also being emphasized to ensure operational resilience [1][2][3].
Interestingly, concerns related to GPS jamming do not seem to have been explicitly mentioned in the 2025 safety analyses by Vereinigung Cockpit. The sources primarily focus on physical infrastructure, lighting, runway safety, and procedural safeguards rather than electronic or signal-based threats like GPS jamming [1][2][3][4].
In Switzerland, Aeropers, a member of Vereinigung Cockpit, plans to conduct safety assessments annually at Zurich, Geneva, and Basel airports. Aeropers aims to use pilots' daily experiences to continually inform and improve safety standards [1].
In the same year, a Jeju Air flight in South Korea experienced a bird strike, leading to an emergency landing at Muan International Airport. The plane overran the runway and crashed into a barrier, resulting in 179 fatalities [1].
The safety analysis of Zurich, Geneva, and Basel airports focuses on major risks such as airplanes overshooting or leaving the runway unintentionally, unauthorized access to the runway, and evaluating backup infrastructure in the event of GPS jamming [1].
The full results of the 2025 report can be found at flughafencheck.ch. These findings underscore the importance of ongoing safety checks in the aviation industry, especially given the increasing commonness of GPS interference due to geopolitical tensions, such as the war in Ukraine, according to Vereinigung Cockpit [1]. These incidents serve as a reminder of the constant need for vigilance and improvement in airport safety standards.
The German Pilots' Association, in their 2025 safety analyses, also highlighted the importance of addressing financial aspects to secure long-term safety improvements, acknowledging the potential impact of budget cuts on airport infrastructure maintenance.
In the realm of sports, case studies on fatigue management in professional athletes have been used as a parallel for identifying similar challenges in the transportation industry, likening the need for rest periods for athletes to that of drivers in the aviation and road sectors. This comparative analysis could potentially offer valuable insights for safety improvement strategies.
