What this relates to:
An occurrence at an aerodrome involving the incorrect presence of an aircraft, vehicle or person on a runway or on its protected area. All Swiss aerodromes with civil traffic are considered.
Example:
A pilot is cleared to taxi to the holding point of a runway and is informed that he can expect line up after the aircraft in approach has landed. He misunderstands the information as a clearance and lines up on the runway. The air traffic controller instructs the aircraft on final approach to abort the approach and climb to 7,000ft for a new approach circuit.
Remarks on the 2024 figures:
In 2024, 89 runway incursions were reported. This is higher than in 2023 (69) and above the pre-COVID average of 2017–2019 (69), but similar to 2022 (87). In comparison with the pre-COVID years, the rate in Switzerland was also higher in 2024 (0.80 incidents per 10,000 movements) than in 2017 to 2019 (0.57).
There were 12 runway incursions reported in Zurich and 13 in Geneva. The remaining 64 occurred on regional aerodromes.
The runway incursions in 2024 involved (an occurrence can involve more than one type of infringement):
- Aircraft: 60
- Vehicles: 17
- Persons: 14
There are numerous contributing factors that can differ significantly depending on the type of aerodrome and the traffic involved. At larger international airports, the most common contributing factor is misunderstandings – or misinterpretations – between ATC and pilots. Problems when vacating the runway are also a noteworthy contributing factor. On smaller or regional aerodromes, aerodrome design (fences, public roads crossing the aerodrome area, ‘tricky’ taxiways leading to the runway) and misunderstandings are frequent contributing factors.
