The Zürich Airport or also known as Kloten Airport is with over 25 million passengers a year the largest airport of Switzerland.
Zürich Airport opened after World War II, in 1946 and within a decade the airport had to expand already because of the quick increase of flights and passengers. Growth continued until the crisis at Swissair which had to ground all its flights due to cash-flow crisis after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Zürich Airport lost a lot of traffic with only gradually began to return after the take-over and restart of Swissair by Lufthansa as Swiss International Air Lines in 2005. The Airport got another blow in 2015 when Etihad Regional decided to cancel most its flights from Zürich.
Most flights from Zürich Airport are to Frankfurt and to Paris but there are many more flights to other destinations as well, most of them by Swiss Int Air Lines. Every day there are flights to 20 destinations from Zürich Airport. Here are the most popular destinations:
The Airport has 3 terminals A, B (with gates B and D) and E, connected by a single building, the Airside Center, which contains transport options, shops, check-in areas, car parks etc. All departing passengers use this Airside Center for check-in and airport security and later on the way to the gate they are separated between Schengen (Gates A and B) and non-Schengen (Gates D and E).
Zürich Airport is located 15 km north of central Zürich near the village of Kloten.
Zürich Airport is connected to the railway network and the cities tram (streetcar) network. The Zürich Airport Railway Station is located underneath the Airport Center from where local trains depart to Zürich or InterRegio, InterCity or Eurocity trains to numerous cities including for example Munich, Luzerne, Geneva and Basel. The local train to Zürich Central Station (Haubtbahnhof) takes 10 to 15 minutes and departs every 5 minutes (one-way ticket cost Fr. 6.80).
Local and regional buses as well as the lightrail/train depart in front of the Airport Center. Tram/Streetcar route 10 also departs for Central station but takes much longer than the train (35 minutes).
See for tickets and schedule: trains: zvv.ch .
Airport taxis are located in front of Arrivals. A ride into the city would take only 15 minutes but can cost around Fr. 50 to 70.
All prices quoted here were found in July 2017
