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75 years of Zurich Airport
Zurich Airport celebrates its 75th anniversary with a three-day festival, from 1 to 3 September. On the Friday evening, Alain Berset and Zurich Government Councillor Carmen Walker Späh speak at the opening ceremony.
He opens with irony: he is not standing again for the Federal Council, but “this is not an application for a pilot’s job”. Then a mock report from a federal working group: Kloten, 31.5 million passengers in 2019; Bern-Belp, 50,174. The airport is “simply too big”.
More seriously: a hub of European traffic, an infrastructure on which trade and tourism depend, thousands of employees. He recalls that aviation falls outside the Paris Agreement and calls for interim targets on the way to net zero in 2050. He mentions the 1948 runway, one of the most modern in the world, next to a village of huts. And ends: “Weniger Swiss finish. Und dafür mehr Swiss beginning.”
Speeches on this site
- 75 ans de l’aéroport de Zurich (in German, French-language page)
Sources