Skyguide strengthens operational continuity and invests in air traffic control resilience

The Swiss Federal Audit Office has published its new report on Skyguide's business continuity management. It confirms the progress made and highlights areas where further action is needed. Skyguide is actively implementing the recommendations and systematically building up its own resilience. To this end, Skyguide is continuously investing in its business continuity management system.

Skyguide operates a highly available air traffic control system. Nevertheless, unexpected events can occur which, in an emergency, could lead to prolonged interruptions in the system and thus in air traffic. Following the Clear the Sky incident on 15 June 2022, Skyguide has intensified the development of its business continuity management (BCM) and is continuously driving it forward.

The latest report by the Swiss Federal Audit Office (SFAO) attests that Skyguide has made progress and continued its work in all five core areas of BCM: guidelines, risk and business impact analyses, strategic orientation, testing and awareness-raising, and operational planning. Skyguide is pursuing a clear plan for robust air traffic management in crisis situations: it is actively implementing the EFK's recommendations, strengthening its infrastructure and thus significantly increasing its BCM maturity level by the end of 2027.

Objective: Rapid restoration of stable operating capacity after a failure

In order to strengthen operational continuity in the long term, Skyguide is investing specifically in emergency solutions and redundancies. As part of the ‘System Switzerland’ partnership network, it is examining cooperation with the Swiss Armed Forces, Swisscom and MeteoSwiss, for example. Projects such as the construction of an alternative control tower at Zurich Airport and improved flood protection at the air traffic control centre in Geneva are planned for 2026/27.

Another focus is the regular review of emergency procedures. Skyguide is implementing a comprehensive test plan for this purpose and increasing the ability of its employees to act through training. This includes the crisis exercise focusing on cybercrime in October 2025, which was held jointly with the Federal Office for Cybersecurity (BACS) and the Federal Office for Civil Protection (FOCP).

Skyguide will continue to invest in the coming years to achieve optimal resilience. The aim is to restore stable operating capacity as quickly as possible after a failure, particularly at Zurich and Geneva airports.