A study by BAK Economics and Infras has highlighted the importance of airfreight to Switzerland as a whole and from Zurich Airport.

In terms of value the report found that 40 per cent of all exports leave Switzerland via air cargo carriers.

The study found there is often no alternative to airfreight, in particular for expensive and sensitive quality products such as medications, watches, jewellery and precision instruments.

And as a large portion of freight transport is conducted with scheduled flights, Zurich Airport with its many direct connections makes a major contribution to ensuring that Switzerland functions as an efficient “workshop”.

The study also found from Zurich there are direct connections to 178 destinations while in 2016, around 280 companies were based at the airport.

The study also underscored the significance of Zurich Airport for the current high level of accessibility.

Measured in terms of the accessibility model of BAK Economics, it found Zurich is still very accessible – in both global and continental terms – and is an attractive location for internationally active companies.

However, in recent years, accessibility has “stagnated” and is even declining compared with competitor locations in Europe. In 2000, Zurich achieved high accessibility scores on a par with Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam and Paris – the locations of Europe’s biggest hub airports.

But today, the gap in continental and intercontinental accessibility has already widened to 15-20 percentage points.