Davos week: the great Alpine airlift
Every January the World Economic Forum turns Switzerland into one of the busiest business-aviation hubs on Earth. Follow a jet from New York to Zurich and on into the Alps — and watch everyone else converge.
Davos week: the great Alpine airlift
Every January
What happens
For one week each January, the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting brings heads of state, chief executives and investors to Davos, a ski town in eastern Switzerland. Many of them arrive by business jet, and the aircraft converge on Switzerland from every continent.
Where the jets go
Davos itself has no airport. Zurich is the main gateway; others use Geneva, Basel, or the small Alpine airfield at Samedan near St Moritz — at about 5,600 feet one of the highest airports in Europe. The last stretch is by car, train or helicopter: roughly two to three hours by road from Zurich.
The parking problem
Ramps fill up quickly during Forum week. Some jets drop their passengers and fly on to park at other airports, then return to collect them at the end of the week — which adds empty flights to the total.
The debate
Because the Forum discusses climate change, its private-jet traffic is a regular target for campaigners. A study commissioned by Greenpeace counted more than 1,000 private-jet flights to and from airports serving Davos during the 2022 meeting.
The route
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Chasing the sunset
Fly west fast enough at high latitude and the sunset stops — or even runs backwards. The globe here is lit by the real position of the sun at every moment of the flight.