Lost luggage, banking secrecy and Christmas markets

Swiss criticizes Zurich Airport. An above-average amount of luggage is lost here. Swiss operations manager Oliver Buchhofer complains about this in an interview with “NZZ am Sonntag”. “Across our entire network, the rate of luggage that did not arrive as planned was 2.3 percent. In Zurich it is around 4 percent.” Buchhofer is calling for more commitment from the airport operators, but also from Skyguide air traffic control. Performance in terms of punctuality has also deteriorated. “In 2024, fewer aircraft will land and take off in Zurich than in 2019. However, our punctuality is around ten percent lower than before the pandemic,” says Buchhofer to “NZZ am Sonntag”.

Swiss has recently had to take a lot of criticism for its declining quality. Now she blames Skyguide and the airport for the situation. They would not have the same financial incentives to improve something. Because no matter what the cause of a breakdown is – in the end, Swiss has to compensate the passengers. “In 2024, in addition to the hotel and food support costs, we paid over 10 million francs in compensation for our guests in the first nine months alone. The trend is rising,” says Oliver Buchhofer.

This is how Tele M1 reports about the lost luggage:

SP National Councilor wants to launch initiative to abolish banking secrecy

Andrea Zryd wants to abolish banking secrecy domestically. The current SP National Councilor has already failed twice. In 2021 with a professional initiative and this week on Wednesday with a parliamentary initiative in the National Council. But Zryd doesn't give up. “The abolition of banking secrecy must go before the people,” she told “SonntagsBlick”. The Social Democrat wants to launch a popular initiative – and as quickly as possible. According to her, the time is right when the honest working population is fed up with constantly rising prices.

Zryd would like the automatic exchange of information on financial accounts, which Switzerland already has with 111 countries, to also be used in Switzerland. She believes that this would reveal billions that are currently being hidden from the tax authorities. According to Zryd, the abolition of banking secrecy would, on the one hand, create tax justice, but on the other hand would also help to plug the existing billion-dollar holes in the federal budget.

It remains to be seen whether she can get the SP behind her for a popular initiative. In any case, co-party leader Cédric Wermuth says that he is not averse to an initiative. And he also believes that a proposal to abolish banking secrecy is easier to win in front of the electorate than in the bourgeois-dominated parliament. This rejected Zryd's demand, among other things, with reference to privacy.

This is how Christmas markets and the police react to the attack in Magdeburg

After the attack, the police in Basel, Bern, Solothurn and Zurich reassessed the security situation for their own Christmas markets and Sunday sales areas. “Nothing has changed in the current terrorist situation in Switzerland,” says Stefan Schmitt from the Basel police to the “SonntagsZeitung.” But be present and attentive. For “tactical reasons”, the police do not comment on specific security measures, such as whether there were more police officers on site yesterday and today.

Céline Lehmann from Kapo Bern says: “The terrorist threat situation in Switzerland has been classified as increased for a long time.” These findings were therefore incorporated into the security measures for the Christmas markets before Magdeburg. Some operators are also getting creative to protect their Christmas markets. The bollards sometimes come in the form of concrete fir trees or, as in Bern at Waisenhausplatz, as oversized packages. (has)