Skyguide

Skyguide (Swiss Air Navigation Services Ltd.) is an air navigation service provider which manages and monitors Swiss airspace. The company, which was formerly known as Swisscontrol, changed its name to skyguide (officially written lowercase) in 2001. Skyguide is a joint-stock company under Swiss private law which is responsible, on behalf of the Swiss Confederation, for ensuring the safety of all Swiss airspace and of adjoining airspace areas in Germany, Austria, France and Italy that have been delegated to its control. For Swiss airspace, this duty extends to both civil and military air navigation services. Skyguide is subject to the supervisory authority of the Swiss Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC). Its principal shareholder is the Swiss Confederation, which holds 99.91% of its share capital. The company employs some 1,500 people, around two-thirds of them in the provision of air navigation services, a quarter in technical services and the rest mainly in administration. Alex Bristol, the current CEO, assumed his duties on 1 July 2017. Skyguide is headquartered in Meyrin, near Geneva Airport. Skyguide in figures Skyguide managed some 1,198,663 instrument flight rules (IFR) flights through its airspace in 2016 – an average of around 3,285 flights a day – and generated total annual operating revenue of over CHF 455 million. Switzerland's air navigation service provider currently employs some 1,500 personnel spread over 14 locations throughout the country. Two-thirds of them are in air navigation services, around a quarter are in technical functions, and most of the rest hold administrative positions. Military tasks Skyguide's most important partners are the Swiss Air Force. Switzerland's air policing and defence are the responsibility of the Swiss Air Force, which, with its primary radars, can also detect flying objects not emitting a transponder signal. Skyguide is unusual, however, in that in addition to its civil air traffic management role, the company also provides Switzerland's military air navigation services.