The reduction is a "temporary safety measure that will remain in effect until a solution to a latent technical problem can be implemented", Skyguide, the company responsible for Swiss air traffic control, said in a statement.
"Air traffic safety has not been compromised at any time" by the technical glitch, it added.
It said that in recent months "seven malfunctions of a system that provides radar imagery to air traffic controllers" had occurred and that "some workstations lost the image for a few seconds... mainly in Geneva."
Skyguide said it would update its systems in the coming days, first in Geneva and then at Zurich Airport, which is Switzerland's largest.
"Specifically, Skyguide will reduce the number of arrivals handled per hour by 20 percent, bringing it down to around 18 flights instead of 22," according to Ignace Jeannerat, a spokesperson for the Geneva Airport. "This may/could lead to delays for a number of flights today, as was the case last night, when another challenge was added: numerous weather disturbances across Europe disrupted air traffic."
A taskforce has been established to monitor the situation.
Geneva International Airport handled 17.8 million passengers in 2024, with 179,106 landings and takeoffs, according to official data published by the airport.
It is home to a major hub for the low-cost airline EasyJet, in addition to considerable private jet traffic.
It is also used by numerous diplomats visiting the UN European headquarters in Geneva.
Skyguide has experienced a series of incidents in recent years.
At the end of June 2024, the company was forced to reduce its air traffic management capacity in Geneva due to an outage caused by a violent storm.
Zurich Airport was affected by a Skyguide computer outage in October 2023, preventing takeoffs for two hours. And on June 15th, 2022, Swiss airspace was closed for several hours due to a computer outage that affected air traffic control.
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