Entire Swiss airspace shut due to computer crash

Flights in and out of Switzerland have been suspended and Swiss airspace closed because of a computer failure at air traffic control service Skyguide.

Geneva and Zurich halted flights, although Geneva airport announced air traffic was gradually resuming.

Skyguide said a technical malfunction in the early hours of Wednesday meant that Swiss airspace had to be closed to traffic for "safety reasons".

Some flights were being diverted to Milan in northern Italy.

Skyguide spokesman Vladi Barrosa told Tagesanzeiger news website that the problem appeared to be a hardware fault and they did not believe their system had been hacked: "Our technicians are working flat out to fix the fault."

A Flightradar image of air traffic across Western Europe showed a substantial hole in flights over Switzerland early on Wednesday.

Flights were running as normal at Basel-Mulhouse airport because although Basel is in Switzerland the airport itself is on French territory and covered by French air traffic control.

Geneva airport said several flights had been cancelled but that air traffic had gradually resumed from 08:30. Skyguide said earlier the airspace closure was "in effect until further notice".

One passenger at Zurich posted a picture of all the flights unable to take off.