As the World Economic Forum kicks off in Davos, world leaders, CEOs and business leaders have descended on Switzerland in their hundreds. But how did these high-flyers get there?
The World Economic Forum (WEF) urged its delegates to consider more sustainable travel this year. They made it free to travel there by train and provided snow grips for shoes to encourage attendees to walk rather than drive around the conference.
But did delegates listen and choose a more sustainable transport solution for Davos?
How many private jets flew into Davos in 2025?
According to data from flight tracking website Flightradar24, private jet activity at airports around Davos was significantly elevated over the past couple of days.
At Zurich, the nearest large airport to Davos, 54 private jets landed on Monday, an increase of 170 per cent compared to the average for the past week.
A spokesperson for Zurich Airport told Euronews Green, “Immediately before and during the WEF, we record around 1,000 additional flight movements. These may be business jets, state aircraft or helicopter flights.”
Other airports frequented by Davos delegates include Saint Moritz, Friedrichshafen and St. Gallen-Alternheim. All three had higher-than-usual private jet activity on Monday, with Friedrichshafen seeing 33 per cent more jets than the average.
At Zurich, the longest private jet flight arrived at lunchtime on Monday from Kailua-Kona in Hawaii. Operated by charter firm NetJets, the €72 million Bombardier Global 7500 flew for 14 hours and 40 minutes to cover the 12,404 km to reach Zurich.
Other very long flights arrived from California, Seattle and Beijing, although we can’t say for sure if their passengers were heading for Davos.
Several flights were under 500 km, including one operated by FAI rent-a-jet from Milan, which flew for only 204 km to reach the airport.
Two other flights from Milan, one from Genoa and two from Paris also landed in Zurich on Monday, all covering less than 500 km.
Hellbound and Down 