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DelayAtlas

Transatlantic route · frequency, carriers and airport records

ZRH→LAX

Zurich to Los Angeles

Flights
691 both ways
Carriers
1
Distance
5,925 mi
Period
July 2025 to June 2026
—GRADE

No public record scores Zurich to Los Angeles International flight by flight. The US Department of Transportation's on-time database covers domestic flights only, and in Europe only the United Kingdom publishes punctuality by route, so what follows is built from the three measurements that do exist. The DOT's international report counts 691 flights between the two airports in the twelve months to June 2026, about one departure a day in each direction, flown by Swiss. EUROCONTROL's year-to-date figure has 60.8% of all departures from Zurich leaving within 15 minutes of schedule and 73.0% of arrivals landing within 15 minutes. At the other end, 79.5% of LAX's domestic departures arrived on time in the DOT data, which says something about how the airport itself runs, not about this route.

On EUROCONTROL's year-to-date arrival punctuality, Zurich ranks 35th of the 41 European airports on this site with service to the United States. Bilbao leads that table at 84.3% and Manchester closes it at 65.7%. A long-haul departure inherits the airport's morning: an aircraft that arrived late from its previous sector, or a departure queue built up by weather, delays the transatlantic wave with everything else.

Key figures

Flights

691

Both directions, July 2025 to June 2026 (DOT)

Carriers

1

Swiss

ZRH departures on time

60.8%

All destinations, year to date (EUROCONTROL)

LAX domestic on time

79.5%

US DOT, last twelve months of domestic departures

Without a route-level record, the useful question is what the two airports do to a schedule. EUROCONTROL attributes 2.6 minutes of air traffic flow management delay per arriving flight to Zurich so far this year; that is delay imposed by the network to hold traffic on the ground elsewhere, not the airline's own. In the DOT data, a delayed domestic departure from LAX ran about an hour late on average over the last twelve months, and 0.97% of its scheduled flights were cancelled.

Carrier by carrier

Who flies ZRH to LAX

Swiss is the only carrier the DOT report shows on ZRH to LAX, with 691 flights and an average of 267 passengers aboard each. A single-carrier route gives a delayed passenger no same-day alternative on the same ticket, which is worth knowing before booking a tight onward connection.

Carriers on ZRH to LAX by flights operated
AirlineFlightsSharePer monthPassengers / flight
Swiss691100%58267

DOT international report, July 2025 to June 2026; flights in both directions together. No delay figures exist for this pair in any public source.

Across the year

How often ZRH to LAX flies through the year

The DOT's international report puts 62 flights on the pair in August 2025, the busiest month of the window, and 50 in April 2026, the thinnest. The schedule is close to flat through the year, which usually means business traffic rather than holiday demand underwrites it.

Flights per month, both directions

  • July 202560
  • August 202562
  • September 202560
  • October 202562
  • November 202554
  • December 202560
  • January 202656
  • February 202656
  • March 202658
  • April 202650
  • May 202653
  • June 202660
Flights in both directions together, as the DOT international report counts them; flights per calendar month.

The DOT's international report counts flights in both directions together: 691 between ZRH and LAX from July 2025 to June 2026, about one departure a day in each direction, carrying 184,583 passengers. That makes it the 8th busiest of 12 US routes from Zurich and the 8th busiest of 18 European routes into LAX.

The departure airport

How Zurich is running

EUROCONTROL's figures for Zurich as a whole, every airline and every destination: 60.8% of departures and 73.0% of arrivals within 15 minutes of schedule from 1 January to 21 October 2026, with 95.5% of scheduled flights operated. The last seven days ran at 61.9% for departures, about a point better than the year so far. Air traffic flow management delay attributed to the airport averaged 2.6 minutes per arriving flight this year, 2.1 over the last week.

EUROCONTROL punctuality at Zurich
WindowDepartures on timeArrivals on timeSchedules operatedATFM delay / arrival
Yesterday (21 October 2026)65.1%80.4%93.2%1.9 min
Last 7 days61.9%71.4%94.8%2.1 min
Year to date60.8%73.0%95.5%2.6 min

Every US route from Zurich, and its full punctuality record

The arrival airport

Landing at Los Angeles International

Los Angeles International is scored on this site from the DOT's domestic data: 79.5% of its 190,107 domestic departures arrived on time over the last twelve months, with delayed flights running about an hour late, and 0.97% were cancelled. Those are domestic flights, not this route, but an arriving transatlantic flight shares the same runways, the same weather and the same ground delay programmes, so a bad day at LAX reaches a flight from ZRH just as surely. The airport's own page has the hour-by-hour and month-by-month detail, and its live FAA status appears above when the FAA has something to say.

Domestic on time

79.5%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late (DOT)

Avg delay

67 min

Delayed domestic flights only

Cancelled

0.97%

Domestic departures

190,107

Last twelve months

Los Angeles International (LAX) delay statistics, hour by hour and month by month

Your rights

EC 261/2004 on ZRH to LAX

Every flight that departs Zurich falls under Regulation (EC) 261/2004, whichever airline flies it and wherever it lands. If it arrives at Los Angeles International three hours or more late, or is cancelled with under 14 days' notice, and the cause was within the airline's control, each passenger is owed €600 (€300 if the airline got you there under four hours late), on top of rebooking and care. Weather, air traffic control restrictions and strikes outside the airline are the usual exemptions. The return flight from LAX is covered only when the carrier is EU based. The sector is about 5,925 miles, 9,533 km, which puts it in the top distance band.

Delayed three hours or more? Check a claim with Compensair →

What to do with this

Booking ZRH to LAX

There is no grade to give ZRH to LAX without a route record, and this site does not invent one. What the three sources support: about one departure a day in each direction, a single carrier, a departure airport that gets 61% of its departures away on time and an arrival airport that runs 80% on time domestically. Leave two hours for any onward connection at LAX; immigration comes before the connecting flight.

Common questions

ZRH to LAX questions

How often are ZRH to LAX flights delayed?

No public dataset records delays for this route flight by flight: the US on-time database is domestic only and only the UK publishes route-level punctuality in Europe. The nearest measurements are the departure airport's EUROCONTROL punctuality (60.8% of departures within 15 minutes this year) and LAX's domestic record in the DOT data (79.5% on time).

Which airlines fly ZRH to LAX?

Swiss. Swiss accounted for 100% of the 691 flights the DOT counted on the pair.

Can I claim compensation for a delayed ZRH to LAX flight?

Yes, if the flight arrived three hours or more late or was cancelled at short notice for a reason within the airline's control: departures from Zurich are covered by EC 261/2004 whichever airline operates them. The fixed amount for a sector of this length is €600 a passenger, €300 if the airline got you there under four hours late. The return from LAX is covered only on an EU carrier.

How many flights a day are there from ZRH to LAX?

About one departure a day in each direction: the DOT counted 691 flights in both directions over twelve months, peaking at 62 in August 2025 and falling to 50 in April 2026.

Related

Where to go next

Switzerland publishes no route-level punctuality, so this page cannot grade the route. The UK pages in this section can, because the CAA does.

Sources: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, International Report (flights and passengers by carrier and airport pair), July 2025 to June 2026; EUROCONTROL Aviation Intelligence Portal, airport punctuality and ATFM delay to 21 October 2026. Rebuilt 22 October 2026; the EUROCONTROL figures refresh with each weekly build, the others when their publisher releases a month. How these sources differ.