Over 700 aircraft* take off and land at Zurich Airport every day (Flughafen Zürich, 2023). This means an average throughput of over 60,000 passengers – every day. Careful security precautions are therefore particularly important at the airport, from standard document and baggage checks to a sophisticated emergency alert system. In 1990, four pneumatic sirens were installed at Zurich Airport as an alerting and warning system. Their technology has become obsolete in the meantime, so that a modernisation of the alerting system became necessary.

In a special operation, our technicians, Bata and Tobias, brought the last old sirens at Zurich Airport up to the latest state of the art. At dizzying heights, the old pneumatic sirens were dismantled and replaced by new electronic sirens.

All sirens at Zurich Airport are now electronic sirens – a big step forward. The new electronic sirens not only consume significantly less power, but also offer many more options in terms of control, monitoring and signalling. For example, with the electronic siren it is basically possible to make voice announcements in order to transmit specific information quickly and efficiently if required. Recently, electronic sirens can also be controlled regardless of location, thanks to our digital control solution – ks.Alert.

Pictures: old compressors and compressed air system with valves.

Electronic sirens are, due to their sophisticated design, more space-saving and offer less surface for wind to attack. Compressors, which require a relatively large amount of space, are not necessary with electronic sirens. A small, modern control cabinet, which also contains the emergency power batteries, is all that is needed to operate the electronic siren.

Finally, electronic sirens also offer cost advantages. With pneumatic sirens, not only the control box but also the compressors, valves and pressure have to be checked and maintained regularly. The maintenance costs are about 3 times higher than for electronic systems.

Source Information:

Flughafen Zürich. (2023). Flugbewegungen –aktuelle und archivierte Daten. Retrieved July 2, 2023 from: https://www.flughafen-zuerich.ch/de/unternehmen/verantwortung/laerm-und-schallschutz/bewegungsstatistik