The Zurich Airport and the canton of Zurich have so far received around 20,000 compensation claims due to aircraft noise and/or direct overflights. The compensation claims are handled as part of the formal expropriation process. The relevant guidelines and procedures are described below.
The formal expropriation procedure is based on the Swiss Federal Law on Expropriation. In an initial step, property owners have to submit their compensation claim to Flughafen Zürich AG.
It is the aim of Flughafen Zürich AG to award compensation payments to eligible property owners if the framework requirements issued by the Swiss federal court are complied with. This avoids lengthy legal proceedings.
Property owners can also call for the assessment procedure to be initiated. The Federal Assessment Commission District 10 is responsible for carrying out the assessment procedure.
Speciality The aircraft noise must be excessive. According to case law , this is the case if the emission thresholds under the Noise Abatement Ordinance ( Table of noise level thresholds ) in accordance with Appendix 5 are exceeded. The following map (2010 overview) shows in which areas the emission levels were exceeded in 2010.
Unpredictability The increase in aircraft noise was impossible to predict when the individual bought the property.
Severity of the damage A considerable level of damage must have occurred.
Limitation period A five-year limitation period applies. The limitation period begins when the three conditions for compensation are met.
Special case for direct overflights Irrespective of the criteria speciality, unpredictability and severity, compensation is also paid for low, direct overflights. According to applicable case law, the air column above the property must be subject to a specific frequency of noise. According to the Swiss federal court, a direct overflight flies at an altitude of 125m; from 400m upwards it is no longer considered an overflight. For flight altitudes in between these levels, there are no fixed regulations. As a general rule, there is no compensation entitlement for take-off overflights. A five-year limitation period applies here, too.
If the compensation conditions are met, the minimum value of the compensation to be paid must be defined. To do this, a comparison is drawn between the property with noise and without noise.
Minimum value disproportionate to compensation Reference has already been made to claiming for serious damage. Compensation payments in the context of passive sound insulation (noise insulating windows) are also offset against any minimum value as non-cash benefits.
Current situation Following the ruling by the Swiss federal court on the Opfikon pilot cases, two strategies are being followed:
Preparing offers Preparing compensation offers to be paid to eligible property owners due to formal expropriation if the criteria stipulated in the pilot cases are met. The guidelines set out by the Swiss federal court are applied when preparing offers. Owner-occupied properties which are subject to high levels of noise and which were bought when the aircraft noise was not foreseeable are currently entitled to receive compensation. The Zurich Airport will approach the relevant homeowners. This work will initially be carried out in the municipalities of Opfikon and Kloten.
Rejections Non-justified claims for compensation will be rejected. Homeowners will be asked to withdraw their claim. Should they fail to comply with this request, the Federal Assessments Commission may initiate proceedings in order to make a decision on compensation entitlement. It should be pointed out that, in such cases, the Zurich Airport shall not be liable to cover any procedural or legal costs.