Mark Williams has posted this helpful and informative post on the current spotting situation at Zurich Airport. I hope you find it useful:

Once through immigration on the arrivals floor, head out of the terminal and turn right. You will see signs for the observation hall and ramp tours – simply head towards the hangars and as the road/perimeter fence turns left you will see the cabin on your right. Purchase a ticket from the machine at the entrance on your left if you only want to go to the observation hall (cost 2CHF – the machine accepts notes also although having the correct change might be wise) and then head to the security point where you and your belongings will go through an x-ray machine. Don’t forget you are going airside so the appropriate security measures need to be completed. There was no problem taking bottles of liquid through, especially important as there is only limited vending facilities on the deck itself. Once through, you then wait in a small room for the next bus to take you to the viewing deck atop Terminal E, situated in the middle of theairfield at the heart of the action. Buses are every 30 minutes during the summer weekends, running at 15 and 45 past the hour (the first one being 07:45). Last buses back are at 19:00 and 19:30 with the final departure back to the terminal at 20:00. Please note these are summer weekend times. Check on the excellent Zurich Airport website for winter and weekday schedules. The airport tour, which includes the hangar area, biz jet parking and a stop at the runway intersection for photos is also still available at 8CHF, but I didn’t go on it this time. Make sure you time it well for the bus, as I arrived just a couple of minutes after one had departed and the half hour wait in a stuffy room with very little in the way of views was a touch frustrating.

Next year’s World Economic Forum at Davos in Switzerland will once again fill up Zurich (and to a lesser extent Geneva) Airport with exotic biz jets from around the world. The best action takes place from Thursday 25th to Sunday 30th January.

BUCHair are once again providing ramp tours at Zurich Airport for enthusiasts interested in getting up close to the aircraft.

You can find out more and book here: http://www.buchairnet.ch/de/tour/2011_schedule.pdf

The 8th Aviation Collectors Show will be held on Saturday 12th Feburary 2011 at the Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg EuroAirport.

This is a chance for aviation enthusiasts and collectors to get together to buy, sell and trade items such as postcards, prints, slides, models, books, safety cards, DVDs.

To find out more about the show, please visit www.aerocollections.net

As the MD-90′s use draws to a close in Europe, AirEvents.de have arranged a special farewell flight to take place in January at Zurich Airport.

The event will be flown by a Hello MD-90. The airline will shortly retire the type (as will SAS), leaving only a few select operators outside of Europe still flying the type.

This particular flight ties in with the World Economic Forum at Davos, which sees many business jets flying into Zurich, so it’ll be a pretty special spotting weekend if you do take part in the flight.

Some details:
Flight: MD-90 farewell flight Z

It’s nearly time for that annual event in Switzerland which sees spotters flocking to see an abundance of biz jets in one place, and some of them quite rare! The Davos conference is held in January, with most dignitaries flying into Zurich Airport. This year the dates covered are Tuesday 26 January to Sunday 31 January.

Most aircraft arrive on the first day (Tuesday), often positioning to Basle or Geneva to park up for the week, before returning to Zurich to pick up their passengers on the Sunday and returning home.

Buchair offer a number of ramp tours at Zurich during the event, giving you the opportunity to get up close and personal with the biz jets (and other airliners) in attendance. You can find the schedule and booking details at: http://www.buchairnet.ch/de/tour/2010_schedule.pdf

Has anyone got any updated spotting information from Zurich or Geneva airports following visits for the recent Davos event?

There is no access to the viewing deck or bus tours at Zurich Airport until February 2009 due to building work.

Keep an eye on this link for information on the bus tours and this link for the viewing deck.

BUCHairTours have organised a number of special airside tours for enthusiasts at Zurich airport during the period when the original observation deck closes.

These run between Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 and Sunday, February 1st, 2009 with a very similar schedule as in January 2008.
Starting mid-November 08, exact schedule, prices and procedures will be published on their website www.buchairnet.com. At the moment, they can not yet accept any reservations nor payments for the tours, therefore, please be patient until November.

Tickets for special ramp tours may only be bought through Bucher & Co., Publikationen, either electronically on the internet or in our shop, buchAIRcenter, “Wilbur Wright”, Schaffhauserstr. 76, CH-8152 Glattbrugg (pick-up) or last minute on the terrace at Terminal E. From, Monday January 26th, 2009 through Sunday, February 1st, 2009 BUCHairTOURS will have some kind of temporary stand on top of Terminal E, in order to handle the special bus tours and to sell last minute tickets.

The viewing decks at Zurich will now close on 1 November for building work.

The deck on Pier E will re-open in January 2009.

Thanks to Thomas Jaeger for the information.

Why not purchase Airport Spotting Guides Europe to find out alternative spotting locations at Zurich?

After a while of speculating the future of the viewing decks at Zurich Airport, which are invaluable spotting locations at this airport, I can now confirm that the original Deck B will close from October.

Deck E will remain open, with a shuttle bus ferrying passengers across to it every 30 minutes.

Keep an eye on the airport’s official website for more details closer to the time.

Thanks to Thomas Jaeger at CH-Aviation for this information.