Switzerland starts reading flight passenger data

Switzerland switches on its flight passenger data system this winter. The law entered into force on 1 November 2026. The unit that analyses the data opens in February 2027. The duty to transmit falls on the airlines, so for most employers the work ahead is one paragraph of wording, agreed before February.

What entered into force, and when

The Federal Council brought the Flugpassagierdatengesetz into force on 1 November 2026, together with its implementing ordinance. Eight further ordinances were adjusted on the same date, among them those governing the visa information system, ZEMIS, RIPOL, IPAS and N-SIS.

The analysis starts later. The Passenger Information Unit at the Federal Office of Police takes up work in February 2027. It starts with eight staff and limited operations, grows to fourteen in 2028, and reaches about thirty posts at full operation. The Confederation and the cantons split the cost of those posts equally.

A separate agreement with the European Union, signed in March 2026, lets Switzerland receive passenger data from the EU area. It takes effect only now that the Swiss legal basis is in place.

What the airlines hand over

The instrument is the Passenger Name Record: nineteen categories of data already captured when a flight is booked. Advance Passenger Information sits inside that list as one category, recorded where available, under the article of the Foreign Nationals and Integration Act that applies today.

Those nineteen categories reach well past a passport page. They cover the booking code and date, name, address, telephone number and email, payment and billing details, the full itinerary, frequent flyer status, the travel agency and the agent who made the booking, travel status including no-shows, split bookings, ticket and seat data, code-share arrangements, baggage, the names of fellow travellers, and every change made to any of the above.

Scheduled and charter flights to and from Switzerland are covered. Nothing changes at the airport. Passengers are not asked for anything they do not already give at booking.

How long the data is kept

The unit compares each record automatically against police systems, risk profiles and watch lists. What happens next depends on the result.

Outcome	Pseudonymised	Deleted
No match, or a match reviewed and dismissed	After one month	After six months
Record passed to an authority	fedpol does not say	After five years
Confirmed match against a risk profile	fedpol does not say	After five years

Only unit staff review a match by hand. Police, prosecutors and the intelligence services hold no direct access and receive data on request. The unit may not process sensitive data such as origin, skin colour, or political or trade union membership, and fedpol states that the system will not be used to build no-fly lists. Pseudonymisation can be lifted only by decision of the Federal Administrative Court.

What it means for employers

No new filing obligation lands on your company. Four things still deserve attention before February.

• Booking records created by your travel management company carry the corporate payment method, the booking agent and the names of colleagues on the same itinerary. That is company information as much as personal information.
• Travel privacy notices written before this law say nothing about transmission to Swiss authorities. Employees read that notice before they come to you.
• Staff will confuse this with posted-worker notification and with work permits. It is neither. It creates no entry condition and no immigration consequence.
• The EU agreement brings data on flights from the EU area to Switzerland as well, so the reach goes past carriers flying under a Swiss licence.

The task is short. Read what your travel privacy notice says about booking data, and agree one paragraph of wording with your data protection function so that everyone answers the question the same way.

Sources: Federal Council, entry into force of the Flugpassagierdatengesetz; fedpol, FAQ Passenger Name Record (PDF); FDJP, overview of the law.