Zürich Airport (German Flughafen Zürich, IATA: ZRH, ICAO: LSZH), also known as Kloten Airport, is the largest international airport of Switzerland and the Prrincipal hub of Swiss International Airlines. It serves Zurich, Switzerland’s largest city, and, with its surface transport links, much of the rest of the country. The airport is located 13 kilometres (8 mi) north of central Zurich, in the municipalities of Kloten, Rumlang, Oberglatt, Winkel and Opfikon, all of which are within the canton of Zurich.
The first flight abroad from Switzerland was on July 21, 1921. In the early years of aviation, the Dubendorf Air Base, located some 8 km (5.0 mi) to the south-east of Zürich Airport, also served as the city’s commercial airfield. The need for a dedicated commercial facility led to the search for a location at which to build a replacement airport.Switzerland’s federal parliament decided in 1945 that Zürich was to be the site of a major airport, and sold 655 hectares (1,620 acres) of the Kloten-Bülach Artillery Garrison (German: Artillerie-Waffenplatz Kloten-Bülach) to the Canton of Zürich, giving the canton control of the new airfield. Construction of the airport began the following year.
