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Governor of Virginia

The governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia serves as the head of government of Virginia for a four-year term. The incumbent, Glenn Youngkin, was sworn in on January 15, 2022.

Oath of office
On inauguration day, the governor-elect takes the following oath of office: "I (first_middle_last names), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge all the duties incumbent upon me as Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, according to the best of my ability. (So help me, God.)"

Qualifications
Article V, Section 3 of the Virginia Constitution lists the following qualifications for a person to be elected Governor of Virginia:
 * Be a citizen of the United States
 * Be at least thirty years old
 * Be a resident and a registered voter in the Commonwealth of Virginia for at least five years before the election

Unlike other state governors, Virginia governors are not allowed to serve consecutive terms. They have been barred from immediate re-election since the adoption of Virginia's second constitution, in 1830. However, a former governor is permitted to run for a second term in a future election. Only two governors since 1830, William Smith and Mills Godwin, were elected to additional terms. Smith's second term came after Virginia seceded from the Union, while Godwin became the first ever governor in American history to be elected by both major parties when the former Democrat was elected in 1973 as a Republican. The only other governors to serve non-consecutive terms in office were Patrick Henry and James Monroe, with George William Smith serving twice as acting governor before becoming official governor.

To get on the ballot for Governor of Virginia, each candidate must file 10,000 signatures, including the signatures of at least 400 qualified voters from each of the 11 congressional districts in the Commonwealth.

Duties
The governor is the head of government in Virginia. At the beginning of every regular session, they must report the state of the Commonwealth to the Virginia General Assembly (both the House of Delegates and the Senate). They must convene the legislature when two-thirds of each house calls for a special session. The governor must ensure that the laws of the Commonwealth are faithfully executed by either signing, or allowing it to come into law, or vetoing, not allowing it to become law. They are responsible for the safety of the state, as they serve as commander-in-chief of the Virginia Militia.

Powers

 * The governor has the legislative power to submit recommendations and to call special sessions when deemed necessary.
 * The governor has veto powers. All bills must be sent to the governor before becoming law. The governor may sign the bill, let it sit unsigned for seven days, after which it becomes law, or veto the legislation. After a veto, the bill returns to its house of origin and may be overridden by two-thirds of the vote in each house.
 * The governor also has the power to use a line-item veto. The governor may send legislation back to the legislature with recommendations and amendments. The legislature must either approve the changes by a majority in each house or override the veto with a two-thirds majority in each house.
 * The governor is commander-in-chief of Virginia's militia forces.
 * The governor may also communicate with other states and foreign powers.
 * The governor has the power to fill vacancies in positions unless the position is appointed by the legislature.
 * The governor may commute fines or sentences and issue pardons. The governor may also restore voting rights and overturn other political penalties on individuals.

Succession
Established by Article V, Section 16 of the Constitution of Virginia.

Colony / Province
The position of Governor of Virginia dates back to the 1607 first permanent English settlement in America, at Jamestown on the north shore of the James River upstream from Hampton Roads harbor at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. The Virginia Company of London set up a government-run by a council. The president of the council served as a governor. The council was based in London and controlled the colony from afar. Nominally, Thomas Smith was the first president of the council, but he never left England. Edward Maria Wingfield was the first president of the council in residence in the new province, making him the first to exercise the actual authority of governing Virginia. The Virginia Company soon abandoned governance by council two years after the landing on May 23, 1609, and replacing it with a governor, John Smith (1580–1631).

In 1624, the English Monarchy of King James I (1566–1625, reigned 1603–1625), in the last year of his reign, of the royal House of Stuart took control from the Virginia Company and its stockholders and made Virginia a crown colony. Governors continued to be appointed by the monarch for many years. Most often, the appointed governor would reside in England while a deputy or lieutenant governor exercised authority. The royal rule was interrupted during the English Civil War (1642–1646 / 1648–1649), after which governors were appointed by the Protectorate under Richard Cromwell (successor to Oliver Cromwell) in the interim Commonwealth of England until the English Restoration of the monarchy with King Charles II in 1660.

Commonwealth
Virginia became an independent sovereign state and Commonwealth during the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), with Patrick Henry (1736–1799, served 1776–1779 and 1786–1789) as its first governor (and also later sixth). From the Revolution until 1851, the governor was elected by the General Assembly of Virginia (commonwealth/state legislature). After 1851, in a democratic trend spreading across the Union, the state turned to popular elections for office holders.

During the American Civil War (1861–1865), Francis Harrison Pierpont was the governor of the Union-controlled parts of the state, later of which emerged the new state in the northwest of West Virginia. Pierpont also served as one of the provisional governors during the post-war Reconstruction era. These governors were appointed by the Federal government of the President and U.S. Congress, both controlled by Radical Republicans for a decade. In 1874, Virginia regained its right to self-governance and elected James L. Kemper (1823–1895), a Democrat and temporary Conservative Party member and former Confederate general as governor. After the Radical Republican appointees of the post-war Reconstruction era, Virginia would not actually elect another regular Republican as governor until A. Linwood Holton Jr. in 1969. However, in 1881 William E. Cameron was elected governor under the banner of the Readjuster Party, a coalition of Republicans and populist Democrats. Douglas Wilder became the first elected and only the second African American Governor of any U.S. state. He served as governor from 1990 to 1994.

Since 1851, Virginia's gubernatorial elections have been held in "off-years"—years in which there are no national (presidential, senatorial, or House) elections; Virginia's gubernatorial elections are held one year after U.S. presidential elections (2001, 2005, 2009, etc.) (Most states hold gubernatorial elections either on presidential-election years or midterm-election years, when there are congressional elections.) In every Virginia gubernatorial election starting with 1977, the governor elected had been from the opposite party as the president elected by the nation in the previous year, even when Virginia had voted for the president in office, as with Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. The only exception being in 2013 with the election of Democrat Terry McAuliffe, following the re-election of President Barack Obama in 2012.

Tim Kaine was inaugurated on January 14, 2006. Due to renovations on the Capitol in Richmond, his inauguration was held in Williamsburg, making him the first governor to be inaugurated in Williamsburg since Thomas Jefferson in 1779. The current governor of Virginia is Glenn Youngkin who was inaugurated on January 15, 2022.

Styles
The governor of Virginia is addressed as "The Honorable" but may occasionally be referred to as "Excellency" if ceremonially appropriate.

title: Governor of Virginia


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Governor of Wisconsin

The governor of Wisconsin is the head of government of Wisconsin and the commander-in-chief of the state's army and air forces. The governor has a duty to enforce state laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Wisconsin Legislature, to convene the legislature, and to grant pardons, except in cases of treason and impeachment. The position was first filled by Nelson Dewey on June 7, 1848, the year Wisconsin became a state. Prior to statehood, there were four governors of Wisconsin Territory.

The 46th, and current governor is Tony Evers, a Democrat who took office on January 7, 2019.

Powers
The governor of Wisconsin has both inherent powers granted by the Wisconsin Constitution and administrative powers granted by laws passed by the Wisconsin State Legislature.

Constitutional powers
The constitutional powers of the governor of Wisconsin are outlined in the Wisconsin Constitution at Article V, Section 4. In general, the governor ensures that the laws of Wisconsin are carried out.

Veto power
The governor of Wisconsin has the strongest veto power of nearly any American governor. Any bill passed by the Wisconsin State Legislature must be presented to the governor, who either signs it into law, or vetoes it. In the event of a veto, the bill is returned to the legislature, who may then vote to override the veto. In 1930, the Wisconsin Constitution was amended to give the governor line-item veto power, which allows portions of appropriations bills to be struck out without rejecting the entire bill. Governors have the power to strike out words, numbers, and even entire sentences from bills. The partial veto may still be overridden by the legislature.

In 1990 a further amendment specified that the line-item veto does not give the governor power to veto individual letters of appropriations bills, thereby forming new words. Despite this 1990 law, the strength of the governor's veto power gave rise to the term "Frankenstein veto" to describe the governor's ability to form a new bill that subverts the intent of the legislature.

Other constitutional powers
The governor is the commander-in-chief of the state's militia. If it is deemed necessary, the governor may also convene extraordinary sessions of the state legislature; and may convene them anywhere in the state, if Madison, the state capital, is deemed unfit for the purpose due to invasion or contagious disease.

The governor may pardon, commute, or grant reprieve of sentences, except in cases of treason or impeachment. The governor must notify the Wisconsin State Legislature of these each year, along with the reasons for them. In cases of treason, the governor may suspend the carrying out of the sentence until the next session of the legislature, who then vote to grant a pardon, commutation or reprieve, or to carry out the sentence.

The governor must also "communicate to the legislature, at every session, the condition of the state, and recommend such matters to them for their consideration as he may deem expedient" (these annual communications are referred to as the "state of the state").

Administrative and budgetary powers
The governor of Wisconsin, as head of the executive branch, also has administrative powers (the power to administer agencies created by the Wisconsin legislature). Since 1965, there has been an increase in executive orders to "establish standards and provide uniformity to executive agency operations and programs." However, since 2011, the Wisconsin Legislature has attempted to limit the authority of administrative agencies.

The governor also appoints heads of agencies created by the legislature. This appointment power is not explicitly granted by the Wisconsin Constitution, as it is in the appointments clause of the federal constitution, with the exception of appointing judicial vacancies. Instead, the governor appoints heads of agencies by statute. The governor of Wisconsin had 307 executive appointments between 2017 and 2018.

State law requires the governor to prepare an executive budget bill. This helps the governor "to pursue a legislative agenda".

Elections and term of office
The governor of Wisconsin is directly elected—the candidate with the most votes becomes governor. If two candidates receive an equal number of votes, which is higher than that received by any other candidate, the members of the state legislature vote between the two at their next session.

Under the original Wisconsin Constitution, governors were elected for a term of two years; in 1967, the constitution was amended to increase the term of office to four years, beginning with the governor elected in the 1970 election. There is no limit to the number of terms a governor may hold. The longest-serving governor was Tommy Thompson, from January 5, 1987, until February 1, 2001, a total of 14 years and 28 days; the shortest-serving was Arthur MacArthur, Sr., from March 21, 1856, until March 25 of the same year; a total of 5 days.

Candidates for the office must be citizens of the United States and qualified voters in the state of Wisconsin.

Removal
The governor usually leaves office because their term ends and they have not been re-elected. But the governor may also leave office through other means. For example, the governor may resign from office. Four governors have resigned: William Barstow due to fraud allegations, Robert La Follette, Sr. to take his seat in the United States Senate, Patrick Joseph Lucey to become Ambassador to Mexico, and Tommy Thompson to become United States Secretary of Health and Human Services. Additionally two governors—Louis Harvey and Walter Samuel Goodland—died while in office, and Orland Loomis, who was elected governor, died before taking office.

The governor can also be removed through an impeachment trial or through a recall election. An impeachment trial is carried out by the Wisconsin State Assembly, if a majority of its members agree to the impeachment. No governors have been removed from office through impeachment in the history of Wisconsin. However, Arthur MacArthur, Sr., who, as lieutenant governor, became acting governor upon the resignation of William Barstow in 1856, was removed after the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that Barstow's opponent in the previous election, Coles Bashford, was the election's legitimate winner.

In 2012, Scott Walker became the only governor in Wisconsin history to face a recall election and was the only governor in American history to survive a recall election until Gavin Newsom also survived in the 2021 California gubernatorial recall election. He retained his seat, defeating Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett by seven percentage points, a margin one point greater than that of the 2010 election, becoming the first governor in American history to survive a recall attempt.

Election history
In the 2022 gubernatorial election, over 2.6 million voters cast ballots for governor. This was the highest turnout for a gubernatorial election in state history, surpassing the 2012 recall election by 140,000 votes. There have been 44 governors of Wisconsin and 45 individual governorships. 1 governor, Philip La Follette, served non-consecutive terms. Four parties have had their candidates elected governor: the Democratic, the Whig, the Republican and the Progressive.

Relationship with the lieutenant governor of Wisconsin
Originally, the state constitution specified that the governor and lieutenant governor of Wisconsin were voted upon separately, but in 1967, the constitution was amended to state that they were elected together. Prior to this amendment, there were nine incidents in which the elected governor and lieutenant governor were not of the same political party.

Originally, the state constitution only said that in the event of the impeachment, removal from office, death, resignation or absence of the governor, or in the event of the governor being unfit to serve due to illness, "the powers and duties of the office shall devolve upon the lieutenant governor" for the remainder of the term or until the governor is able to return to office. In 1979, the constitution was amended to specify that in the event of the governor's death, resignation or removal from office, the lieutenant governor becomes governor for the remainder of the term, but in the event of impeachment, incapacitation or absence, the lieutenant governor merely becomes "acting governor" until the governor can return to his duties. The original constitution also specified that in any of the aforementioned events the secretary of state would become governor if the lieutenant governorship was vacant, but after 1979 this provision, too, was amended to distinguish between "governor" and "acting governor."

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Governor of Wisconsin


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Talk:New College, Toronto

Untitled
U of T? Shouldn't University of Toronto be spelled out? RickK 03:14 26 Jun 2003 (UTC)
 * Fixed. =)
 * On another note, the article reads a bit like a brochure: "Recently, with the newly finished New College Residence Hall garnering design awards for its red-bricked nod to chic "new urbanism", the College is an attractive home to university life in the campus' west-end.".... Leaf of Silver 01:29, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

name of new residence
The article says refers to the newly constructed New College residence building as "New College Residence Hall", but its actual name is "45 Willcocks Residence" or "New College New Building" or just "New Building" (colloquially). "New College Residence Hall" could mean any of the three residence buildings that comprise New College. AgentEm84 (talk) 12:55, 16 September 2011 (UTC)

title: Talk:New College, Toronto


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Zurich Airport

Zurich Airport (Flughafen Zürich) is the largest international airport of Switzerland and the principal hub of Swiss International Air Lines. It serves Zürich, Switzerland's largest city, and, with its surface transport links, much of the rest of the country. The airport is located 13 km north of central Zürich, in the municipalities of Kloten, Rümlang, Oberglatt, Winkel, and Opfikon, all of which are within the canton of Zürich.

Early years
In the Zurich area, mixed civil and military air traffic developed from 1909 onwards at Dübendorf airfield, northeast of the city. From 1919, the airport was home to Swissair's predecessor Ad Astra Aero, and from 1932 also to Swissair. The first flight crossing the alps was on 21 July 1921. The first regular international flight service began on 1 June 1922 with an Ad Astra route to Fürth near Nürnberg in Germany. In the early years of aviation, the Dübendorf Air Base, located some 8 km to the Zurich 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.

In 1939, civil air traffic had to be suspended at the outbreak of the Second World War for military strategic reasons. Although Swissair was allowed to resume scheduled air traffic in September 1940, this remained on a modest scale during the war.

In March 1943, the government of the canton of Zürich commissioned a study to identify possible locations for the construction of a major airport. In its report, a consortium of engineers and architects led by Locher & Cie company advised against the previously discussed expansion options at Dübendorf airport and instead recommended a separate civil airport in the partially forested moorland area of the armoury situated between Kloten and Oberglatt. In August 1943, the Federal Military Department declared its agreement to abandon the armoury as a matter of principal "in the higher national interest".

Locher & Cie submitted "Project I" to the Government on 31 December 1943. Four runways were planned and together with the buildings the required area was 472 hectares. Without the purchase of land, the project would have cost CHF 87 million. The government found the costs too high and ordered a revision. The "Project II" of 29 April 1944 still provided for an area of 290 hectares and costs of CHF 65 million, but the government council demanded a further reduction. For "Project III" of 31 July 1944, CHF 54.4 million and 215 hectares were required. The project nevertheless met the requirements of an intercontinental airport. The Government formally approved it and submitted it to the Federal Government, strongly emphasizing that the Zurich project was "far superior" to the also planned (and ultimately abandoned) Swiss Central Airport Utzenstorf near Bern.

In December 1944, the responsible Federal Councillor, Enrico Celio, explicitly spoke out in favour of Zürich-Kloten, in a letter to his counterparts, as did the governments of the cantons of Eastern and Central Switzerland and Ticino a month later. The National Council and Council of States followed this view and on 22 June 1945 approved the "Federal Decree on the Expansion of Civil Airports". Basel, Bern and Geneva were to receive smaller continental airports and be supported with a 30 percent share of the costs. The Zurich project was granted the status of an intercontinental airport and the highest possible subsidy rate of 35 percent.

Switzerland's federal parliament decided in 1945 that Zürich was to be the site of a major airport, and sold 655 ha of the Kloten-Bülach Artillery Garrison (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.

Initial plans for the airport, as laid out in the Federal government's scheme of 1945, were centred on facilities capable of handling international airline traffic. Aircraft of up to 80 tonnes were envisaged. The primary runway was to be designed for use in all weather conditions and at night, with a 400 m-wide hard surface running to 3000 m in length. Additional 100 m areas were to be provided on the shoulders for lateral protection in case of runway excursions. Additional domestic runways, between 1000 and 1400 m in length, were also to be built.

First stage of construction: civil engineering
On 25 February 1946, the Cantonal Council of Zürich approved a building loan of CHF 36.8 million. The cantonal referendum of 5 May 1946 resulted in a clear approval with 105,705 votes in favour, 29,372 against. "Project IV" never came to fruition, as it was further developed by adapting it to the ICAO standards which were changing rapidly at the time. Instead of four runways, the new "Project V" of 20 May 1946 provided only three. Project VI" of 9 October 1946 increased the dimensions of all three runways. Finally, the slightly modified "Project VII" of 20 December 1947 was realised. Within three years, the design on the drawing board had completely changed from a purely grass airfield with a four-runway system without taxiways to a three-runway system with paved taxiways. The staggered design meant that it was possible to react to changes without having to impose a complete halt to construction.

Construction works finally began on 5 May 1946 with the diversion of the Altbach stream. The 1900 m long West Runway 10/28 was the first runway which was opened on 14 June 1948, and on which the first Swissair Douglas DC-4 took off for London. On behalf of the canton as airport owner, Cantonal Councillor Jakob Kägi gave a speech to mark the inauguration of the new runway and the start of provisional flight operations. Shortly after, on 17 November 1948, the 2600 m long blind runway 16/34 (runway with instrument landing system) was opened for operation, which was attended by the seven members of the cantonal government. In the presence of invited guests from politics and the media as well as representatives of the construction companies and airlines, the new airport was inaugurated, which meant that the relocation of the entire civil flight operations from Dübendorf to Kloten had already been completed and full operation could begin at the new Zurich Airport.

The 1535 m long Bisen runway 02/20, which belonged to the three-runway system of 1948, was of little importance. Due to the applicable crosswind regulations at that time, the runway was designed to face the Bise in order to guarantee the airport's all-weather capability. However, the ICAO increased the crosswind tolerances for aircraft in subsequent revisions to such an extent that the runway was decommissioned after just over ten years.

First stage of construction: structural engineering
The character of a provisional solution was supported – despite full operation – by the lack of buildings, especially the "Flughof", which had been planned since 1946. Instead, a growing shanty town stood to the east of the reserved building site. On 27 October 1948, the canton outsourced the development, construction and operation of the buildings to the newly founded "Flughafen-Immobilien-Gesellschaft" (FIG), a mixed-economy public limited company in which the public sector held half of the shares (canton of Zürich 22.5%, city of Zürich 18%, "Zürcher Kantonalbank" 5%, city of Winterthur 3.6% and municipality of Kloten 0.9%). The FIG took over projects that had been started and was thus able to hand over the completed "shipyard I" to Swissair for use as early as late autumn 1948, followed by offices for Swissair's technical departments, which were finally able to leave Dübendorf by the end of April 1949. Further workshops, the striking arched hangar and the "Heating Centre I" for the heat supply were completed by the end of 1949.

Based on "Project V", the terminal building had already been designed as a convex building at the airport head in mid-1946. In the following four years, a total of 24 feasible airport project designs were submitted, before the FIG commissioned the construction of the airport according to plans by Alfred and Heinrich Oeschger in November 1950. At the beginning of 1951, the piling work for the terminal building began, the construction work took about two years. With the opening on 9 April 1953, the shanty town could be abandoned. The new building consisted of a central passenger wing, flanked by a restaurant and an office wing. In addition there was a spectator terrace of 200 m length.

The first years of operation
As had been expected the construction costs had been significantly exceeded. Several metres of raised bog were removed and backfilled with material from the Holberg; the concrete area had also increased from the originally planned 420,000 m2 to a good 611,000 m2. In addition, the former weapons range area had to be searched for unexploded bombs, of which a total of 157 were found. The costs for "Project IV", estimated at CHF 59.5 million in 1946, had risen to CHF 106 million by the time the civil engineering works under "Project VII" were completed in July 1949. Both chambers of the Federal Assembly concluded the political review with the "Federal Decree on the Payment of Additional Federal Contributions to the Construction of Zürich-Kloten Airport" of 29 September 1949. The Federation contributed CHF 27.1 million and doubled its contribution to the air traffic control facilities. For its part, the Cantonal Council granted a supplementary credit on 13 February 1950. This was accepted by the voters on 7 May 1950 with 73,551 votes to 59,088 (yes share of 55.45%).

The new terminal opened in 1953 with a large air show that ran three days. In 1947, the airport handled 133,638 passengers on 12,766 airline flights; in 1952, 372,832 passengers on 24,728 airline flights.

Second stage of construction
Locher & Cie was commissioned in 1954 to design various project options for the second construction phase. In March 1956, the canton submitted an extended project to the Federal Council. In addition to mandatory runway extensions for the incipient "jet age", the project also provided for the extension of the public facilities, which were already overused and dominated by various provisional arrangements; two finger docks were to defuse the situation. On 12 October 1956, the Federal Council recommended that parliament approve the bill. On 19 December 1956, the Council of States approved the federal contribution of CHF 54.8 million (at a total cost of 181.8 million), the National Council followed suit on 7 March 1957. The contribution of the canton of Zürich of CHF 74.3 million was still outstanding, the rest was to be raised by FIG and Swissair. The concrete expansion project included the extension of the blind runway to 4000 m and the western runway to 3150 m, as well as the extension of the buildings. Opponents described the "super airport Kloten" as a "luxury" and criticised that the canton had "lost every measure". Another issue that planners had completely neglected until then was the aircraft noise. With a high turnout of 72.3%, the expansion project failed in the cantonal referendum of 23 June 1957 with 97,603 votes to 83,196 (no vote of 54.0%).

Just four days later, the Zürich's cantonal government commissioned a redimensioned expansion project. The blind runway was to be only 3700 m long, the western runway 2500 m; the construction of the finger docks was abandoned. Thus the canton's share of the project to be approved was only CHF 49.1 million. The government gave far more attention to the aircraft noise. On 6 July 1958, voters approved the project by 107,050 votes to 56,872 (yes share 65.3%), with a 65.6% share. Due to time pressure - the landing of the first jet aircraft was planned for the following year - construction work began without waiting for approval of the federal funding. In December 1958 and March 1959 respectively, the National Council and the Council of States granted subsidies of 55.6 million. In 1959, BOAC started regular flight connections to Zurich with the revised "Comet IV", while the airport was still a construction site.

The first buildings were completed in 1960, and the terminal building, which had been considered an attractive design, lost its symmetrical appearance. To the east, towards the former shanty town, office wing A1, office wing B and the air traffic control building were added with a connecting structure. The "Fracht West" building, which had been extended at short notice during construction to provide additional office space, was located somewhat off the main building. In the hangar area in the southwest, Heating Station II was put into operation and the Hangar II, which was designed for jet aircraft, was handed over to Swissair, shortly after the arrival of the Sud Aviation "Caravelle III" and the Douglas DC-8-32 in May 1960. Finally, in the summer of 1961, Swissair's in-flight catering service was given a new building between the head of the airport and the hangar area.

The canton of Zürich acquired a further 135 hectares of land for the expansion of the civil engineering works, which lasted until the beginning of 1961 in parallel with the construction of the buildings. The apron areas were enlarged, particularly at the airport head and in the hangar area; the pier was also extended from 16 to 28 aircraft parking spaces, and buses were purchased to provide access to them. The west runway 10/28 was extended by 600 m to the west, towards Rümlang, and opened on 1 January 1961 with its new operating length of 2500 m. Blind runway 16/34 was extended 400 m to the south in the direction of Opfikon and 700 m to the north in the direction of Oberglatt. At its new operating length of 3700 m, it was released on 15 March 1961. By the time work was completed, the paved area at the airport covered 1,013,000 m2.

Extension of the Terminal Building
Although virtually all the buildings of the second phase had been completed by the end of 1961, the extension of the terminal building was still at the design stage. After the passenger terminal with two finger docks had failed in the cantonal referendum, the FIG had worked out a new project until 1958. This envisaged a two-storey transverse hall on the landside of the airport, on the two main floors of which arriving and departing passengers were functionally separated. For cost reasons, the federal government demanded a considerable redimensioning, which led to an open dispute about the preferred design. When the conflict, described by the media as a "war of experts", threatened to escalate, President Willy Spühler invited representatives of the Federation and the cantons to a conference on 9 December 1963.

During the conference, FIG's airport planners and the canton of Zürich prevailed against the federal government. The canton only had to make concessions for the commercial parts of the project, such as the restaurant wing. The dispatch of the Federal Council, submitted on 1 March 1965, requested a federal contribution of 23.1 million to the total costs of 129.4 million. Of this, 2.1 million was earmarked for the connection of the airport to the national road network and for the preparation of a connection to the planned (but never built) Zürich underground railway. The National Council and Council of States adopted the bill in October 1965, allowing construction work to begin the following year. The motorway loop was in operation from 1968. Finally, with the opening of the last new hall wing on 1 April 1971, the extension of the terminal building was completed.

The first signs of noise mitigation for the airport were in 1972, when a night-time curfew was enacted, as well as in 1974 when new approach routes were introduced. Runway 14/32 was opened in 1976, and 16/34 began renovation.

Attacks on El Al aircraft
On 18 February 1969, four armed members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) attacked El Al flight 432, firing Kalashnikov assault rifles at the Boeing 720B whilst it prepared for takeoff. The Shin Bet employee Mordechai Rachamim fired back with his pistol and killed the terrorist Abdel Mohsen Hassan. The three remaining assassins were each sentenced to twelve years in prison. The aircraft's co-pilot subsequently died of his injuries.

The attack marked the beginning of a discussion about airport security that had never been raised until then in Switzerland. On 21 February 1970, a parcel bomb exploded in Swissair's Convair CV-990 on flight SR330 (Zurich–Tel Aviv). In the crash near Würenlingen all 47 people on board were killed. Investigations revealed that a PFLP terrorist group had carried out the bomb attack. The actual target, however, had been an El Al flight from Munich to Tel Aviv, whose mail had been sent with Swissair to Zurich due to long delays. In 1970, the PFLP obtained the release of the three terrorists convicted in Switzerland and other comrades-in-arms imprisoned abroad through coordinated hijackings. Flights affected were SR 100 (Zurich–New York), TWA flight TW741, Pan Am flight PA93 and BOAC flight BA775.

Third stage of construction
In January 1969, the Zürich's Cantonal Council approved a loan for preparatory work for the third stage of expansion. The project that was subsequently drawn up clearly exceeded the previous dimensions. The plans included the extension of the existing runways, a 3300 m long runway, additional taxiways, the enlargement of the pier to 47 stands, a new terminal with finger dock, two multi-storey car parks, additional technical buildings, an airport railway station and a new hangar. In addition, there were various extensions and conversions of existing buildings. The costs were estimated at CHF 777.6 million (not including the air traffic control building and railway station). Since this project was hardly different from the "super airport" rejected in 1957, criticism was immediately voiced again by the "Protection Association of the Population around Zurich Airport" (SBFZ) and the community of Höri, which was located directly in the approach corridor. The SBFZ even demanded the resumption of the central airport concept that was dropped in 1945 – instead of Utzenstorf this time in the "Grosse Moos", with two runways jutting into Lake Neuchâtel.

The supporters of the Zurich airport expansion argued primarily with the economic benefit. In order to take the wind out of the sails of aircraft noise criticism, the government and cantonal council are drafting an aircraft noise law (including a ban on night flights), which should be submitted to a referendum at the same time as the expansion bill. After the Cantonal Council had approved both bills in July 1970, the referendum was held on 27 September 1970. The proposal for expansion was approved by 103,867 votes to 64,192 (61.8% yes), the Aircraft Noise Act by 134,501 votes to 32,590 (80.5% yes). The following year, the Federal Assembly approved a federal contribution of 240.3 million. Construction work on the third stage also began in 1971. In 1973, Hangar III, Cargo Hall East, Car Park F and the General Aviation Centre were completed. In 1974 the "Werkhof" (work yard), an office building and multistorey car park E were added, in 1975 the apron, multi-storey car park B and Terminal B with finger dock, and in 1976 the Airport Plaza shopping and service centre located in multi-storey car park B.

Additional costs were incurred due to numerous adjustments to the construction project. The additional credit of 25.8 million was accepted by Zurich voters on 7 December 1975 with 178,723 to 87,303 votes (67.2% yes). The canton supplemented this credit with ordinary and extraordinary budget credits from the building department. In March 1976 the Federal Assembly approved an additional federal contribution of 39.7 million. As the centrepiece of the third stage, runway 14/32 was opened on 1 April 1976, increasing capacity by a third. In the early days, the new runway served exclusively for landing traffic. The rail link, which had been approved by parliament in 1975 in a separate federal decree, was still outstanding. As this was a project of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), the cost allocation differed greatly. Of the total costs of 285 million, the SBB contributed 60%, the Federation 33% and the canton of Zürich 7%. The project comprised the Zürich Flughafen railway station under Terminal B (on which construction had been underway since 1971) and a new line between Bassersdorf and Glattbrugg. After nine years of construction, the ceremonial opening of the airport line took place on 29 May 1980.

Fourth stage of construction
In the second half of the 1970s, the volume of traffic continued to rise sharply, so the canton of Zürich, the FIG and Swissair worked out a project for the fourth construction phase. On 28 September 1980, with 142,240 to 104,775 votes (57.6%), Zürich voters accepted a loan of CHF 48 million for civil engineering works, which were part of the forthcoming construction work. Also in 1980, the Federal Office of Civil Aviation published a new airport concept, which replaced that of 1945. The focus was now on qualitative expansion, taking into account spatial planning and environmental protection considerations. Based on this concept, the Federal Assembly approved the "Building Programme 1981–1985". This programme provided for investments of CHF 393.3 million in Zürich-Kloten, but the subsidy contribution of 10.3% was significantly lower than for the Geneva and Basel-Mulhouse airports. This was justified by the catch-up demand of the two other major Swiss airports. The central element of the fourth stage was the finger dock in Terminal A with 13 docking positions. Also planned were a new control tower, a baggage sorting system, an additional multi-storey car park, waiting rooms and an operations centre for aircraft crews. Later, Zürich's cantonal government also decided to renew the damaged western runway, which had to be closed for two and a half months in the summer of 1985 for this purpose. Fingerdock A was put into operation on 1 November 1985, the new 41 m high control tower on 29 April 1986. There were also plans to expand the airport's cargo facilities. However, a corresponding loan of CHF 57 million was narrowly rejected in the referendum of 6 September 1987 by 106,722 to 98,663 votes (52.0% against). The project, which was subsequently revised and approved by Zürich's Cantonal Council in 1989, focused on more efficient use of the existing facilities, thereby enabling the handling of an additional 100,000 tonnes of freight annually.

Fifth stage of construction ("Airport 2000")
The cantonal popular initiative "for moderate air traffic" submitted in January 1991 intended to limit the airport to its then status, i.e. neither to allow more aircraft movements nor to expand the infrastructure. In the vote of 26 September 1993, however, it did not stand a chance and was clearly rejected by 235,531 votes to 112,476 (67.6%). Nine months later, Zürich's cantonal government submitted a proposal for a loan of CHF 873 million to the cantonal council. The fifth construction phase, known as "Airport 2000" and costing a total of CHF 2.4 billion, was intended to replace outdated systems and further expand existing facilities. At the heart of the project was the construction of a third terminal, Dock E "Midfield", located between the three runways. The Skymetro aerial tramway, a road tunnel and underground baggage conveyors were necessary for its development. Also part of the fifth stage was the construction of the new passenger hub "Airside Center". The Cantonal Council approved the project at the end of February 1995. It cleared the last hurdle in the referendum of 25 June 1995, when it was approved by 224,668 votes to 105,859 (68.0% Yes). After almost nine years of construction, the project was completed in 2004.

"Zürich 2010" project
The next major event for the airport was in 1999, when the Parliament of the canton of Zürich approved privatization of Zurich Airport. The following year, Flughafen Zürich AG, trading under the brand Unique, became the new airport operator. The company dropped the brand Unique in favour of Zurich Airport and Flughafen Zürich in 2010.

On 2 October 2001, a major cash-flow crisis at Swissair, exacerbated by the global downturn in air travel caused by the September 11 attacks, caused the airline to ground all its flights. Although a government rescue plan permitted some flights to restart a few days later, and the airline's assets were subsequently sold to become Swiss International Air Lines, the airport lost a large volume of traffic. After Lufthansa took control of Swiss International Air Lines in 2005, traffic began to grow again.

On 18 October 2001, Germany and Switzerland signed a treaty regarding the limitation of flights over Germany. Under the terms of this treaty, any incoming aircraft after 22:00 had to approach Zurich from the east to land on runway 28, which, unlike the airport's other runways, was not equipped with an instrument landing system. A month later, at 22:06 on 24 November, an inbound Crossair Avro RJ100 using this approach in conditions of poor visibility crashed into a range of hills near Bassersdorf and exploded, killing 24 of the 33 people on board. The flight had originally been scheduled to land on runway 14 before 22:00, but it was subject to delay and was therefore diverted to runway 28.

Zurich Airport completed a major expansion project in 2003, in which it built a new parking garage, a new midfield terminal, and an automated underground people mover to link the midfield terminal to the main terminal. In November 2008 a complete renovation and rebuild of the old terminal B structure was announced. The new terminal B opened in November 2011, and provides segregated access to and from aircraft for Schengen and non-Schengen passengers. Zurich Airport handled 25.5 million passengers in 2014, up 2.5 percent from 2013.

Etihad Regional ceased on 18 February 2015 to fly two-thirds of its scheduled routes without further notice, amongst them all its services from Zurich except the domestic service to Geneva. Etihad Regional blamed the failure of its expansion on the behavior of competitors, especially Swiss International Air Lines, as well as the Swiss aviation authorities.

Following the demolition of some office buildings the construction of the new baggage sorting facilities between the Operations Center and Terminal 1 began in spring 2018 with a total investment of CHF 500 million.

As of 2020, the marketing of all advertising space at the airport was transferred from Clear Channel to APG.

The main Terminal 1 will be completely rebuilt – including the tower of the Skyguide Air Traffic Control. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2021, with completion expected in 2030. In addition to the old building fabric, the expected growth in passenger numbers is the main reason for the pending construction work. "The forecasts suggest that the number of passengers arriving, departing or transferring at Zurich Airport each year today will grow from 29 million today to 50 million by 2030," says the airport operator's personnel booklet.

Corporate affairs
The airport is owned by Flughafen Zürich AG, a company quoted on the SIX Swiss Exchange. Major shareholders include the canton of Zürich, with 33.33% plus one of the shares, and the city of Zürich, with 5% of the shares. No other shareholder has a holding exceeding 3%. Flughafen Zürich AG used the brand name Unique from 2000 until 2010.

The company has stakes in various other airports around the world.

Terminal complex
The airport has three airside piers, which are known as terminals A, B, and E (also signposted as Gates A, B/D, and E). These are linked to a central air-side building called Airside Centre, built in 2003. Alongside the Airside Centre, the ground-side terminal complex named Airport Centre comprises several buildings, and includes airline check-in areas, a shopping mall, a railway station, car parks, and a bus and tram terminal. All departing passengers access the same departure level of the Airside Centre, which includes duty-free shopping and various bars and restaurants, via airport security. They are then segregated between passengers for Schengen and non-Schengen destinations on the way to the gate lounges, with the latter first passing through emigration controls. Arriving Schengen and non-Schengen passengers are handled in separate areas of the Airside Centre and reach it by different routes, with non-Schengen passengers first passing through immigration controls. The three airside terminals are:

Terminal A
Terminal A contains gates prefixed A. It opened in 1971, and it is used exclusively by flights to and from destinations inside the Schengen Area, including domestic flights within Switzerland. Since its expansion in 1982–1985, it takes the form of a finger pier, directly connected at one end to the Airside Centre.

Terminal A was scheduled to be torn down and replaced by an entirely new facility from 2021. However, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic the start of the project has been postponed for at least three years.

Terminal B
Terminal B contains gates prefixed B and D. It opened in 1975 and reopened in November 2011 after an extensive three-year reconstruction. Like terminal A, it takes the form of a finger pier directly connected at one end to the Airside Centre. Since reconstruction, it can accommodate both Schengen and non-Schengen flights at the same gates. Each gate has two numbers, one prefixed B and the other D, but with different passenger routes to and from the gates to separate the flows of Schengen and non-Schengen passengers.

Terminal E
Terminal E contains gates prefixed E, and is also known as the midfield terminal or Dock E. It is a stand-alone satellite terminal located on the opposite side of runway 10/28 from the Airside Centre, and is situated between runways 16/34 and 14/32. It is entirely used by non-Schengen international flights and became operational on 1 September 2003. It is connected to the Airside Centre by the Skymetro, an automated underground people mover.

Runways
Zurich Airport has three runways: 16/34 of 3700 m in length, 14/32 of 3300 m in length, and 10/28 of 2500 m in length. For most of the day and in most conditions, runway 14 is used for landings and runways 16 and 28 are used for takeoffs, although different patterns are used early morning and in the evenings. Zurich voters approved the extension of two runways at Zurich Airport on March 3, 2024. The extension of runway 28 by 400 m to the west and runway 32 by 280 m to the north is expected to increase safety and reduce noise pollution. The project is supported by the government of Zurich and the majority of political parties.

Passenger
The following airlines offer regular scheduled and charter flights at Zurich Airport:

Train
Zürich Flughafen railway station is located underneath the Airport Centre. The station has frequent Zürich S-Bahn services, plus direct InterRegio, InterCity, and Eurocity services, to many places including Basel, Bern, Biel/Bienne, Brig, Geneva, Konstanz, Lausanne, Lucerne, Munich, Romanshorn, St. Gallen, and Winterthur. There are some 13 trains per hour to Zürich HB (Hauptbahnhof), Zürich's main city centre station, with a journey time of between 9 and 13 minutes. By changing trains there, virtually all other places in Switzerland can be reached in a few hours.

Bus and tram
In front of the Airport Centre is the airport stop of the Stadtbahn Glattal, a light rail system that interworks with the Zürich tram system, together with a regional bus station. Both the bus station and light rail stop provide service to destinations throughout the Glattal region that surrounds the airport, with the light rail stop being served by tram routes 10 and 12. Tram route 10 also provides a link to Zürich Hauptbahnhof, albeit with a rather longer journey time than that of the railway.

Road
The airport is served by the A51 motorway and other main roads, which link to the airport's own road network. Drop-off areas are available by the Airport Centre whilst a total of over 14000 spaces are available in six car parks for short and long term parking. A car hire centre is located in the terminal complex. The airport is served by a fleet of dedicated airport taxis, which operate from taxi ranks in front of the arrival areas. Alternative chauffeur driven airport limousines can be arranged. The airport can legally be reached by bicycle on a regional highway (Flughafenstrasse and Birchstrasse) that branches off national highway 4 (Schaffhausen - Bülach - Zürich - Luzern) just east of the airport and reaches Northwestern Zürich.

The Circle
The Circle, a complex intended to include a medical center, a conference center, shops, restaurants, offices, and hotels, is under construction opposite the Airport Centre. In February 2009, Flughafen Zürich AG (FZAG) launched a three-stage architectural competition for "The Circle at Zurich Airport" development. Around 180000 m2 of usable space for services were to be built close to the terminals on a 37000 m2 site. Two hotels and the congress area will occupy around 45000 m2, which will be operated by the Hyatt Corporation. At the end of October 2011, FZAG submitted the building application to the town of Kloten, which granted the building permit on 6 March 2012. The groundbreaking ceremony for the superstructure, scheduled for the end of 2013, was postponed until the beginning of 2015. The Circle" is expected to create around 5,000 new jobs, with an investment volume of around CHF 1 billion. The foundation stone was laid on 24 March 2017 and the opening is expected to take place in the first half of 2020; however, even then not all six parts of the building will be ready. In the meantime, it has been announced that the opening will take place in September 2020.

Company headquarters
Several companies have their headquarters on or about the airport. These include Swiss International Air Lines, Swiss World Cargo, Swiss AviationTraining, Edelweiss Air, gategroup, Helvetic Airways, Swissôtel, and Rega. Swissair and Crossair were formerly based at the airport.

Airport fire department
The airport fire brigade is responsible for fire-fighting at Zurich Airport and is on standby around the clock. In the event of an emergency, the brigade must be able to reach any location on the airport grounds, an area of 880 hectares, in no more than three minutes in accordance with international standards. Their vehicles have extremely powerful engines and large-capacity tanks.

The fire service also includes an operations control centre. This not only coordinates the airport's rescue services, but also alerts the fire brigades in the northern part of the canton. A total of 77 fire brigades are deployed from the Operations Control Centre, including 2 professional and 13 base fire brigades. Likewise, the rescue service Schutz und Rettung Zürich Nord, the rescue service Spital Bülach, the rescue service Winterthur and since April 1, 2008, the rescue service of the canton of Schaffhausen are also dispatched. Other tasks of the Operations Control Centre include alerting a large animal rescue service, a personal emergency call and location system and the coordination of the emergency medical service for several municipalities.

Until 31 December 2007, the airport fire brigade was officially called the Berufsfeuerwehr Flughafen Zürich (Professional Fire Brigade), and it was constituted as the company fire brigade of Flughafen Zürich AG. On 1 January 2008, the airport fire brigade, together with the rescue service and the operations control centre, was for organizational reasons transferred to the Schutz und Rettung (Protection and Rescue) department of the city of Zürich.

Refuelling dispenser, Ramp Safety, Airport Authority and Follow Me
Vehicles that not only cross taxiways and runways reserved for aircraft on the designated roads, but also use them for business purposes, must be equipped with a transponder and radio and can thus be tracked on tracking websites (e.g. Flightradar24). The transponder sign or radio name for the Follow-Me vehicles is Zebra.

In 2014, five companies were licensed for aircraft refuelling at the airport, operating 16 tankers and 28 dispensers.

Rescue service Zurich Airport
The rescue service at Zurich Airport was established around 1982 as the original "fire-fighting ambulance". Its primary purpose was to protect fire-fighting personnel during fire-fighting operations, and secondarily to provide medical care for injured passengers. It was quickly recognised that there was also a steadily growing need for rescue services for the population outside the airport, and often neighbouring hospitals that were able to provide this service could not cope due to capacity bottlenecks, or the corresponding structures were not available in the Zürcher Unterland at the time. When the airport was privatized in 2000 to form the public limited company Unique (Flughafen Zürich AG), the rescue service was then separated from the fire service as a separate division within the Safety&Security department.

In the last year of its existence in 2007, the Rescue Service at Zurich Airport carried out around 5800 missions with 36 paramedics and three trainees. The majority of the operations were carried out in the region around the airport, which at that time comprised 28 contractual communities. There were three ambulances on standby during the day and two ambulances at night, which was carried out in two shifts of twelve hours each. The teams were on duty four times a day (twice a day and twice at night). As a novelty, Zurich Airport Emergency Medical Services consistently applied the amended labor law, i.e. it was one of the few employers to fully credit the working time of twelve hours without deductions ("attendance time"/effective working time).

There was no permanently installed emergency medical system at the airport site. The paramedics are equipped with extended skills that allow the administration of medication according to algorithms. As part of a quality control of the measures carried out, all operations were checked by the medical director. At the same time, an annual review of medication and algorithmic knowledge took place. Only after passing the written and practical test was the paramedic authorized to administer medication for another year. If an emergency physician was needed, the resources of the partner organisations REGA (helicopters) or the NEF of "Schutz und Rettung Zürich" could be called upon.

Project SUS After two project studies, Unique (Flughafen Zürich AG) decided in the summer of 2007 to outsource the rescue service together with the operations centre and the professional fire brigade and to sell it to the Schutz und Rettung (Protection and Rescue) department of the city of Zürich for an amount of CHF 22 million. This was also due to the needs of the city of Zürich, as its professional fire brigade in particular had problems meeting the required arrival times with long journeys to the north of the city of Zürich. At the same time, it was possible to avoid the cost-intensive construction of a new base for rescue services and fire brigades in the rapidly growing north. A comprehensive contract was drawn up for the takeover of the entire department, which will be reassessed after ten years. The outsourcing resulted in massive internal restructuring, which replaced the previous organisational form. Since January 1, 2008, the base at the airport has been known as the "Wache Nord". With a strong positive operating result in 2007 and a reduced staffing level as of January 1, 2008, the catchment area of the rescue service expanded to include the northern districts of Zürich Schwamendingen, Seebach and Oerlikon.

Accidents and incidents

 * On November 24, 1951, a Douglas DC-4 of the Israeli El Al (aircraft registration 4X-ADN) on a cargo flight from Rome with textiles on board crashed into a forest three kilometers northeast of Zurich Airport shortly before landing. Six of the seven crew members were killed.
 * On 24 November 1956, an Ilyushin Il-12B of the Czechoslovak airline ČSA (OK-DBP) crashed into an agricultural area 13 kilometres after take-off from Zürich-Kloten airport, only 500 metres from the southern outskirts of Wasterkingen, probably due to engine problems. All 23 passengers and crew members died there.
 * On 4 September 1963, Swissair Flight 306 experienced an in-flight fire shortly after take-off and crashed, killing all 80 people on board.
 * On 18 February 1969, four armed members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine attacked El Al flight 432 whilst it prepared for takeoff. The aircraft's security guard repelled the attack, resulting in the death of one of the terrorists, whilst the Boeing 720's co-pilot subsequently died of his injuries.
 * On 21 February 1970, a barometrically triggered bomb exploded on Swissair Flight 330 some nine minutes after takeoff from Zurich en route to Tel Aviv and Hong Kong. All 47 occupants were killed. The bombing was attributed to the PFLP-GC.
 * On 18 January 1971, an inbound Balkan Bulgarian Airlines Il-18D approached Zurich Airport in fog below the glideslope. It crashed and burst into flames, 0.7 km north of the airport, when both the left wingtip and landing gear contacted the ground. Seven crew members and 38 passengers were killed.
 * On 24 November 1990, an Alitalia Douglas DC-9 operating Flight 404 crashed on approach to Zurich, killing all 46 passengers and crew on board.
 * On 10 January 2000, a Crossair Saab 340 operating Flight 498 crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all 10 occupants. The cause of the crash was determined to have been the result of spatial disorientation and pilot errors.
 * On 24 November 2001, a Crossair Avro RJ100 operating Flight 3597 crashed into hills near Bassersdorf while on approach to Zurich. Twenty-four of the 33 people on board were killed.
 * On 15 March 2011, two Swiss A320s received almost simultaneous take-off clearance on the intersecting runways 16 and 28. In response to this serious incident, the Federal Office of Civil Aviation commissioned a comprehensive analysis of the operating procedures.
 * On 27 September 2013 the nose landing gear of a De Havilland DHC-8-400 of Croatia Airlines could not be extended. The aircraft had taken off in Zagreb and was scheduled to land in Zurich. During the landing approach to Zurich Airport the pilots noticed that the nose gear of the aircraft was not extended. They tried for 40 minutes to extend the landing gear completely, but failed. The pilots decided to make an emergency landing in Zurich on runway 14, and none of the 60 passengers were injured in the subsequent landing at 8:17 pm. Runway 14 was then closed until the end of operations. After 15 minutes, air traffic on the two other runways could be resumed as usual.

title: Zurich Airport


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Sakura Wars

Sakura Wars (サクラ大戦) is a Japanese steampunk media franchise created by Oji Hiroi and owned by Sega. It is focused around a series of cross-genre video games. The first game in the series was released in 1996, with five sequels and numerous spin-off titles being released since then. The series—set during a fictionalized version of the Taishō period—depicts groups of women with magical abilities using steam-powered mecha to combat demonic threats.

The original Sakura Wars was an ambitious title for the then-in-production Sega Saturn. The first game's overlap of the tactical role-playing, dating sim and visual novel genres prompted Sega to classify it as a "dramatic adventure", a moniker which has endured during the series' lifetime. Both Red Entertainment and Sega co-developed most of the games until 2008, when the series went on hiatus. Sega rebooted the series as sole developer because of fan demand. Recurring elements include anime cutscenes created by notable studios including Production I.G, and music by composer Kohei Tanaka.

The series has sold over 5.8 million copies as of 2022, and garnered both critical and popular acclaim. The original Sega console games have been voted among the most popular for the Saturn and Dreamcast. The Sakura Wars franchise includes numerous anime productions, manga, and other media projects such as stage shows. With the exception of So Long, My Love and Shin Sakura Wars, the video game series has not been released in English. Several of the anime series have been localized for English territories.

Games
The first installment was released on September 27, 1996. Many Sakura Wars games have been localized for markets in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia on numerous video game consoles, personal computers (PC), and mobile phones. As of December 2019, the series includes the main installments from the 1996 Sakura Wars to the 2019 Sakura Wars, as well as direct sequels and spin-offs, both released and confirmed as being in development. Most of the older games have been remade or re-released on multiple platforms.

Main series
The original Sakura Wars was released in 1996 for the Sega Saturn. It was ported to a number of platforms including Dreamcast, Microsoft Windows and mobile devices. A remake for the PlayStation 2 (PS2), Sakura Wars: In Hot Blood, was released in 2003. The remake includes additional voice acting, redone graphics and battle system based on later entries. Its sequel Sakura Wars 2: Thou Shalt Not Die was released for the Saturn in 1998. It was the last title developed for the platform, receiving ports to Dreamcast and Windows, and as a bundle with the first game to the PlayStation Portable (PSP).

The next entry, Sakura Wars 3: Is Paris Burning?, was released in 2001 for the Dreamcast. It was later ported to Windows, and then to the PS2 with Dreamcast-exclusive features redesigned to work on the PS2. Sakura Wars 4: Fall in Love, Maidens was released in 2002 for the Dreamcast. It was the last Sakura Wars game produced for Sega hardware, and was later ported to Windows.

The fifth game, Sakura Wars V: Farewell, My Lovely, was first released for the PS2 in Japan in 2005. It was the first mainline Sakura Wars game to be produced after Sega abandoned game console production. In North America, Europe, and Australia, the game was localized as Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love and published by NIS America for the PS2 and the Wii in 2010; this release removed the number from the title. The sixth entry is a soft reboot of the series, titled Shin Sakura Wars (Sakura Wars in the west). The game carries over multiple elements while featuring a new cast and action-based combat system. It was released for the PlayStation 4 (PS4) in 2019 in Asia, and 2020 worldwide.

Spin-offs
In addition to the main series, numerous spin-off games covering multiple genres were released. The first spin-off title was Hanagumi Taisen Columns, released for the Saturn in 1997. A sequel for the Dreamcast was released in 2000. A spin-off set just after Sakura Wars for the Game Boy Color, Sakura Wars GB, was developed by Jupiter and released by Media Factory in 2000. A direct sequel was released the following year. A small peripheral titled Pocket Sakura was also developed by Jupiter and released alongside the first Game Boy Color title.

A small group of spin-off titles were developed under the umbrella title Sakura Wars World Project. Sakura Wars Story: Mysterious Paris, a visual novel adventure set after the events of Is Paris Burning?, was released in 2004 for the PS2. A prequel to So Long, My Love, Sakura Wars V Episode 0: Samurai Daughter of the Wild, was also released for the PS2 that year. The gameplay deviated from the main series in featuring hack and slash action. A Nintendo DS dungeon crawler spin-off, Dramatic Dungeon: Sakura Wars — Because You Were There, was developed by Neverland and released in 2008, featuring the casts of all mainline games up to that point.

Other releases included fan discs, supplementary materials related to Sakura Wars and its first sequel, and Sakura Wars-themed pachinko machines. Multiple mobile titles based on the series were also released, beginning in 2001 with Sakura Wars: Keitai Club. Sakura Wars Online for the Dreamcast was released in 2001 with two character packs, one themed after the Tokyo Flower Division and one after the Paris Flower Division. It operated until Sega closed down its servers in 2005.

A mobile game by Sega and Delight Works, Sakura Kakumei ~Hana Saku Otome-tachi~ for iOS and Android devices was announced for a 2020 release in September. The game is set in 2011, (Taisho 100) after a great calamity 16 years earlier, a new combat revue known as B.L.A.C.K. has risen to defend the citizen of Japan from new demon hordes and unravel a deep government conspiracy. Anime studio, CloverWorks produced a short anime for streaming to promote the new game.

Setting and characters
The Sakura Wars series is set during a fictionalised version of the Taishō period, with the chronology currently running from 1923 (Taisho 12) to 1940 (Taisho 29). The games are set in the cities of Tokyo, Paris and New York. The setting combines real locations with fantastical events and steampunk-based technology. The central conflict of the series is between demonic forces created by the ingrained darkness in human hearts. To combat this in Tokyo, the Japanese government created a unit of steam-based mecha called Koubu powered by spirit energy. While a few men are capable of using them, women form the main combat units because of their stronger spiritual power. This group is known as the Imperial Assault Force, based in a theater and working undercover as the Imperial Theater Revue. The group to which the protagonists belong is the Flower Division (Hanagumi), the main combat troop. Other groups make cameo appearances in the story if present.

The first four games follow the military and romantic exploits of Imperial Army officer Ichiro Ogami. Originally assigned to the Imperial Assault Force in Tokyo, he later traveled to Paris and trained the newly formed Paris Assault Force before returning to Tokyo and commanding the two united Flower Divisions during the events of Sakura Wars 4. For So Long, My Love, the lead protagonist was changed to Ogami's nephew Shinjiro Taiga, who is sent in place of Ogami to train the New York Combat Revue. The 2019 soft reboot, Shin Sakura Wars takes place in 1940, twelve years after an event called the "Great Demon War" saw the destruction of all three original Flower Divisions. New divisions were created across the world and began competing with each other, with the newly reformed Tokyo Flower Division being the main protagonists.

Gameplay
The gameplay of Sakura Wars incorporate role-playing, dating sim and visual novel elements. This blend of genres and styles resulted in it being labeled as a new genre dubbed "dramatic adventure" in its marketing. The original combination of narrative and tactical role-playing gameplay was inspired by the Fire Emblem series. The gameplay is split between adventure-style segments where the player explores environments and interacts with cast members; and battle sections where choices during the adventure segments come into play. With the main female cast, the protagonist can pursue a romance. Romance options can be carried between the first four titles using save data.

Throughout the series, the games have used different battle systems. The first Sakura Wars and its sequel made use of a traditional turn-based battle system on a tilted two-dimensional grid-based battlefield. Each unit has two actions from a selection of five. The sequel expanded the selection to six, and included cinematic attacks. The leader could also issue commands to the entire squad to take specific battle formations. Sakura Wars 3 introduced the "Active & Realtime Machine System" (ARMS), which takes place in three-dimensional battle arenas. Under this system, units have an allotment of Action Points (AP). AP are used up by moving around the battlefield. Units can perform one of six actions, with two actions per turn as in earlier titles. Each unit has special abilities, and attack ranges based on their weaponry. For the 2019 Sakura Wars, the battle system was redesigned to use action-based combat, focusing on free movement within large arenas.

Central to all the games and most spin-off titles is the "Live & Interactive Picture System" (LIPS). During conversations with characters and key story sections, the player is faced with critical choices with an imposed time limit. The concept behind LIPS was to maintain player engagement while making narrative rather than freezing time and allowing prolonged time for thought, a trend the staff found annoying. The most basic version was established in the first Sakura Wars, then later expanded into "Double LIPS" with the incorporation of a personality meter which could indicate a character's feelings towards the player. Between Is Paris Burning? and So Long, My Love, a version called "Analog LIPS" was used. This allowed players to alter the intensity of a single response. It also included interacting with the character and environments. So Long, My Love expanded it further with quick time events using the control sticks and buttons. The 2019 Sakura Wars continues this use of the LIPS system, featuring Analog LIPS and new free-roaming elements. Choices made during LIPS sections directly impact character performance in battle.

Origins and development
In 1990, Oji Hiroi at Red Entertainment (formally Red Company) decided to create Sakura Wars. Hiroi drew inspiration from Japanese stage shows when creating the project, initially titled "Sakura" (桜). Because of a lack of interest from publishers, Hiroi shelved the project until he was approached by Sega vice president Shoichiro Irimajiri to develop a new project for the Saturn. Successfully pitching his project to Irimajiri, the game began production under the title Sakura Wars. While the scenario and gameplay went through multiple redrafts, Sakura Wars always made use of a steampunk setting, a female lead and mecha combat. Development lasted three years, double the original estimate, and was Sega's most expensive project at the time. Many within both Red Company and Sega were skeptical of the game's success, but Hiroi remained confident. Following the critical and commercial success of Sakura Wars, Sega and Red Company expanded the original premise into a franchise, starting with Thou Shalt Not Die. A recurring feature from Thou Shalt Not Die onwards was the use of subtitles drawn from famous poetry or other types of fiction related to a game's location or mood. A recurring poet was Akiko Yosano, whom Hiroi admired.

Following Thou Shalt Not Die, the team moved onto the Dreamcast to develop Sakura Wars 3, rebuilding the game engine and utilising the console's functions for gameplay elements. Following the release of Sakura Wars 3, Sega discontinued the Dreamcast because of declining console sales, transitioning to a software developer and publisher. Rather than move their planned next entry to the PlayStation 2, the team created a final Dreamcast entry as a celebratory title for series fans. This became Sakura Wars 4, which was completed in 10 months as opposed to the usual two year development period of other entries. The original story planned for Sakura Wars 4 was moved for the team's next entry on the PlayStation 2.

In 2005, Red Entertainment split from Sega after it bought back its majority share holding, although it continued to be involved in the Sakura Wars series. The next entry, Sakura Wars V, formed part of a seven-game group dubbed "Sakura Wars World Project"; the aim was to release these games overseas. In the event, only Sakura Wars V was published overseas as Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love, and only three of the other planned games were released. The remaining three titles were cancelled in 2008. Sega and Red Entertainment greenlit Dramatic Dungeon: Sakura Wars in an attempt to revitalise the franchise using a new gameplay genre. In August 2008, Sega decided to end the franchise, with the final Sakura Wars-themed event being a concert that month. Red Entertainment was bought by Chinese company UltaZen in 2011, with Sega retaining the Sakura Wars property. Fan demand eventually persuaded Sega to greenlight a new title in the series, which would both continue the narrative and feature a new cast.

Staff
All titles from 1996 to 2005 were developed by the same central team. These included writer Satoru Akahori, artists Kōsuke Fujishima and Hidenori Matsubara, director and later chief director Tomoyuki Ito, producer and later executive producer Noriyoshi Ohba, and designer Takaharu Terada. Hiroi had contributed to all the projects as a general producer. Red Entertainment co-developed the games with an internal Sega team which shifted identity over the years—originally known as CS2 R&D during development of the first two Sakura Wars, the team was renamed Overworks in 2000 when Sega consolidated its 9 semi-autonomous subsidiaries into six studios; they worked on the series between Sakura Wars 3 and Sakura Wars V: Episode 0. Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love was developed by the same team as part of Sega's GE2 R&D division, the same team which would develop Valkyria Chronicles. Shin Sakura Wars was developed by a team within Sega's CS2 R&D division, a newer group including Sonic Team. New team members included character designer Tite Kubo, and writers Jiro Ishii and Takaaki Suzuki, all famous names in anime and video games respectively. Hiroi remained in a supervisory role, and also wrote the theme song lyrics.

Other developers worked on the series alongside Sega and Red Entertainment, including Idea Factory, who created the Wii port of So Long, My Love; Jupiter Corporation, producers of the Sakura Wars GB duology and the Pocket Sakura peripheral;  and Neverland, who developed Dramatic Dungeon: Sakura Wars. A notable feature of the series is its FMV anime sequences. The first game's scenes were animated by Sega's animation subsidiary, Kyokuichi Tokyo Movie (now known as TMS Entertainment). From Thou Shalt Not Die to Fall in Love, Maidens, they were produced by Production I.G. For So Long, My Love, the scenes were primarily produced by M.S.C. In Shin Sakura Wars, the anime FMV sequences were produced by Sanzigen.

Music
The Sakura Wars series features a variety of music, and frequently reuses themes. Kohei Tanaka is the chief music composer of the series. Tanaka's first major work in the video game industry, it brought him widespread recognition. Tanaka was among the first to support Hiroi with Sakura Wars, having worked with him during work on an original video animation (OVA) of Tengai Makyou: Ziria. Tanaka acted as a teacher figure for the rest of the development team. At that time, rhythm and percussion dominated Japanese popular music rather than melody. Both Tanaka and Hiroi wanted to reintroduce younger Japanese to beautiful melodies. Tanaka has been involved to some degree in most of the Sakura Wars games, composing the music for all mainline entries, and several spin-off titles. A recurring theme in the series is a piece called "Geki! Teikoku Kagekidan". Tanaka wrote the theme based on Hiroi's request to combine the music of a Super Sentai opening theme with the vocal style of the title song for the film Aoi sanmyaku (1949). Versions of it were included in Sakura Wars 2, Sakura Wars 4, and the 2019 soft reboot of Sakura Wars.

Localization
While Hiroi wanted the series to be released worldwide, nearly all games in the Sakura Wars series remain exclusive to Asian territories. Early efforts at localizing the series were not undertaken because of Sega's uncertainty over whether the game's blend of genres would find a large enough audience outside Japan to be profitable. An unspecified attempt by Sega to localize the game stalled during the concept approval stage. No official reason was ever given. The PSP ports of Sakura Wars and Thou Shalt Not Die were scheduled for the North American market, but it were canceled. It was later explained that Sony classified Sakura Wars as a text novel, which made then-future licensing for importation and translation difficult.

A Korean translation of So Long, My Love was published in South Korea by Sega in 2006. The PC CD-ROM versions of Sakura Wars and its sequel were localized and released in Russia by Akella in 2006 and 2008 respectively. Dysin Interactive published the PC versions of Sakura Wars to Is Paris Burning? in China, and Fall in Love, Maidens was released in the region by Beijing Entertainment All Technology.

The first official English release in the Sakura Wars series is So Long, My Love, which was translated by NIS America in collaboration with Red Entertainment and Idea Factory. The dub was produced at Bang Zoom! Entertainment, and included actors from NIS America's localization of the Disgaea series. The team also included the Japanese voice track in the PlayStation 2 version, with a dedicated translation which preserved the original character names being created for it. The localization took two years to complete, becoming NIS America's largest localization effort to date. For Shin Sakura Wars, Sega brought on Yakuza 0 translators Inbound Games to localise the game. The localised version uses the Japanese audio with subtitles in other languages, and renames the game with the series namesake only.

Reception and sales
Between the series' debut in 1996 and 2010, the series has sold over 4.5 million copies worldwide. Each entry on Sega hardware rank among the best-selling titles for their respective hardware. The original Sakura Wars was an immediate success, with several stores being sold out of copies within hours of its release. Sakura Wars 2 remains the best-selling title in the series, with over 500,000 copies sold on the Saturn alone, making it one of the console's best-selling titles in Japan. So Long, My Love is the worst-selling mainline entry to date, and was a commercial failure in the West.

Japanese website 4Gamer.net described the series as a "legendary" property connected to Sega, citing several elements such as the anime-style presentation and blend of genres that were hardly seen in gaming at the time. Jenni Lada of TechnologyTell wrote a retrospective on the series in 2009, calling Sakura Wars "an odd series [...] that defies genres". In a 1999 IGN article on the franchise following the announcement of Sakura Wars 3, journalist Anoop Gantayat described it as "probably the greatest series of games to never make their way stateside", citing its unprecedented success when compared to other games on Sega hardware at the time.

The series has been popular with both journalists and fans in Japan since the first game's release. At the inaugural CESA Awards, Sakura Wars won the Grand Award, as well as awards in the Best Director, Best Main Character and Best Supporting Character categories. Sakura Wars 2 won the Packaged Work Award at the 1998 Animation Kobe event. The soundtrack album of Sakura Wars 4 won in the "Animation – Album of the Year" category at the 2003 Japan Gold Disc Awards. Prior to release, Sakura Wars was the second most-wanted game in a Famitsu poll in 1996, coming in behind Final Fantasy VII. The first four games all appeared on a public Famitsu poll from 2006 of the 100 best games of all time. A second later poll ranked the Sakura Wars games as among the best on the Saturn and Dreamcast. Sakura Wars heroine Sakura Shinguji was rated in 2009 by Famitsu as the 17th best Japanese video game character.

Related media
Red Company and Sega have expanded the Sakura Wars series into various media. These include anime, manga, stage shows, several light novels, concerts and CD album releases of soundtracks. The latter have met with substantial commercial success. Despite a shared identity, Hiroi took care to keep each of these elements distinct and separate from each other. A dedicated themed cafe and merchandise store based in the Ikebukuro district of Tokyo, Sakura Wars Taisho Romando, opened in 1998. Taisho Romando remained open for ten years until it closed in March 2008.

A prominent feature was an annual stage show dubbed Sakura Wars Kayou Show supervised by Hiroi, for which new musical numbers were created by Tanaka. The show featured the cast reprising their roles and performing stage shows drawn from the series. Each character had songs themed after their characters. The cast, which grew to include those of later games, remained for the entire run with the exception of actress Michie Tomizawa who retired from the series and her role as character Sumire Kanzaki in 2002. Tomizawa appeared as a guest in later revival concerts. The original stage shows ran regularly from 1997 to 2006. Since then, it has seen irregular revivals with both the first cast and later additions. The stage shows were originally meant to end in 2008 along with the franchise, but fan support allowed future revivals. A stage adaptation of the 2019 game was planned to run from March 5–8, 2020 at Sogetsu Hall. However, on February 26, 2020, Sega announced that the event would not take place because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The play will now be postponed to winter 2020 with precautions to protect the spread of the virus.

Hiroi wrote a manga adaptation of the first Sakura Wars, which began serialization in 2002. The original run finished in December 2008, but its popularity led to a second series continuing the narrative. Since 2003, the manga has been published as tankōbon by Kodansha. A comedy manga titled Sakura Wars: Show Theater, which featured comedy skits of characters from each main Sakura Wars location, was serialised between 2005 and 2009, and published by Kodansha in four volumes between 2006 and 2009. A manga adaptation, Shin Sakura Taisen: The Comic, began serialization in 2019 by Shueisha. It was written by Ishii, and illustrated by Koyuri Noguchi.

A spin-off manga Sakura Wars: Kanadegumi was created by Chie Shimada, based on concepts from the Sakura Wars team, and published in the shojo magazine Hana to Yume published by Hakusensha. In contrast to the main series, it was aimed at a female audience and shifted the narrative to a male harem set-up; main protagonist Neko Miyabi is assigned to the titular Kanadagumi, and develops relationships with its five male members. Originally a two-chapter special published between November and December 2011, it was expanded into a full series in February 2012. The manga ran from 2012 to 2013. Between its debut and final issue, the manga inspired both an anime short and a dedicated stage show. It was published in four tankōbon by Hakusensha between September 2012 and July 2013.

Film and television
Multiple anime films, television series and original video animations (OVAs) have been produced that are based either on individual Sakura Wars games or on the series as a whole. The first was an OVA, titled Sakura Wars: The Gorgeous Blooming Cherry Blossoms. The OVA was released as four 30-minute episodes from 1997 to 1998, following the cast of the first game. A second OVA series, The Radiant Gorgeous Blooming Cherry Blossoms, was released as six 30-minute episodes from 1999 to 2000, relating side stories from between Sakura Wars and the end of Thou Shalt Not Die. Further OVA series based around the characters of Is Paris Burning? and So Long, My Love (École de Paris; Le Nouveau Paris; Sumire; New York, New York) were released from 2003 to 2007. The OVAs were produced by Radix Ace Entertainment until New York, New York in 2007, when production shifted by Anime International Company.

An anime television series based on the first game was produced by Madhouse. The 25-episode series was broadcast on Tokyo Broadcasting System Television from April 8 to September 23, 2000. While based on the first game's narrative and preserving Hiroi's vision, the series changed and added in several events. A major problem was remaining faithful to the source material within a TV format. In 2001, an animated theatrical film, Sakura Wars: The Movie, was released. The film takes place between Is Paris Burning? and Fall in Love, Maidens and features new character Ratchet Altair who would later appear in So Long, My Love. The film was animated by Production I.G; production took three years and was inspired by the wish to expand the series animation beyond what the short cutscenes and OVA projects had achieved. A second anime television series, titled Sakura Wars the Animation and serving as a sequel to the 2019 Sakura Wars, premiered on April 3, 2020. It is animated by Sanzigen, which helped create the animated sequences for the game.

In North America, the first two OVA series and the television series were localised by ADV Films. École de Paris and Sumire were dubbed and released by Funimation,    The film was released in North America by Pioneer Entertainment in 2003,  and later by Funimation in 2013. Funimation is streaming the 2020 anime for a simulcast release in North America and the United Kingdom.

title: Sakura Wars