Best way to get to Zurich airport from central city on a Monday morning

Train. There is a station in the airport.

Agree the train is the easiest way. It's direct from Hauptbanhof, takes about fifteen minutes, and runs often.

Take the train and you don’t have to worry about commuter traffic.

Most of the trains to the airport depart from Platforms 33 or 34, 2 levels down from the street level (well-signed). They take from 9 to 12 minutes, EXCEPT for the ones designated “T”, which take 45 minutes or more. To avoid accidentally getting on one of those, I make a list of times and train numbers for the fast ones, like this:

From Platform 33, 8:05 for IC 8; 8:17 for IC 5, z8z;35 for IR 75.

From Platform 34, 8:03 for IC 5, 8:09 for IR 13, 8:14 for S2, etc.

You must have a ticket before you board (buy online or from a machine), and if you get on an IC train make sure you choose a 2d class car (unless of course you have a first-class ticket).

Definitely the train. Use the SBB app, it will tell you times and platforms, easy peasy.

They take from 9 to 12 minutes, EXCEPT for the ones designated “T”, which take 45 minutes or more. To avoid accidentally getting on one of those...

As a helpful piece of info for the OP, these are actually trams -- they run just outside of Zurich HB on the surface, do not have a platform number indicated, and (in some parts) run in mixed traffic.

If you are getting on any train with a platform number within Zurich HB, then it is not a tram and will take the ~9-12 minutes to get to Zurich airport.

Good point. I just wanted to make it clear that not all the listed departures on the SBB schedule are quick. But sticking to Platforms 33 and 34 resolves that, as Andrew rom NYC explains.