TREND IN TRAFFIC VOLUME

Passenger numbers top 29 million for the first time

In the past year, Zurich Airport handled 29,396,094 passengers, setting a new record and exceeding the record set in the previous year by 6.3%. In comparison with major European airports, Zurichʼs growth is slightly above the average of 6.2% (source: ACI Airports Council International).

In 2017, the Zurich Airport catchment area again proved to be a stable and reliable market. Increasing competition coupled with rising local demand for air travel were the main drivers of growth over the past year, which was further boosted by an upswing in the transfer segment. The number of local passengers rose by 5.3% to 21.0 million, and the number of transfer passengers increased 8.8% to 8.3 million. The share of transfer passengers thus rose from 27.6% in the previous year to 28.3% in the reporting period. The passenger volume in the scheduled and charter segment grew by 6.3% in 2017, while general aviation remained 1.2% below the previous yearʼs figure.

Europe, Zurich Airportʼs most important market, showed a slightly below-average increase of +5.4%. Intercontinental traffic, on the other hand, experienced above-average growth of 9.2%. The biggest increase in demand was seen for flights to Latin America (+33.5%), followed by Africa (+18.0%), the Far East (10.8%), the Middle East (+8.2%) and North America (+3.6%).

The passenger share of home carrier Swiss was 52.3% in the year under review, followed by Edelweiss Air (5.9%), Air Berlin (4.3%), Eurowings (2.8%) and easyJet (2.4%).

STRONG NETWORK

In 2017, scheduled and charter airlines operated flights from Zurich Airport to 131 European and 54 intercontinental destinations. A total of 72 scheduled airlines and charter carriers offered services on the route network.

FLIGHT MOVEMENTS UP SLIGHTLY AND INCREASED CAPACITY UTILISATION

Flight movements totalled 270,453 in 2017, which represents growth of 0.5% compared with the previous year. While the number of scheduled and charter flight movements increased by a mere 0.2%, general aviation recorded growth of 2.4%.

During the same period, the seat capacity increased by 4.3%, in particular due to the renewal of aircraft in the Swiss fleet (Bombardier C Series and Boeing 777), which will continue until the end of 2018. The increase in seat capacity and growth in the number of passengers per flight movement, from 117 to 124, resulted in a 1.4 percentage point rise in the seat load factor during the reporting year to 77.2%.

REMARKABLE FREIGHT GROWTH

Freight volumes at Zurich Airport increased by 13.1% in 2017 over the 2016 level. A total of 490,452 tonnes of freight were transported during the year under review. While the volume of freight shipped by air was 13.8% higher, substitute air freight transported by road increased by 11.4%.