Business update
Aviation operations at Zurich Airport
Flight operations in 2024 were characterised by rising passenger volumes and additions to the portfolio of destinations in both the summer and the winter timetable. A total of 205 destinations (previous year: 200) were served by 68 airlines (previous year: 60). With respect to the portfolio additions, it is worth mentioning that Air India returned to Zurich Airport for the first time in more than 25 years, with the airline introducing four weekly flights between Zurich and New Delhi in June 2024. Last year, a total of 31.2 million passengers passed through Zurich Airport, translating into an increase of 8% over the previous year. On peak days, particularly during the summer and autumn holidays, the airport recorded more than 110,000 passengers.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) 2024 in January and the Ukraine peace conference in June were two major international events attended by high-ranking political representatives that called for heightened security measures and involved a substantial number of additional flights. The successful handling of this additional traffic testifies to the operational resilience and efficiency of the airport operations.
Necessary underlying conditions
Following the significant vote approving the runway extensions in March, the receipt of planning approval from the Swiss Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC) in spring 2024 for the taxiway around runway 10/28 marked a further step in the implementation of the most important measures for increasing the safety margin at Zurich Airport. This infrastructure project will reduce the number of runway crossings by over 100,000 movements per year, thus additionally improving the safety and efficiency of flight operations in the long term. The runway extensions will also help to increase safety. Even under demanding conditions, it will be possible to fly more often in the manner envisaged at political level. This also means that scheduled landings and takeoffs will be more punctual resulting in, on average, an earlier halt to operations and thus more peaceful night-time hours. Construction on the two long-term infrastructure projects is not anticipated to start before 2030.
The airport also faced challenges last year with regard to the framework in which it operates and will continue to do so moving forward: the night-time curfew initiative submitted in the Canton of Zurich is demanding further restrictions to flight operations in Zurich. Zurich Airport needs a stable operating environment to ensure that it can continue to operate as an international hub and provide good accessibility to Switzerland in the future in line with the federal government’s mandate. One crucial element of this involves the current operating times running from 06:00 to 23:30, with the last half hour dedicated to delay reduction without requiring approval.
A milestone in passenger processes at the airport was achieved in the reporting year with the commencement of trial operations with new CT scanners, which heighten passenger convenience in particular. Completion of the pilot project and the staggered roll-out of this new technology is planned from autumn 2025.
During the reporting year, Zurich Airport Ltd. also took steps to prepare for the provision of services for passengers with reduced mobility (PRM) and, from January 2025 integrated the relevant Goldair AAS Assistance AG employees within Zurich Airport Ltd.
In 2024, new uniforms featuring a modern design that meets high quality and functionality standards were also introduced for customer-facing employees at Zurich Airport Ltd.
Multiple awards received
Zurich Airport was named best airport in Europe in the reporting year. It ranked top again in its category with both the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Award and the World Travel Award. Zurich Airport Ltd. thus received the World Travel Award for the 21st consecutive time. It has been the recipient of the ASQ Award for “Best airport in Europe in the 25 to 40 million passengers category” every year since 2018. As well as this, the Zurich Airport Ltd. website was named the world’s best airport website for the first time and given the World Travel Tech Award. It had previously been acknowledged twice as the best European airport website.
Real estate and commercial centers at Zurich Airport
Real estate business continued to grow in 2024, remaining a stable and important business mainstay for Zurich Airport Ltd.
Ongoing construction projects
Construction work on the “Development of landside passenger zones” project continued in the reporting year, reaching a milestone at the end of the year: It was possible to initiate the next construction phase, which will result in a substantial increase in the construction area in Airport Shopping and, related to this, the closure of the Circle corridor. In addition, various shops, hospitality offerings and services were relocated or closed. Despite the increased construction area, more than 50 Airport Shopping retail outlets are available.
Work on modernising the baggage sorting system during live operations also progressed according to plan, with the main activities completed in early summer 2024. This was followed by the initiation of measures to replace the installations located in the tunnel with a length of roughly one kilometre connecting Dock E as well as in Dock E itself. In order to minimise the proportion of delayed luggage during the construction and transition phase, extra staff will continue to be deployed, while collaboration with the service providers involved will be stepped up.
As well as this, construction work on the new Rächtenwisen cargo building in the east of the airport commenced in April 2024. With the installation of the new freight infrastructure as a modern handling and storage hub, Zurich Airport Ltd. is responding to trends towards special freight and the transportation of small items.
A further important construction project was completed in the reporting year. The new state-of-the-art workshop for servicing jet engines constructed in close collaboration with SR Technics and the modernised second test cell officially went into operation in September.
The Circle
With more than 50 international and national companies employing over 5,000 people, the Circle has established itself as a business and service hub. The occupancy rate exceeds 90%.
Hotel and hospitality offerings boasted very high capacity utilisation. Numerous events such as the live broadcast of the European Football Championship matches, the “Zauberpark” music and light festival and the autumn festival attracted a large number of visitors.
The discontinuation by Jelmoli of its business across Switzerland also affected the branch located in the Circle. The floor space that became available as a result was leased to Confiserie Bachmann from May 2025 as well as to two pop-ups selling products by innovative Swiss companies. Novu Campus, the SAP Experience Center, Schneider Electric, Grenke Leasing and BE-terna Automationen were new tenants that joined the Circle during the reporting year.
Airport Shopping and Airside Center
Partner turnover in Airside Shopping as well as in the Airside Center rose again in 2024, underpinned not least of all by the strong demand for air travel as well as Zurich Airport’s standing as a popular destination for outings and shopping. Various new and attractive outlets, e.g. Zegna, Hour Passion and Pre Loved Luxury, were opened in the Airside Center.
Once the renovated landside passenger zones open after construction work is completed in autumn 2027, visitors and passengers will have access to new and attractive retail outlets and hospitality facilities as well as more spacious walkways.
The airport also attracted many visitors as a destination for outings: 270,000 people visited the observation decks, while 75,000 took part in guided tours and bus tours.
Development projects and infrastructure at Zurich Airport
The further development of the infrastructure at Zurich Airport ahead of future challenges continued to progress in the reporting year. Important advances were made in the preliminary project for the construction of the new Dock A, due to start in 2030, together with the tower and dock base. This preliminary project is expected to be completed in the course of 2025. Work on the construction of the new module commenced last year. To be installed on the southern side of Dock B, this module will be used as a replacement for infrastructure that is unavailable during the construction of the new Dock A. Last year, the new stands in Zone West also went into operation. In addition, the planning application for the construction of a new terminal building for business aviation passengers including the related administration infrastructure was submitted.
To address the capacity constraints of parking during peak times as well as the expected increase in local passengers, a new parking station is being planned in the Oberhau region in addition to ongoing extensions to the public transport network. The project was resumed after being put on hold during the pandemic and is currently in the early planning stages.
ZRH Innovation Hub
The ZRH Innovation Hub was established at the beginning of 2024 to enhance Zurich Airport’s innovativeness and to explore new trends and technologies beyond day-to-day operations and analyse their benefits for Zurich Airport. In the course of the year, a memorandum of understanding was signed with the partner companies Swiss International Air Lines and Swissport, which underlines the plans to jointly develop innovative solutions aimed at enhancing the customer experience and boosting efficiency.
Work on projects pertaining to boarding, baggage collection and data prediction was commenced last year. The project for automated driving on the apron has also made substantial progress and will be entering the pilot phase at Zurich Airport in spring 2025. In addition, various technologies including AI were tested during the reporting year. An app was also developed for the Apple Vision Pro, which allows potential tenants to experience the advantages of the airport location virtually or to view the future new Dock A in the metaverse.
International airport business
India
Zurich Airport Ltd.’s largest foreign project, the construction of Noida International Airport in the greater Delhi region, is continuing to make progress. With the successful installation of key infrastructural components such as the runway, the taxiways and the apron as well as the control tower, calibration flights for the establishment and configuration of navigation and landing systems were completed in October 2024. This was followed in December by validation flights in order to check system operation with the first landing of a scheduled-service aircraft on the runway. Both events mark decisive steps ahead of the upcoming commencement of operations. Moreover, all relevant concessions for the operation of the airport were granted.
Under a partnership entered into with Tata Power, the airport will be able to cover more than 50% of its power requirements using solar and wind energy, thus underscoring its commitment to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
Latin America
In 2024, the Zurich Airport Group welcomed more than 14 million passengers to the airports in Latin America in which it holds a majority interest.
2024 marked the Group’s tenth year of operations in Brazil. With a capacity of up to 6.5 million passengers per year, the operation of the international airport in Natal was officially taken over last February. Preliminary measures to improve the infrastructure and the passenger experience were implemented to boost quality in the long term.
At Florianópolis airport, the fifth anniversary of the new terminal was celebrated last year. With 480,000 passengers, the airport achieved a new monthly record in July 2024. In addition, TAP Portugal introduced a direct link with Europe (Lisbon) for the first time in September 2024, making Florianópolis the third largest international airport in Brazil.
Construction work on the new runway in Macaé was completed at the end of 2024. It is expected that the new runway 05/23 will receive operating approval from the Brazilian regulator in the coming weeks. Similarly, 15 new real estate projects, some of which have already been completed, were launched in Vitória last year. Both developments reinforce these airports’ position as economic and logistic hubs.
In November 2024, the terminal extension at Iquique airport was opened. This extension will boost the airport’s capacity considerably and additionally enhance passengers’ travel experience.
The progress that we made in our airport concessions in India and Latin America last year shows how Zurich Airport Ltd. is expanding its international business as a crucial source of revenue, while simultaneously setting high standards in sustainability, infrastructure and customer satisfaction.
Climate and energy at the Zurich site
Zurich Airport Ltd. has the greatest scope for reducing its own greenhouse gas emissions through energy production. The target of net zero by 2040 is being achieved by various measures that are defined in the “Real Estate Energy and Decarbonisation” master plan (MEDI) and the roadmap for vehicles and machinery. Roughly speaking, they entail four thrusts: Firstly, reduced energy consumption in buildings that are optimised, renovated or rebuilt. Secondly, energy supplies are being converted to renewable sources, examples being the use of geothermal energy and a new heating/cooling system. In this connection, work continued in 2024 on the exploration of a channel under the airport originating in the ice age for use as a seasonal storage facility. Moreover, a new energy centre and a low-temperature network were planned and are expected to enter the implementation phase in 2025. The third and fourth thrusts entail the expansion of electricity production using photovoltaic arrays and the adoption of electromobility in the airport’s own fleet of vehicles. Thus, the first electric refuse collection vehicle went into operation at the end of 2024 to replace a fossil-fuel powered truck. It joins the 80 electric vehicles already being used by Zurich Airport Ltd. In addition, a number of passenger buses, which are currently still powered by fossil fuels, are to be operated with solar diesel from 2027. To this end, Zurich Airport Ltd. signed a supply contract with Swiss clean-tech company Synhelion last year. On the one hand, this is an important element in plans to transform the fleet to renewable drivetrains and, on the other, it marks a contribution to establishing solar fuels in the market.
In the reporting year, Zurich Airport Ltd. additionally affirmed its commitment to a more sustainable future by joining Swisscleantech, Charta “Kreislauforientiertes Bauen” (“Charter on Circular Building Concepts”) and SPIN (Swiss Power-to-X Collaborative Innovation Network). Circular building concepts give Zurich Airport Ltd. as a major infrastructure operator with roughly 130 buildings a further crucial lever for climate action. Last year, for example, old concrete arising from the renovation of runway 10/28 was recycled and used as an additive for the new concrete. The recycled concrete was subsequently utilised in the construction of the landside passenger zone.
Corporate culture at the Zurich site
In the reporting year, Zurich Airport Ltd. conducted a comprehensive survey among shift workers, culminating in the implementation of specific measures to improve working conditions. These included longer compensatory rest periods for night shifts as well as an increase in certain bonuses.
Similarly, a semi-annual team barometer survey was introduced. It asks eight questions to gauge employees’ satisfaction and their willingness to recommend the airport as an employer to others as well as to determine how the corporate values are being put into practice in teams. The “employee net promoter score”, i.e. the willingness to recommend the airport as an employer, is high.
As well as this, the COACH values – Collaborative, Open, Agile, Committed, Human – were embedded more firmly in corporate culture in 2024. The focus in the reporting year was on “agility”, specifically employees’ willingness to accept change as well as flexibility. During the “corporate value weeks”, various offerings and guided tours were organised alongside information stands addressing key subjects such as “Diversity and Values”, “Inclusion & Diversity” and “Agile Working Methods”.
“Career Days” were held for the first time in 2024 in conjunction with various airport partners to highlight the diversity and attractiveness of various careers at Zurich Airport to school and university students as well as other interested persons. Roughly 700 people took part in more than 70 offerings.
To continue addressing the requirements of the labour market in the future, Zurich Airport Ltd. is investing in a wide range of measures aimed at maintaining and enhancing its appeal as an employer on the one hand and for advancing employees’ skills on the other. Among other things, annual vacation entitlement was increased by two days and weekly working hours reduced from 42 to 41 from 2025. Last year, the company launched a pilot project on the use of Microsoft 365 Copilot under the guidance of the ZRH Innovation Hub. In view of the success of this project and the growing scope for using AI to boost efficiency, a decision was made at the end of 2024 to roll out Microsoft 365 Copilot at the Zurich site.
Priority was also given to advancing the major internal “S4US” project with a cross-department project team. The project for rolling out the new SAP system is to make a crucial contribution to process optimisation and standardisation. The changeover to the new SAP S/4HANA software solution is scheduled for 2027.
