Traffic figures

1’613’866 passengers were handled at Zurich Airport in October (+244.4% vs. previous year). Local passengers increased by 213.5% and transfer passengers increased by 469.9%. The transfer rate, which was at 13.0% last October is at 21.4% in the month under review.
The monthly comparison shows that passenger numbers are at 56.2% of 2019 level.

Air traffic movements

In October, air traffic movements increased by 98.1% to 16’717 versus previous year.
The monthly comparison shows that air traffic movements are at 69.5% of 2019 level.

Traffic ratios

The average seat load factor saw an increase of 28.3 percentage points to 74.6% and the average passenger per movement figure increased to 126.4 (78.4 previous year).

Commercial Activities 

Total turnover in October was CHF 36.6m (+121.9% vs previous year). The increase divides into 219.1% for airside and 66.1% for landside.

Trading Update

With the easing of travel restrictions – especially in Europe and North America – and the ongoing positive trend in global travel, Zurich Airport now expects to handle around 10 million passengers in 2021. This represents around one third of 2019 volumes.

Furthermore, Zurich Airport is confident to find solutions regarding the Minimum Annual Guarantees (MAG) with all tenants for the present year. Due to additional income from the Circle, revenue from real estate is set to grow in 2021. As a result of a high share of domestic travelers at the airports owned in Latin America, revenues from the international business (excl. concession ac-counting) are recovering faster compared to the Zurich site.

Further reductions in the consolidated OPEX (excl. concession accounting) compared with the previous year are anticipated in 2021.

Due to strict investment management, CAPEX will be lower in 2021 compared to the previous guidance: Investments at the Zurich base will amount to approximately CHF 200 million, whereas investments at subsidiaries abroad will add around CHF 50 million as the construction start of the Noida project is slightly delayed.

As indicated in the past, around 50% of 2019 traffic volumes are needed to return to break-even in terms of net profit and free cash flow. Accordingly, the third quarter 2021 showed a positive net profit and positive free cash flow. For the full year 2021, however, a small loss is still expected.

The consolidated liquidity of Flughafen Zürich AG currently exceeds CHF 500 million (excluding nearly CHF 300 million of unused, committed credit facilities).

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