Passenger numbers at Zurich Airport remain low in September
Zurich – Zurich Airport continues to suffer from the consequences of the corona pandemic. In September 2021, significantly more people traveled through Switzerland’s largest airport than in the same month of last year. However, it is still only half as many as it was before the pandemic.
Last month, 1.38 million people flew over Zurich, as the airport operator announced on Tuesday evening. That is a good one and a half times more than in September 2020 (157.9%). Compared to September 2019, including the time before the coronavirus, it is less than half (47.9%). The recovery has thus weakened somewhat again. In the previous month of August, a little more than half as many passengers had traveled via Zurich in 2019.
Almost 6.5 million passengers by the end of September
The cumulative number of passengers in the first nine months is just under 6.41 million, which is 11.4 percent less than in the same period of the previous year. This is mainly due to the fact that the airport still had a very high number of passengers until the start of the pandemic in mid-March 2020.
The number of local passengers was 1.03 million in September 2021. Transfer passengers made up a quarter of the total with a good 344,000. In the autumn break, the number of passengers is likely to increase again a little. According to the announcement, the airport expects a similar high volume of traffic as during the summer holidays. This means that around 70,000 passengers are expected on peak days, which means that the number of passengers on individual days should reach 65 percent compared to the pre-crisis period.
Freight is still in demand
The number of flight movements rose compared to the same month last year by 67.3 percent to 16,068 take-offs and landings. Compared to September 2019, however, there were still 34.1 percent fewer flight movements. At 116.3, the average number of passengers per flight was 41.8 percent above the previous year’s figure, while seat occupancy rose by 21 percentage points to 71.0 percent.
The freight tons amounted to 34,158 in the reporting month, which corresponds to an increase of 47.8 percent compared to the same month of the previous year. Compared to September 2019, 6.2 percent less freight was transported. In the first three semesters, the freight quickly amounted to 278,000 tons, a third more than in the previous year.
The commercial turnover generated by the airport doubled in the month under review compared to the previous year to CHF 33.5 million. On the land side it rose by 155 percent, on the flight side, even after the security check, however, only by 50.3 percent.
At 25.50 francs per capita, passengers spent a little more money at the airport than in August (22.90 francs). Compared to September 2020, however, they were quickly ready to spend their shopping (CHF 25.80). (awp / mc / pg)