SWITZERLAND. 17 million passengers arrived to or departed from Zurich airport in 2003, a decline of -5.1% compared with 2002.
Air traffic movements saw a drop in take-offs or landings from 282,154 to 269,392. Various events such as the announcement by SWISS to reduce its fleet and network, SARS and the war in Iraq led the airport operator Unique (Flughafen Zürich AG) to forecast a 2003 passenger volume between 16.5 and 16.8 million.
While traffic was on track to make the forecast until the end of September, an increased passenger demand, which was largely supported by low ticket prices, caused the passenger volume to exceed expectations. The transfer passenger rate dropped from 38.4% in 2002 to 34.7% in 2003.
58.8% of airline and charter movements were flown by the national carrier SWISS. Lufthansa remains number two with 7.0%, followed by Air France (2.5%), British Airways (2.3%), SAS (1.7%), Iberia, Air Berlin and EasyJet (1.5% each).
Movement changes by airline or destination were dominated by the SWISS cutbacks and an aggressive price competition among airlines, in particular on flights to Germany. Accordingly, German destinations such as Berlin, Hamburg and Moenchengladbach saw the largest growth, while Dresden, Muenster, Bremen and Cologne experienced significant reductions.
