In November 2021, 1,117,070 passengers flew through Zurich Airport. Compared to the same month in the previous year, that is more than four times as much, when the number of passengers was 245,187. Against November 2019, the number of passengers is 50.1%.
The number of local passengers was 821,885 in November 2021. The share of transfer passengers was 26.2%, which corresponds to 291,244 passengers.
The number of flight movements rose by 134.2% to 13,253 take-offs or landings compared to the same month last year. The monthly comparison shows that flight movements are 66.8% of the 2019 level. The average number of passengers per flight was 110.6, 55.5% above the previous year’s figure. Seat occupancy rose by 25.3 percentage points to 67.1% in the month under review.
A total of 38,542 tonnes of freight were handled at Zurich Airport in November. This corresponds to an increase of 39.5% compared to the same month of the previous year. Compared to November 2019, 1.6% less freight was handled.
Outlook for Christmas holidays
Flughafen Zürich AG continues to expect around 10 million passengers in 2021. This corresponds to around a third of the volume of 2019. A detailed traffic forecast for the upcoming Christmas holidays is not possible due to the pandemic situation and the short-term booking behaviour of passengers.
For the return journey to Switzerland, all travellers currently need a negative PCR test, 4 to 7 days after return they must be tested again (PCR or antigen rapid test). This means that one of the strictest test regimes in Europe currently applies in Switzerland. The airport operator, therefore, welcomes the amendments put up for discussion by the Federal Council that vaccinated and recovered people only have to present one test to enter the country. It is also committed to ensuring that vaccinated and convalescent people from European destinations can return to their home country as soon as possible without requiring a test.