A mixed retail picture last year at Zurich Airport.

Retail, tax-and duty-free sales slipped at Switzerland’s main gateway, Zurich Airport (ZRH), last year despite a rise of +4.5% in passenger volume to 32.6 million, marking a new full-year record by surpassing 2019’s 31.5m traffic figure.

Earlier this week, Zurich Airport Ltd, the operator of ZRH, revealed that its retail, tax-and duty-free business saw a fall in revenue of -2.1% from CHF118.7m in 2024 to CHF116.2m ($149.2m to %146m). The decline came despite the reopening of luxury stores, which helped lift airside turnover by +4%. This was offset by a -3% slide in landside commercial turnover due to construction work and closed spaces.

Zurich Airport’s commercial revenue and total non-aviation split in FY25.

ZRH – which just announced an early extension of its duty-free contract with Avolta for seven years until 2035 – saw its food and beverage (F&B) revenue very slightly up at CHF26.8m. However, it was the car parking revenue increase of +1.8% that buoyed the airport’s total commercial and parking revenue, which grew slightly to CHF277m.

The hub for Swiss (Swiss International Air Lines), part of Lufthansa Group, has an airside commercial area that covers 14,200sq m, while the landside commercial footprint (including The Circle) is almost double that at 28,000sq m.

Zurich Airport Group’s core income statement for FY25 is shown in the table below. It includes contributions of CHF125m (including concession accounting) from Zurich Airport’s majority- or 100%-owned airports in Brazil, Chile, and India.

Zurich Airport’s core financials for FY25.

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