More than 31m people arrived, departed from or transferred to flights at Zürich Airport in 2018. Source: Flughafen Zürich AG.

Duty and tax free revenues at Flughafen Zürich AG (Zurich Airport) posted a healthy return in 2018 as total non-aviation income surged to CHF496.2m/$491.6m (+20.2%).

Retail, tax and duty free sales reached CHF111.4m/$110.4m (+9.1%) year-on-year, accounting for the largest share of *commercial and parking revenue, which totalled CHF248.3m/$246.1m.

Average departing spend per passenger across retail, tax and duty free, and F&B lifted by 6% to CHF8.4.

Growth in retail income and average passenger spending outstripped traffic growth, which increased by 5.8% to 31.1m.

WATCHES & JEWELLERY PERFORM

In a reporting note, the operator points towards ‘a strong year in watches, jewellery and F&B’ and profitability from higher average concession rates, which grew by one percentage point to 21.8%.

New commercial contracts resulted in airside commercial turnover gains (+5.6%), but landside turnover dropped (-0.1%).

      Click to enlarge. Source: Flughafen Zürich AG.

Flughafen Zürich AG’s commercial partners, which includes Dufry Group [the travel retailer renewed its contract in 2016 for 12 years – ed] grew revenue to CHF593.8m (+3.2%) last year.

Zürich Airport’s Commercial, Real Estate & Services division notched revenues of CHF413m in 2018, driven by airside pax volumes and commuters, employees and landside shoppers.

Total Group revenue grew to CHF1,153m (+11.2%), but profit was down by 17% to CHF237.8m.

“Whereas the prior-year figure was positively impacted in particular by the sale of the interest in Bangalore, additional provisions for sound insulation measures had a negative effect in the financial year 2018,” the operator said in a statement. “After adjusting for one-off effects, profit rose by 13.3%.”

Click to enlarge. Source: Flughafen Zürich AG.

The airport is forecasting a 3% rise in passengers this year, alongside ‘slightly higher commercial and real estate revenues’.

Investments for 2019 are predicted to amount to between CHF350-400m.

Last year, Zürich Airport surpassed 30m pax for the first time as it expanded its long-haul route network and strengthened flag carrier Swiss International Airlines’ European connections.

Internationally, Zürich Airport began operations successfully at Florianópolis Airport, with expansion works proceeding as planned. Meanwhile, passenger traffic at its Chilean airports in Iquique and Antofagasta benefitted from the low-cost carrier boom.

Flughafen Zürich AG’s currently has a portfolio of six airports in four countries in Latin America.

*Also includes revenue from food & beverage and ‘other’ sources.