After a difficult 2015 caused by the rising Swiss franc, Zurich Airport’s retail results for January show that airside retail is yet to recover and is being compensated for by landside sales.

Passenger traffic in the month grew by a healthy +3.3% to 1.8m (year-on-year) but airside sales were down marginally by -0.1% while landside sales were up by +1.1%. The effect was an overall rise in commercial turnover of +0.5% to CHF38.9m/$40m in January.

Still an issue for Switzerland’s biggest airport is turnover per departing passenger which fell in January by -2.7% to CHF43.10/$44.28 after a -4.4% decline in 2015.