Geneva Airport Sets New Passenger Record

January 9, 2004, 07:15
  
Geneva Airport Sets New Passenger Record
NZZ Online, Switzerland

A record number of people passed through Geneva airport in 2003, while the 
airports in Zurich and Basel both saw a decline in passengers.  
 
Officials said Zurich and Basel had been hit by a reduction in flights operated 
by the national airline, Swiss, while Geneva was developing as a base for 
low-cost carriers.

Last week, Geneva airport announced that more than eight million people had 
passed through the terminal building in 2003.

The operator of Switzerland's largest airport in Zurich said on Thursday it had 
served 17 million passengers in 2003, down 5.1 per cent on the previous year.

Basel airport, meanwhile, registered a decline of nearly 20 per cent in 
passenger numbers, with just under 2.5 million people passing through in 2003.

"These figures show that it is a problem when an airport is too dependent on 
one single airline," Jean-Pierre Jobin, the director of Geneva airport, told 
swissinfo.

Economy blamed
Airport operators blamed last year's outbreak of the pneumonia virus, Sars, the 
war in Iraq and the economic downturn for the decline in passenger numbers.

Managers at Geneva airport, however, say they have benefited from the arrival 
of no-frills airlines such as easyJet.

The airport in western Switzerland handled a record 8.1 million passengers last 
year, six per cent more than in 2002.

"easyJet is a very important airline for us. This [British] low-cost airline 
generates 28 per cent of our air traffic," Jobin said.

Better than expected?
Despite registering a fall in passenger numbers, Zurich airport's operator, 
Unique, said the figures were better than expected.

"The big turnaround came in the fourth quarter of last year when low-cost 
tickets boosted the number of passengers," said Unique spokeswoman, Sonja 
Zöchling.

Nearly 60 per cent of the 269,392 flights which departed from Zurich airport in 
2003 were operated by Swiss, which launched a low-fares initiative on its 
European network last August.

The director of Basel airport, Jürg Rämi, described 2003 as one of the worst 
years on record, and is not expecting a quick recovery.

"I think we will continue to see passenger numbers drop in the first quarter of 
2004," Rämi said.

 

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