Zurich Airport expects record passengers: travel to the USA is booming!

Zurich Airport expects record passengers: travel to the USA is booming!

Zurich Airport looks forward to an exciting future as demand for air travel, particularly to the USA, is expected to increase. The company boss Lukas Brosi emphasizes that the number of trips to the USA booked are actually taken up. This suggests that travelers who forgo traveling to the US are increasingly choosing alternative destinations.

The airport's forecasts show that over 32 million passengers are expected at Zurich Airport in 2025, which would represent a new record. The previous record was 31.5 million passengers in 2019. The summer peak season will be crucial for passenger numbers, with the airport stressing that it is well prepared for high demand. Operations were already running smoothly during the Easter holidays, even if delays often occurred during the summer period in the past.

Passenger development and workforce

A key challenge for the airport is to have sufficient workforce available to meet increasing demands. Brosi also expresses his concerns about increasing restrictions in aviation and is nevertheless satisfied with the development of the prestigious property “The Circle”. While demand in the retail sector fell short of expectations, the catering sector was more positive.

• Aktueller Leerstand im Projekt beträgt etwa 10 Prozent.
• Brosi blickt optimistisch in die langfristige Zukunft.

In addition to these general forecasts, Swiss points to a particularly strong increase in demand for flights to the USA. By mid-May 2025, the airline recorded a 7% increase in passengers transported compared to the previous year. Incoming bookings for US flights remained stable and are in line with the previous year's trend. The strong franc is also boosting travelers' interest in flights to the USA.

Passenger volume at Zurich Airport was 3% higher in the first four months of 2025 than in the same period last year. Demand for US flights at Swiss was more than twice as high as the general increase at Zurich Airport. Andreas Gerber, who is responsible for the tourism business at Swiss, says that bookings should remain stable for the rest of the year.

Market developments and challenges

However, despite the positive developments, tourism professionals in the United States face challenges. A bad summer is expected, particularly from Canada, where bookings have fallen by 15%. According to the Washington Post, the number of overseas visitors to the US fell 12% through April. Ex-Swiss CEO Dieter Vranckx reported 5,700 flights from Europe to the US between January and May 2025, an increase of 8%. A total of 1.3 million passengers were transported, which also corresponds to an increase of 8% compared to the previous year.

The number of refused entry for passengers to the USA is only 0.16 per thousand, which is slightly below the previous year's figure. Most denied entries are not due to incomplete travel documents. Swiss describes the market in the USA as volatile and has responded to these conditions with attractive offers.

Given these factors, it remains to be seen how the market will develop in the summer, particularly with regard to the changing conditions in aviation and the requirements placed on airport operators.

For more information: Watson reports and Berner Zeitung informed.