The CoV crisis made last year a historic year for Zurich Airport - albeit in a negative sense. In 2020, the Swiss airport suffered the greatest collapse in history.

Because of the pandemic, the planes in Kloten were almost entirely on the ground at times. However, the infrastructure had to be maintained even with minimal operation, so that cost savings could not keep pace with the decline in earnings. Accordingly, there was a clear loss in the end.

In concrete figures: In the 2020 financial year, sales dropped by a good 48 percent to 624 million francs. The flight business fell by almost 67 percent to 222 million. And in the non-flight business, the loss in sales was almost 27 percent to 146 million, as the airport operator announced on Friday. Horrifying numbers for the airport.

Loss slightly lower than expected

Cost-saving measures and the strong real estate business were not enough to make up for the loss in sales. Because the costs were still high, since the infrastructure at the airport in Kloten had to be maintained even with minimal operation. The bottom line was a loss of 69,1 million - after a profit of 309 million in the previous year.

However, the loss did not come as a surprise - given the previously known decrease in passengers of almost 74 percent last year. The analysts' expectations were, however, clearly exceeded. These assumed a significantly higher loss. As expected, the distribution of a dividend for 2020 will be waived under the current circumstances, after the airport operator had already canceled the dividend for 2019 to save liquidity.

"The forecast for the current financial year is still associated with great uncertainties and the passenger volume in 2021 will mainly depend on the time at which international travel is resumed," said the company. The forecast for the current financial year is therefore still associated with uncertainties. The volume of passengers in 2021 will mainly depend on the timing of the easing of the current travel restrictions.