The company that runs Zurich airport – Unique – has reported that net profit for the first six months was up by 73.1 per cent to SFr79.8 million ($72.8 million).

Unique said on Wednesday that continued strong traffic growth and associated commercial turnover had led to the result.

The airport handled a total of 10,606,574 passengers during the first half of the year, an increase of 9.3 per cent compared with the same period in 2007.

Turnover at the airport – Switzerland's largest – rose from SFr372.9 million to SFr424.7 million.

Unique expects about 22.2 million passengers for the whole of 2008, the equivalent of about three times the population of Switzerland.

In a continuing dispute about noise at the airport, the operator reported that it had received around 19,000 noise compensation claims, which it expected would cost it about SFr760 million.

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