The company that runs Zurich airport, Unique, has reported “unsatisfying” figures for the first half and says the outlook for the rest of the year is bleak.

Unique said the axing of flights by the national carrier Swiss, the Iraq conflict and the Sars pneumonia virus had all led to a decline in air traffic.

The company said in a statement on Monday that it made a first-half net profit of SFr700,000 ($490,000) compared with a loss of SFr1.8 million for the same period last year.

It reported that despite the drop in air traffic, turnover in the first six months increased by 4.1 per cent to SFr258.1 million. But Unique warned said that the second half would be “difficult”.

It said the announcement of further fleet and network reductions by Swiss for the forthcoming winter timetable would decrease the number of passengers using the airport by around eight per cent to between 16.5 and 16.8 million.

Unique commented that the outlook for the second half gave “no reason for much optimism” and noted that the goal of breaking even in 2003 would probably not be achieved.

New terminal

The company, which is due to officially open its new Midfield Dock E terminal on September 1, introduced a package of cost-cutting measures in June, including 30 job cuts.

Unique has also decided to close the gates of Terminal B after the new one has been handed over for operation.

In another measure announced on Monday, Unique said that the board of directors was going to dissolve the advisory board at the end of this year.

In addition, it would table a motion to shareholders next April to reduce the tenure of office for board members from four years to one.

swissinfo with agencies

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