Flughafen Zürich AG ($FHZN)

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the presentation of Zurich Airport's Full Year Results for 2025. My name is Lukas Brosi, and I will be hosting this presentation together with Kevin Fleck, our CFO. I would like to remind you that the presentation is also available on our website. Today's agenda is as follows. I will begin with a brief business update. Following that, Kevin will provide insights into our financial performance and share our outlook for 2026. At the end of the presentation, we will address your questions. Please submit your questions already during the presentation. This helps us organize them more efficiently. Stefan Weber will moderate the Q&A session. Let me begin by highlighting our milestones for the full year 2025. The financial year 2025 was characterized by continued high levels of traffic, stable operations and significant investments in infrastructure, technology and sustainability. In 2025, Zurich Airport reached a new record with 32.6 million passengers. Under challenging conditions with ongoing construction and during periods of heavy traffic, we were able to ensure reliable and high-quality operations. Zurich Airport has concluded negotiations on flight operation charges with the airport users. The new charge period is expected to commence in October 2026. I will provide more details on this later in the presentation. On the commercial business, Airside turnover increased, supported by passenger growth and the opening of new luxury stores. Landside turnover was lower due to construction works. The International business continued to grow and benefited in particular from a positive development in Latin America. In India, we have received the aerodrome license for Noida on the 6th of March. The airport is now ready for operations. Progress is made in key development projects such as the preparatory construction of the new Dock A or the expansion of the Landside passenger and commercial area. Furthermore, we have also prematurely extended the contract with our long-standing duty-free partner, Avolta until 2035. Also worth to mention from a financing perspective is the recent upgrade of our Standard & Poor's credit rating from A+ to AA- with outlook stable. Lastly, we have been active in driving innovation projects, and we're making progress on our ESG goals according to our targets and plans. Let's take a closer look at some key figures. The 2025 result exceeded our initial guidance, mainly driven by stronger-than-expected traffic development, the later opening of Noida Airport and a more favorable cost discipline. Our results reached new record levels in terms of revenue, EBITDA and consolidated result. Our revenues grew to CHF 1.36 billion with the consolidated result increased to CHF 346 million. Our CapEx has been substantially higher as well, also because of the acquisition of the Radisson Hotel building in Zurich. In total, we invested approximately CHF 716 million with around CHF 503 million allocated to the Zurich site. Let's review our main business segments, beginning with the aviation business. Some highlights from the traffic development in Zurich were as follows. In 2025, 32.6 million passengers traveled via Zurich Airport, representing a 4% growth over the previous year. The local market performed particularly well, growing by around 6% year-on-year. Europe, the most important market with a passenger share of 75%, grew by 4%. In Europe, demand was especially high for southern destinations in Spain, Italy, Turkey and Portugal. Edelweiss and easyJet led passenger growth through added capacity. The intercontinental market saw a year-on-year passenger growth of 6% and accounted for 1/4 of the passenger volume with the biggest markets, North America and Asia Pacific showing growth rates of 4% and 6%, respectively. At 80%, the average seat load factor remained at a high level. Flight movements were also positive and climbed by 3%. Around 1% more freight was handled in 2025 compared to 2024. Flight operations in 2025 were characterized by persistently high volumes and stable quality during busy periods such as Easter and summer and autumn holidays. On certain peak days, the number of travelers exceeded the 120,000 mark for the first time. With the summer and subsequent winter flight schedule, the routes offered were further expanded, thereby reinforcing the international connectivity and competitiveness of Zurich Airport. In the reporting year, Zurich Airport was connected directly to 220 destinations in 75 countries served by 70 airlines. As a relatively small country and economy, Switzerland and Zurich have exceptionally good direct connections with the world. While several new destinations were launched in Europe, 2 new long-haul routes to Seattle and Halifax were launched by Edelweiss. In addition, capacities were further expanded on various established routes. In Europe, the busiest destinations were London, Berlin and Istanbul. New York, Dubai and Bangkok continue to be the busiest destinations at the intercontinental level. Our high service level was also recognized externally with Zurich Airport once again having received the Airport Service Quality Award as the best airport in Europe, marking the ninth consecutive time to receive this distinction. In February 2026, Zurich Airport has concluded negotiations on flight operations charges with the airport users for the next regulatory period. The new charge period is expected to commence in October 2026. Airport charges for users of Zurich Airport will be reduced by approximately 10%. Thanks to the positive passenger traffic development and Zurich Airport's disciplined approach to cost and investments, cost coverage in the regulated sector can be maintained despite the reduction in charges. The reasonable return on the capital invested, also known as the WACC will be increased from 5.0% to 5.5%. With the new rollover mechanism, any surplus or shortfall from a charge period will be considered in the future when setting charges for the subsequent charge period. This ensures sustainable cost coverage -- coverage of capital cost for Zurich Airport. The agreement provides planning certainty for all parties involved and represents a strong partnership-based outcome for airport users at Zurich Airport. In the following slides, I'll give you an overview of our commercial and real estate business. Let's start with the commercial business. In addition to the growing passenger numbers, new luxury openings such as the Cartier boutique, the expansion of Bvlgari as well as the exclusive beauty formats of Chanel and Dior led to a positive development in the Airside center with increasing commercial turnover. On Landside, commercial turnover decreased due to construction work as part of the project to develop the Landside passenger zone. In March 2026, Zurich Airport has prematurely extended the duty-free contract with its long-standing partner, Avolta. The existing contract will be extended from 2029 by 7 years running until the end of 2035, matching the expected completion of the construction work for the new Dock A. The real estate business again proved itself to be a solid segment and an important pillar of our business performance in 2025. Revenues from rental and leasing agreements increased while there were lower energy and utility cost allocations, mainly because of lower electricity cost. An important strategic step in 2025 was the acquisition of the Radisson Blu building. With this acquisition, Zurich Airport is now the owner of all land and buildings within the Central airport perimeter. The Circle continued to strengthen its position as a successful business hub with the signing of several new contracts in the office and food and beverage segment. Last but not least, let's turn our attention to our international business. Let's take a look at the passenger numbers at our airports in Latin America. Passenger volumes at Florianopolis Airport increased by around 6% year-on-year, reaching a new high with a total of 5.2 million passengers. This record is primarily due to a strong growth in the international segment. Passenger volumes at the Vitoria and Macae airports recorded a significant year-on-year increase of 13%. The main reason for this strong growth was the lifting of the previous restrictions on flight between Vitoria and Santos Dumont Airport in Rio de Janeiro. Passenger numbers for Natal Airport in the Northeastern Brazil were mostly trading in line with last year. At our airport in Chile, Antofagasta showed passenger growth of 7%, while passenger numbers in Iquique declined due to weaker domestic demand and capacity reductions. Let me share some highlights from our majority-owned airports in Latin America. Our concessions in Latin America have seen a very positive year 2025 with our Brazilian airports showing record figures for revenue, EBITDA and net profit as well. Our airports in Latin America are among the best and most advanced in the country in terms of quality, passenger satisfaction and sustainability. In October 2025, Florianopolis reached a historic milestone. For the first time, over 1 million international passengers were recorded in a single year. Florianopolis is now the third largest airport in terms of international passenger after Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Vitoria and Macae have achieved airport carbon accreditation Level 4, placing them on the same sustainability level as Florianopolis, which has already achieved Level 4 at the beginning of the year. In Macae, recently, a new solar power plant was inaugurated and the construction of hangars have started, which should be completed in 2026. Natal has seen a successful fundamental redesign of its commercial concept with various new tenants. Also in Natal, we are constructing a new solar plant supporting our sustainability goals on group level. In Iquique, construction of the northern apron started in June, but was delayed due to works on the electrical substation. Works are planned to restart in March 2026 with an estimated 6 months completion period. And in Antofagasta, the concession ended in February 2026. The handback progressed smoothly and as planned. Finally, we would like to share the latest update on Noida with you. To start with, we are happy to report that Noida International Airport is ready for operations, which represents a major milestone for the project and a significant step for our international business. All major terminal construction works have been completed and the operational trials have been successfully concluded. We have also received the aerodrome license from the Indian regulator on the 6th of March, which paves the way for the start of operations at Noida. Based on today's assumption, we expect it will now take approximately 30 to 45 days before commercial operations can commence. After opening, we assume a ramp-up phase of around 3 to 4 months. For the calendar year 2026, we expect up to 4 million passengers. At the EBITDA level, we currently expect a neutral contribution for 2026. Due to depreciation and interest expenses, Noida's net profit contribution will likely be negative. With that, I hand over to Kevin.

Thank you, Lukas. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome, and thank you for joining us. I will now provide an overview of the company's financial performance. Let me start with a financial overview. Sustained growth in traffic volumes in Zurich and across our foreign concessions led to new records in terms of revenue, EBITDA and consolidated results. Total aviation revenue increased slightly faster than passenger volumes, rising to CHF 709 million. This is primarily because of the stronger growth in local passengers who pay higher fees than transfer passengers. Non-aviation revenue declined by 0.2% to CHF 652 million. Adjusted for concession accounting, this reflects an increase of CHF 15 million or plus 2% compared to 2024. EBITDA increased year-on-year by 4% to CHF 762 million, setting a new record high while maintaining a strong EBITDA margin of 56%. The consolidated result rose by 6% to CHF 346 million. This includes an impairment of around CHF 6 million for our airport in Iquique, Chile. So let's take a closer look at the non-aviation figures. Total commercial and parking revenue increased only slightly by 0.2% compared to the previous year. This is due to the reduced land side retail offering as a result of the ongoing construction work. Real estate revenues saw a marginal increase of 0.2% to CHF 198 million. While revenue from rental and leasing agreements increased, energy and utility cost allocations declined because of lower energy costs. Revenue from services grew by 7% to CHF 52 million, primarily driven by increased traffic. The International business experienced ongoing growth, largely driven by positive developments at Brazilian airports, where passenger numbers rose significantly and non-aviation results remained solid. Overall, international revenues rose by 10% to CHF 114 million, excluding concession accounting. Last year was a turning point regarding our cost development. Excluding concession accounting, we managed to slow down OpEx growth from 9% in the previous year to 4% in 2025, reaching total operating expenses of CHF 588 million. Personnel expenses saw a 10% increase, mainly due to the in-sourcing of services for passengers with reduced mobility, which is offset by an equivalent reduction in other operating expenses. The increase was also driven by other volume-related effects and inflation adjustments as well as measures to increase employer attractiveness. When compared with the higher passenger volumes, costs for police and security disproportionately went up by only 3%, amounting to CHF 133 million. Energy and waste costs declined by 19% to CHF 36 million, thanks to lower electricity costs. In summary, we have effectively managed cost growth, resulting in a significant improvement, supporting a positive outlook. I will now outline some key financial ratios. Net financial debt saw a slight increase, resulting in a leverage ratio of around 1.8x. Higher invested capital influenced our return on invested capital, which declined slightly to 7.8%. Operating cash flow increased to CHF 688 million, reflecting the strong consolidated result and changes in working capital. Higher investments, including the purchase of the Radisson Blu building impacted our free cash flow generation, which stood at minus CHF 28 million. The next slide shows the largest projects we have been working on in 2025. Zurich Airport invested a total of CHF 760 million, of which CHF 503 million were invested at the Zurich site. This includes the purchase of the Radisson Blu building for CHF 155 million. The single biggest project at the Zurich site was the development of the main airport complex, including the new Dock A. Other significant projects were the development of the Landside passenger area, the refurbishment and expansion of the baggage sorting system and the development of the freight infrastructure. Our most significant international project in 2025 was the development of Noida Airport. So let's proceed to the outlook. Given the current geopolitical situation in the Middle East, it is challenging to give guidance for the ongoing financial year, especially since no one knows how the situation will evolve. In Zurich, passenger growth is projected to range from 2% to 3% in 2026, which corresponds to a passenger volume of over 33 million passengers. We had a strong start to the year with encouraging passenger numbers, which helps us to manage the increased uncertainties. As mentioned by Lukas, a new charge period with lower airport charges will come into effect in October 2026 in Zurich. Taking into account the forecasted passenger growth and lower airport charges from October, aviation revenue is expected to remain stable. At the Zurich side, Commercial revenue is likely to remain stable as well compared to the last year due to the ongoing closure of commercial spaces as part of the project to develop the Landside passenger zone. Real Estate revenue is expected to rise slightly, mainly due to inflation adjustments. Revenue from International business will see an increase again, primarily driven by the opening of the new airport in Noida. In total, non-Aviation revenue is expected to be higher overall. In 2026 financial year, the opening of Noida will lead to an increase in operating costs, while only a very moderate increase in costs is expected at the Zurich site. In summary, we expect EBITDA in 2026 to be roughly the same as the previous year. However, consolidated profit is likely to be lower. With the opening of Noida Airport, depreciation and interest expenses will impact the income statement. It is important to note that we expect another strong financial performance from our main asset, Zurich Airport in 2026. The projected decrease in the group's net profit is attributable to Noida Airport. Investments at the Zurich side are expected to be between CHF 350 million and CHF 400 million in 2026. Subsidiaries abroad will invest an estimated CHF 100 million with the completion of construction of the new airport in Noida accounting for the majority. With this, I'm handing back to you, Lukas.

Thank you, Kevin. Lastly, I would also like to inform you about changes at our Board of Directors and the Management Board. After 12 years, Guglielmo Brentel will step down from the Board of Directors of Zurich Airport with effect from April 2026. The company would like to thank Guglielmo Brentel for his great commitment. Stefan Paul will be proposed as new member of the Board of Directors to the Annual General Meeting in April 2026. He is Chief Executive Officer of Kuehne and Nagel International. His experience and expertise will be an ideal addition to our Board of Directors. Furthermore, the Management Board of Zurich Airport will be reduced from 7 to 6 members. This change is part of a realignment of responsibilities to enable the company to respond more effectively to future challenges and further strengthen the dialogue with our key stakeholders. Manuela Staub, the current Chief People and Communication Officer, will leave the company at the end of July 2026 as a result of this change. The Board of Directors and the Management Board would like to thank Manuela for her great commitment and valuable contribution to the development of Zurich Airport during the last few years. We have now reached the end of our result presentation, and we'll begin the Q&A session. I will now hand over to Stefan Weber, who will moderate the sessions. Stefan?

Thank you, Lukas. We have received quite a number of different questions. Let's kick it directly off with the first question on Noida. In the outlook, we were mentioning that we expect to handle around 4 million passengers in the calendar year 2026. So does this imply any change to our previous expectations or the business plan that we have presented at the CMD back in 2023?

No, there is no significant update to the business plan we have presented at the Capital Market Day in 2023. It's simply a shift. We initially expected those returns and profits earlier.

The next one is again on traffic, but for the Zurich side. What are the assumptions behind the 2% to 3% guidance? It is perceived rather conservative as we have seen a very strong start into the year 2026?

If I may start to answer these questions and Kevin can take over. Where we are today in a situation and a level of uncertainty that is different to like what we have assumed 2 weeks ago. It's true that we had a very good, almost a brilliant start in this year with the passenger numbers 7%, 8% above previous year's levels. Nevertheless, we already see in the numbers of March that Middle East will have an effect on short term on the demand. Today, I consider it as too early to have a better view on the medium- to long-term effect of the situation in the Middle East on the demand side, on the capacity side, et cetera. We now see on a daily basis that the operation is coming back. We have today 3 flights to the Middle East, but it can change tomorrow. And given this, on one hand, a good and solid start into the year, but having a high level of uncertainty around the Middle East, which represents about 5% of our passengers, nonetheless. So we stick to the guidance we have given that we assume volume growth despite the impact of Middle East this year as we can expect it from today's perspective, but remain on the cautious side with our guidance. And maybe it's also part of our company's history rather guiding on the conservative side at the beginning of the year, but being happy to update when we have more visibility in the course of the year.

I have nothing to add.

Excellent.

Okay. Let's continue with a rather financial question on the investments. We are guiding for CHF 350 million to CHF 400 million investments at the Zurich site and around CHF 100 million abroad. Could you share some more thoughts on the investments, Switzerland, India, but also Latin America?

This year, we will primarily invest in Zurich. The largest projects are the new Dock A tower and Dock Base Landside passenger zones, as we also mentioned before in our presentation, the Zone West. We expect approximately CHF 100 million of remaining investments in Noida. This is also due to invoices, which we are expecting during this year, which is quite a normal process for such a large-scale project. And in LatAm, we expect very little and limited CapEx investments in this financial year.

Next one is on the dividend. Going forward, net income is expected to decline. Is there any chance that the dividend payment for the financial year '26 might be flat compared to this year?

Maybe I start off and you could then add Lukas. We introduced a new dividend policy as of the financial year 2025. And to be honest, we are lucky with this respect that we had a bit of a delay in Noida because that was one of the reasons why we had quite a decent net profit where we can first time use the 75% of payout ratio. So going forward, we stick to this dividend policy we have decided on. And we, as of today, do not expect to change anything going forward.

I have nothing to add, but just maybe as this is an important topic for our shareholders, maybe to repeat my own words. When we have introduced the new dividend policy, we came from like the history of having an ordinary dividend and an extraordinary dividend. And we, at that time, assumed that the impact of the opening of Noida, which will be negative on net profit in the first year, as we have heard, will also impacting the 2025 financial numbers. And therefore, because of the delay, 2025 result was better than initially expected. And therefore, I would rather say that our shareholders' profit from higher base in 2025 and the new dividend policy of 75% of payout. And this new dividend policy is also attributable to the, let's say, new balanced net profits, including the cost of Noida, including the tariff effect, et cetera, onwards.

One more question on the Zurich investments. The guidance provided the CHF 350 million to CHF 400 million is now slightly higher than the previous run rate we indicated of CHF 300 million to CHF 350 million. So what's the reason for this slight increase in the guidance? And is the peak CapEx still expected at around CHF 400 million in the early 2030s?

We also in 2025, invested a bit more than we initially guided and that we adjusted the guidance for 2026 is that we are making good progress on one hand. And having the largest project in mind, the Dock A, there we initially started with the architectural competition. So there we had kind of a number in mind. We already communicated in the half year result that we expect for the main project, the core project, something roughly a bit more than CHF 1 billion. If we take into consideration all other projects surrounding, it will be a higher number. And this is also reflected in the CHF 350 million, CHF 400 million CapEx guidance we give for 2026. And we expect that we will be there, as you have asked, the CHF 400 million and the peak investment in the [ 30s ]. So this is unchanged.

If I may add on this, I think the upper end of this range, CHF 350 million to CHF 400 million can really also be seen as a cap for the next years, just from a couple of also like technical arguments. For example, we have ongoing construction on several construction sites, which is something that also is limited in terms of the passenger flows, et cetera. And also just simply because of our own staff, engineers, technicians, et cetera, there is like a natural limit of CapEx that can be absorbed by the company in a single year. So the upper end of this range, I would say, is also a valid number for the next couple of years as a maximum.

And a question on real estate revenues. If we compare H2 to H1, the revenues are unchanged. Shouldn't be any positive contribution coming from the Radisson Blu acquisition?

Like from the Radisson, we have guided high single-digit contribution. We have 2 effects in the last financial year. On one hand, the ancillary costs were lower due to lower energy costs. So that caused a decline initially. And then we were able to compensate it with higher rental revenues, including the revenues from the Radisson Blu acquisition, which we did in May 2025.

Now changing to the commercial revenues. There, the guidance goes for stable revenues. Now taking into account that passenger numbers are increasing, this suggests that the revenue per passenger is actually going down. January was rather good. So what's the reason for this conservative stance?

I think it's a combination of Airside and Landside and whatever is volume driven is applicable to Airside mainly. On Landside, we have now at the end of last year, in addition, closed several shops for the construction. So we are now in the phase where the construction perimeter is large. This impacts because of closures of the shops, the Landside turnover. So the guidance can be seen as an overall assumption of commercial business. But on Airside, it's true more volume generally generates higher revenues.

Then a question related to the costs in the Aviation segment. 2025 shows PRM costs of CHF 12 million, whereas in 2024, it was 0. What's the reason?

We have in-sourced those services. So we are doing those services on our own. In 2024, we had a partner who was responsible for the PRM services here at Zurich Airport. So that's the reason why we have an increase. But at the same time, we have at the same extent, lower other operating costs in 2025.

I would say that's a shift within the P&L. And just a general remark on PRM, this is in the medium run a pass-through. So we have a passenger fee for this service, which at the end covers the cost.

Next one is on The Circle performance. Could you share some more insights on the financials that the Circle contributed in 2025?

Maybe I'll start and Kevin can take over. I think in terms of numbers, about CHF 70 million of revenues from The Circle as 100%, we are owner of 51% with a sustainable EBITDA margin of roughly 70%. I'm also very happy that the progress in terms of new rental agreement, especially on the ground level, which was kind of an issue in terms of -- at the beginning of the ramp-up of The Circle has had a very positive development. We have now 50 tenants in The Circle with about 5,000 employees. And we always have assumed a certain ramp-up for The Circle in our business plan, but this has now been also, I would say, a success story. We had to make certain adaptations on the ground level, which is basically done and The Circle is up and running.

Maybe only to add there, for us, it's an important piece with respect to resilience and diversification. So we have, as Lukas mentioned, EBITDA margin of 70%. Also decent cash flows we have from our tenants at The Circle. And there is still plenty of headroom. If you look at the valuation, we run it a book, but there is a valuation we do twice a year there. It shows that it has a true value in our books.

Then some more questions related to the International business. Can you quantify the impact in 2026 on depreciation and financial expenses from the commissioning of Noida?

It's a question for the CFO.

On an annual basis, we expect roughly CHF 75 million to CHF 80 million, so CHF 25 million to CHF 30 million in depreciation, amortization and approximately CHF 45 million in interest rate expenses on a full year scale.

Then in Latin America, just a few days back, we've handed back the concession in Antofagasta. How much was the contribution to EBITDA in 2025?

It was a single-digit million figure, roughly.

Again, back to India. When do you expect the next phase of Noida expansion to begin? And how do you expect it to be financed? Would you participate in any equity injections?

Not from today's perspective, we assume that Phase 2 can be financed locally by additional debt, obviously, but also with the cash flow of Phase 1. In terms of guiding when we do achieve the full utilization of the capacity for Phase 1, which will be about 12 million passengers, I would say that we will be -- that there is a trigger of about 80% of that number when we have to start planning for Phase 2. I personally believe that this will be in about 3 to 5 years from the inauguration.

Back to Zurich. The Circle valuation in the notes, there is the market value of The Circle. What drove the decline in this valuation in 2025?

We decided to shift it, let's say, from a shopping to a business center, and that also caused that we changed specifically on the ground floor our tenants. And those tenants are, on average, paying a lower rent, and that was one of the drivers which caused a slight devaluation of the asset. But as mentioned before, it doesn't have any impact on our P&L since we are having The Circle at cost in our books.

Then back to a very popular topic at the moment. Is the ongoing war in the Middle East expected to have any impact on traffic? And how was it factored into the 2026 guidance?

Well, it's basically what I said before. In terms of setting this guidance as we are aware, it might look a little bit conservative given the solid start into the year. So the guidance of 2% to 3% compared to the roughly 7% of volume growth in the first month. As mentioned before, I can't go into more details. It's really too early to have like a full assessment on a full year impact 2026. Maybe one word to add is that also we are now coming in a phase of a tougher comparison base compared to maybe the previous 2 months. And this overall and given our nature of maybe tend to be on the conservative side at the beginning of the year, ended up in the 2% to 3% guidance.

And another one on traffic. How do you expect easyJet capacity in Zurich to evolve in 2026?

Also positive. easyJet has developed to our second largest carrier out of the Lufthansa -- or it's the largest carrier out of the Lufthansa -- except the Lufthansa Group to say it in that word. easyJet had a very positive development over the last years. And it's also worth to mention as easyJet has not placed a single aircraft in Zurich. So they do not have like an overnight parking. That's because of the slot situation in the morning. So they are basically flying in from other cities to Zurich and do the operations during the day and fly out. And with this business model, they are managed to get like the second largest carrier here in Zurich and on a positive trend.

What's the reason in your view for the very strong performance during the current winter timetable?

May be just a general answer to this. It's strong demand out of the local market we have seen. And what we also observe in general is that, I mean, a couple of years ago, we had really strong seasonal peaks, and this has also a little bit developed to a single peak from, let's say, April, beginning of Easter with some holidays, et cetera, almost to the end of autumn. And the same is true also for the winter timetable. It's based on a strong local demand.

Another one on Noida. Could you please elaborate on the reasons for the delay in the opening?

Well, there are several. Looking back 5 years, we've been awarded with the concession at the end of 2019, really shortly before COVID hit the whole industry. I would rather say it's probably the only capital airport in the world that has planned remotely as this was the situation. We have started the planning. Then we had like the disruption in the procurement process after COVID. And then finally, now on the latest stage, we have maybe also a little bit underestimated the award of the security clearance as this has been dealt with multiple government entities, et cetera. But nevertheless, we made it, and we're now looking forward to great growth in the operation in Noida.

Still on Noida, the budget for the construction is CHF 750 million. So far, you have not invested all the money. So what's the reason that there is still some investments left? Or could it be even lower at the end?

We still expect the CHF 750 million as the final costs. The fact why we have at year-end, a lower number is, on one hand, there is some minor things we have to finish that doesn't have an impact on the opening of the airport. And some of the invoices have not yet been sent. That's not an unusual situation that those will then be sent in during the year or even at a later stage. We have seen similar effects when we were constructing The Circle or did other large-scale projects.

Now we have a question on the charges negotiations. What's the rationale of seeing a 13% cut in passenger charges and a much lower cut in landing charges or the other aviation charges. Was this your request to the airlines?

There are basically 2 effects. On the one hand, we included the costs for the baggage sorting system. So those charges are charged the same way as the landing charges. So that's integrated that reduces complexity. And since we just invested heavily in the baggage sorting system, we decided that it makes sense to include it in there. So that had a compensating effect. And the second is the higher noise charges, which will come into effect together with the new charges and which also have a compensating effect.

Another renegotiation that just happened recently is on the duty-free contract. Shall the market expect any significant changes to the P&L once the new contract comes into force?

Overall, the concession fees of the agreement remains unchanged. For us, it was important that we can find a solution with our long-standing partner, specifically for also the situation where we had a lot of construction work going on around the Dock A tower and Dock Base. We have not disclosed in agreement with Avolta further components of the contract. But on the commercial side, we can confirm that the concession fee of the agreement is unchanged.

And this is the same model of contract than the current contract. So it's basically a pure turnover-based concession. This is also unchanged in terms of the structure of the contract.

Another one on tariffs, but this time for Noida, what's the latest on the tariff setting process?

The interim tariffs were released in August last year. They should last until the 31st of March. Now given the current time line, it is expected that those interim tariffs will be extended beyond the 31st of March. The consultation paper was published last Friday by AERA. So this is a draft proposal on the airport charges, which is published by the regulator to invite comments from stakeholders before the tariffs will be finalized. And now we are in the process of analyzing this document. And right now, we cannot make any further comments. It's 250 page long, and we are analyzing it, and we'll give feedback as soon as we have a clear view about the next steps we go there. We expect that we will have final tariffs in place approximately in 2 to 3 months.

One more on the charges, again, back to Zurich. Are you satisfied with the rates you negotiated with the airlines?

I would say, yes, definitely. I do understand that it came maybe with a bit of a surprise that the reduction was a bit larger than initially guided. But that's also a positive sign. Specifically in the last quarter of 2025, we had a very strong traffic growth. There were other parameters within the model, which developed more favorably. And this caused to a large reduction, but that's all covered within the rollover mechanism. At the end, important for us is the increase we could achieve on the WACC with 50 basis points. So I would say, overall, I'm happy, but maybe you as my boss could also comment if you are happy too.

Same here. I would really say that we have a favorable regulation framework in Switzerland in terms of the tariff as it's mainly on the partner negotiation-based first step, and it's always good to find an agreement amongst partner rather than a fallback solution by the regulator. And the most important point is what Kevin has mentioned is the rollover mechanism, which is also kind of unique to us, and it's now applicable for the tariff period that have been negotiated and which basically also means that any surplus shortfall of this tariff period can be brought forward or will be brought forward to the next tariff period. So basically, in the regulated business, we are entitled to cover our operating costs and the cost of capital. And I think with all what has been achieved in terms of the rollover, et cetera, there's I think a high -- very high certainty that this on the base that we have will be applicable for the future. So I'm very happy with the outcome, yes.

One more on the Noida CapEx. Previously, you were saying that there have been already some kind of pre-investments into Phase 2. Could you let the market know how much this actually is?

I don't have the number, but the pre-investments into Phase 2 are mainly aircraft stands that we have seen that given the demand for Noida that the aircraft stands are too low, what has been like the minimum defined for Phase 1. So we are constructing certain additional aircraft stands, which were only foreseen for Phase 2.

The amount is a low single-digit million Swiss franc amount. We will pre-invest in Phase 2.

Then still on Noida, how are the network plans evolving and which airlines are expected to operate this year?

I think the first customers -- as we have already communicated, the first customer will be IndiGo, Akasa and probably Air India Express. So the 3 largest local airlines. And this will be like the start. And after the ramp-up, we also expect certain international carriers to join Noida.

Then we have one question related to the costs. What does your guidance assume in terms of energy costs and general inflation?

If you look at the energy costs in Zurich, that's approximately 4% of our OpEx, 1% is fossil energy, whereas the majority of this fossil energy is gas. So the exposure is not that huge. I think the question is most probably referring to the situation we see in Iran and all the consequences. The majority of energy we need here is electricity. So there, we procured almost the complete volume we expect for 2026, and we already procured some of the volumes in 2027. So we do not see a direct influence, at least for this year results out of increasing energy costs.

And as a rule of thumb, about 50% of energy costs are passed through to our tenants and about 50% is our own cost for the airport infrastructure. So there's also a certain cost protection as a pass-through of 50%.

And one more question related to the Middle East. How much do the passengers from Middle East contribute to retail revenues for Zurich?

As per today, I cannot give you a precise guidance of this. As mentioned, about 5% of our passengers belong to the Middle East destination.

But also within those 5%, the majority is transfer. So it's not per se local passengers to the Middle East. But overall, like a rule of thumb, the commercial spending are basically correlated with the increase in passenger numbers.

And again, on Noida, what makes you confident that the airport will open within the next 30 to 45 days?

As all preconditions are met today, and we also have like an order from the state government to plan for an inauguration ceremony at the end of March. This gives us certain confidence that this is going to happen as we assume from today's perspective.

Then back to a project here in Zurich. What's your current estimate when the land side commercial area will start to increase? Or when will the construction project be finished?

We assume that first openings -- not the full opening, but first openings will be in autumn 2027. And after this, there will be several months for the full opening for the project.

Another one on the Noida tariffs. The interim tariffs are supposed to be in place until end of March. Now the consultation period will likely take longer. Can you confirm that despite this, interim tariffs will be maintained?

Yes. As mentioned before, we expect that those interim tariffs will be extended beyond the 31st of March until we have the final tariffs in place. And that's what I mentioned before, is in the range of 2 to 3, maybe 4 months from now.

Then could you please provide some medium-term assumptions considering the -- sorry, that's for the upcoming tariff period. So the main assumptions for traffic growth cost increase over the next 4 years?

We -- I mean that will be quite a long-term guidance, to be honest. We do not share that. But it's fair to say that we, on average, expect that our traffic here in Zurich grows with population and GDP growth. I also mentioned that we do expect only very moderate growth in costs. So we should have -- we should be able to generate economies of scale going forward, which was not always the case when we look back over the last 2 years. So I can't give you more midterm assumption and guidance on that. When we look at the next charge period, it also depends on the investments we do in the regulated business over the next 4 years.

Another more medium- to longer-term question relates to the construction of the new Pier A and what's the expected impact on the commercial revenues during these construction works?

There will be an impact, of course, because of the construction work, but it's too early to give a guidance on that.

Maybe we can just overall say that we are doing everything we can to keep the major brands and keep the volume and the offering we have also during the construction period. But as Lukas just mentioned, it's too early to give a clear guidance what the effect will be financially.

Then one question related to the rollover mechanism. Does this mechanism force Zurich Airport to revert any over or underperformance in the very next regulatory period? Or could it potentially be split over several periods in the future?

I'm not sure if I understood the question correctly. If we should have a surplus or shortfall during now the upcoming period of 4 years, this will then be part of the next negotiation round to come, which will potentially also be a period over 4 years. So we do not expect that we would use a surplus or shortfall and then just use it over multiple periods. The goal or the mechanism behind the rollover is that this will be then taken into consideration for the next charge period.

And then one question related to a political discussion here in Switzerland. There will be a referendum on a potential cap on population growth. Would you expect this to have an impact on traffic?

Hard to say. There will be a public vote. I think it will be this year, if I'm not mistaken, which is basically kind of a cap of capping the population at 10 million inhabitants. Hard to predict from today's perspective if this really has an impact on the long-term growth of the airport.

Okay. I think that's it with all the questions. If there are any more questions from the participants, then please do not hesitate to reach out to the IR team. Thanks.

Thank you. Those were a lot of questions. I take this as a high interest in our company. Thank you very much for the trust in our company. I wish you all a wonderful day. Thank you.

Thank you. Bye-bye.