To person
Christoph Lang has been Managing Director of the business network FRZ Flughafenregion Zürich (FRZ) since it was founded in 2012. This currently includes over 750 companies and 14 cities and communities. The lawyer and location and business promoter par excellence keeps the FRZ on course for expansion – in the region and beyond. The 68-year-old is also a member of the municipal council in Rickenbach in the canton of Zurich, where he is responsible for the areas of finance, security and transport.
Mr. Lang, how has the business network FRZ Flughafenregion Zürich (FRZ) developed over the past few years?
The airport region has developed very well. At the beginning, in 2012, we had 49 members. In the meantime, this number has increased more than tenfold. We count over 750 companies. What makes me particularly happy: In the meantime, we have been able to grow from 8 to 14 cities and communities. Finally, the communities of Volketswil and Bachenbülach joined. The towns and communities recognize that we are only strong together and that this will make the region better known. It is becoming more attractive both for company settlements and for new residents. You can see that in Bülach, for example. The city has grown from around 14,000 to 23,000 inhabitants in the last 15 years. Thanks to the Bülach Nord development with the Glasi Areal, the number of inhabitants will soon rise to around 30,000.
What are the advantages of the FRZ?
The company members have realized that they receive a lot of knowledge and important information from the many FRZ events. The annual real estate summit in particular is very popular and is always a top-class and exciting event. The NZZ stated that the real estate summit had positioned itself as one of the most important real estate events in Switzerland. The other networking events also contribute to the fact that on the one hand there are many new settlements and on the other hand there is good cooperation and management among each other. A good example is the marketing success of the billion-dollar project The Circle at Zurich Airport, where over 85 percent of the space has now been marketed – and this despite the corona pandemic. This is a trend that was not expected two or three years ago. According to the latest information from the Circle, they are in contact with new interested parties. In general, we still have around ten percent of office vacancies in the region. Nevertheless, the rentals show us how attractive this space is. Incidentally, this is similar in the airport regions around the world: people want to live and work there. Accessibility is still the be-all and end-all.
What is your definition of the Zurich airport region today?
This is the region with around 20 towns and communities around Zurich Airport. However, the Zurich airport region in a broader sense stretches as far as the Rhine, close to Winterthur and Uster. Actually, the Zurich Oberland, the Furttal and the Limmattal are also part of it. You can also see it this way: the airport region is everywhere where people are exposed to aircraft noise, then the canton of Thurgau and central Switzerland are part of it. Air traffic brings with it a certain amount of noise pollution – but also jobs and other advantages. In the future – perhaps in 20 years – aircraft will be significantly quieter. Then aircraft noise will no longer be an issue. I am firmly convinced of that.
How is the airport doing at the moment and what are the future business prospects?
The airport has had two difficult years due to the corona pandemic. However, we already had good numbers on certain days in autumn 2021. In October, for example, Edelweiss Air had an occupancy rate of 90 percent. The desire to travel increases. I reckon that the average occupancy this year will be over 70 percent. Of course, this depends on other regions, whether and to what extent the previous travel restrictions are relaxed due to the development of the health and safety situation. I am confident that in 2024 passenger numbers will return to pre-corona levels. The airport invests a great deal in its development, up to one million Swiss francs a day. The entire region benefits from this. Many companies from the airport region have worked on the construction of the circle.
And what about the sustainability aspects?
I hope that the path of sustainability will be consistently pursued. This is possible with more efficient aircraft and alternative fuels. It is very important to me that we as a network, as a region and as a society make our contribution to achieving the global climate goals.
What goals is the FRZ pursuing with the 2022-2025 strategy?
Within this strategy, information and communication technology (ICT) is very important. For example, we have HP, Isolutions, Microsoft and SAP in the region. Google has its largest location outside of the United States in Zurich. Many data centers are being built in the airport region, almost as many as single-family homes. My vision is that the airport region will become a global ICT hub.
In February 2022 you launched a so-called "tracker certificate" for the Zurich Airport Region via ZKB. Why?
There are several thoughts behind this. The airport region has many good and attractive companies, so issuing such a financial product makes sense. If you select 15 to 20 of these successful companies, this results in a very interesting growth profile. The companies contained in the financial product grow and perform above average. Furthermore, it is about advertising for the Zurich airport region. We are the only location and business promoter in Switzerland to have launched such an initiative. For these reasons, we dared to take this step together with the Zürcher Kantonalbank. Now, of course, there is some economic uncertainty because of the unrest in Ukraine. But when the markets have calmed down again, the companies in the ZKB tracker certificate will also show an upward trend.
The FRZ will celebrate its tenth anniversary in 2022 (…)
(…) We are very proud that we can celebrate this anniversary with our more than 750 members and the city and community representatives. We will organize something special on the occasion of the Economic Forum, which will again take place in the Salto Natale tent. We were able to win Roland Brack, a very successful guru in online trading, as a keynote speaker. Gian-Luca Bona, longtime CEO of Empa, will honor us as the second keynote speaker.
Where will the FRZ be in ten years?
We will continue to be the most personal and digital network in Switzerland. We want to continue to successfully develop the location so that it attracts companies and people. Should I pause for a moment when I am no longer current, I will certainly be happy to attend as many FRZ events as possible. FRZ Zurich Airport Region – that’s my big circle of friends. We want to successfully implement the already mentioned strategy 2022-2025 and of course also grow with the FRZ. For example in the area of sponsoring, where we currently earn around half a million Swiss francs a year. My goal for 2025 is to reach the million mark in this segment and then achieve a total turnover of between three and five million with FRZ. We are currently turning over two million Swiss francs.
Where do you see room for further real estate projects?
There are still a multitude of options. I'm thinking of Bachenbülach or the Glasi area in Bülach, as well as the towns and communities to the east of the airport region. There are 15 to 20 major construction projects in the region with a construction volume of over 100 million francs. Everything that is possible from the construction zone is being built over in the area. In Switzerland we have an annual population growth of 40,000 to 50,000. In a few years, Switzerland will have ten million inhabitants. Many of them want to live in an area that is easily accessible. This is particularly important for younger employees. The pressure on the conurbations remains unchanged, that can be clearly seen. Considerations must be made here in Switzerland: What are we going to do with the peripheral regions? It is important to me that the infrastructures in peripheral regions are preserved and are not threatened by emigration. One of my initiatives would be closer cooperation with the Lower Engadine region via the miaEngiadina organization. This is very strong in the digital field. This is an attractive area to work in and perhaps there is also an opportunity for more companies to settle in this unique region of Switzerland.
Thank you, Mr. Lang, for the interesting discussion.
