The millionth guest arrived on the Jungfraujoch shortly before 9.00 hr on 30 December 2015. Franziska Voigt from Germany was making the trip with her colleague Elke Melitz and was personally welcomed on arrival by Urs Kessler, CEO of Jungfrau Railways. Excursion traffic to the Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe continued to benefit from rising demand from Asia during the year under review. In 2015, 1,007,000 persons visited the Jungfraujoch, an increase of 16.3 per cent on the previous year and thus the best ever result in company history. The fact that the company has continued to intensively cultivate the Asian market and strengthen the Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe brand is clearly bearing fruit.
The brief onset of winter at the end of November 2015 gave way to mild, dry weather in December. Because of the constant warm temperatures and little snow, the Jungfrau Ski Region has had a difficult start to the 2015/2016 winter season, the same as the previous year. Thanks to powerful snowmaking equipment and the snowfall in late November, Jungfrau Railways was able to open numerous facilities in the Kleine Scheidegg and First areas and offer good skiing conditions. It was therefore possible to begin winter-sports operations some two weeks earlier than in December 2014. The Jungfrau Ski Region is a joint product, of which the Jungfrau Railway Group holds more than a 60% share. From the beginning of the season to 2 January 2016, the Jungfrau Ski Region recorded 150,000 skier visits, equal to a drop of 3.8 per cent compared to the same period last year. In a long-term comparison, the start of the last two winter seasons, 2014 and 2015, were below average.
The other rail and cableways of the group achieved positive frequencies compared to last year. The Harder Railway once again achieved a significant passenger record with an increase of 18.3 per cent. The First Aerial Cableway recorded an increase in passenger numbers of 2.5 per cent. The Mürren Rail & Cableway transported 1.7 per cent more guests than in 2014.
| Passenger frequencies 2015 | Passenger frequencies 2014 | Change in per cent |
Jungfrau Railway Jungfraujoch (arr.) | 1,007,000 | 866,000 | 16.3 |
Grindelwald-First (from valley station) | 410,000 | 400,000 | 2.5 |
Mürren Rail & Cableway (Total frequency) | 602,000 | 592,000 | 1.7 |
Harder Railway (Total frequency) | 317,000 | 268,000 | 18.3 |
| Skier visits Season start – 2.1.2016 | Skier visits Season start – 2.1.2015 | Change in per cent |
Jungfrau Ski Region | 150,000 | 156,000 | -3.8 |