Swiss: recovery only in the third quarter of 2021
Airbus A220-300 at Madrid Airport (Photo: Jan Gruber).
The airline Swiss is postponing the expansion of its flight program due to ongoing entry and quarantine regulations into midsummer 2021. At the earliest, they want to expand the offer. In any case, fewer flights will be flown in the second quarter of 2021 than originally expected.
Swiss currently assumes that there will only be a noticeable recovery in the aviation industry in the course of the third quarter of the current year. It is expected that around 65 percent of the 2019 level can then be offered and carried out.
A total of 85 destinations are served from Zurich and 43 from Geneva in the summer flight schedule. The focus will be on leisure and visitor travel. SWISS will also fly from Zurich to Tallinn (Estonia) and Billund (Denmark) and from Geneva to Santorini (Greece), Split (Croatia) and Funchal / Madeira (Portugal).
"Due to the tightened travel restrictions due to the high number of infections, we had to significantly reduce our offer again. We will not expand it significantly until the summer travel season. A particular focus is on leisure and visitor travel, as business travel will recover more slowly ». Overall, Swiss plans to offer around 65 percent of the capacity of 2019 again in the course of the third quarter. In the summer flight schedule, Swiss will serve 85 destinations from Zurich and 43 from Geneva ", says Tamur Goudarzi Pour, Chief Commercial Officer at Swiss.
From Zurich to Tallinn and Billund
The carrier will include two new European destinations in its program from Zurich. From June 25, 2021, the Swiss airline will serve the Estonian capital Tallinn twice a week. From July 2, 2021, the Lufthansa subsidiary will be flying twice a week from Zurich to the Danish city of Billund.
In the long-haul segment, Swiss will again be flying to Miami in Florida up to five times a week from March 28, 2021. From May 1, Boston on the US east coast will also be served up to seven times a week and from May 2 up to five times a week Los Angeles on the US west coast. From July 1, the Lufthansa subsidiary is also planning to operate up to four weekly flights to the Egyptian capital Cairo.
On the short-haul route, from April 1, 2021, Swiss will once again connect Zurich with the southern Serbian city of Niš and the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo, up to twice a week. From May 12, 2021, passengers from Zurich will again have a non-stop connection to London City, with up to 12 flights per week planned. From June 18, 2021, there will also be up to five weekly flights to Bordeaux.
Berlin is on the flight schedule up to six times a day. The following destinations are to be served up to three times a day: Barcelona, ​​Palma de Mallorca, Hamburg, Vienna, Copenhagen and Athens. Up to eleven weekly flights are available for passengers to Naples and up to nine for travelers to Thessaloniki.
New connections from Geneva to Santorini, Split and Funchal / Madeira
The minimum flight schedule in Geneva will continue until at least the end of March 2021. The city in western Switzerland remains an important location for Swiss. Three new destinations will be added to the upcoming summer flight schedule: From June 19, 2021, the Lufthansa subsidiary will be offering its passengers a direct connection to the popular Greek Cycladic island of Santorini twice a week. The carrier will also fly twice a week to the southern Croatian city of Split on the Adriatic coast from July 2, 2021. A weekly flight to Funchal on the Portuguese island of Madeira is planned from September 4, 2021.
The most frequented destinations from Geneva include London Heathrow, Athens, Porto and Lisbon in the summer flight schedule. Swiss will also be the only airline to offer a weekly direct flight from Geneva to Ponta Delgada in the Azores.
Rene Steuer
René Steuer is an editor at Aviation.Direct and specializes in tourism and regional aviation. Before that, he worked for AviationNetOnline (formerly Austrian Aviation Net), among others.