The present situation throughout the airline industry including airlines is very tense with huge operational challenges. With further rising numbers of COVID infections in some European countries and significant capacity constraints and strike actions at a number of European airports and air navigation services providers, these challenges are growing even more just as the high-summer travel season approaches. And all these developments have a direct impact on the stability of SWISS’s operations. To pay due and full regard to its responsibilities towards its customers and provide them with as much planning assurance as possible in these volatile times, SWISS must respond to these developments and is proactively making further adjustments to its flight schedules for the period from August to October 2022. In doing so, SWISS is addressing the systemic industry risk and is helping to ease the present pressures on both its own flight schedules and the Swiss system as a whole. This will minimize the risk of short-notice cancellations or schedule modifications.
The cancellations, which amount to approximately 2 per cent of SWISS’s planned flight programme, will be made by further reducing frequencies. But SWISS will continue to ensure that Switzerland remains connected with Europe and the world. Services between Zurich and Vienna will continue to be operated by SWISS’s sister carrier Austrian Airlines, probably until the end of the 2022/23 winter schedules. Of the 31,414 flights previously scheduled for the coming August-to-October period, SWISS will be cancelling 676 flights.
“The complex aviation system in Europe and worldwide is currently operating at its limits,” explains SWISS Chief Executive Officer Dieter Vranckx. “With the overall conditions still growing even more challenging, and in order to pay due and proactive regard to our responsibilities to our passengers, SWISS will be making this contribution to easing the present pressures on the system. We greatly regret these further adjustments to our flight schedules that have now become necessary, and we offer our sincere and express apologies to the customers affected and our further partners for the inconveniences they will entail. SWISS will be able to offer the majority of affected passengers an alternative for the same day of travel.”
The schedule adjustments planned may also affect SWISS’s cargo capacities on certain routes. SWISS will be considering operating selective all-cargo services if necessary to alleviate the impact of any such developments.
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