If the skies above Europe looked clear this year, the view from SWISS headquarters in Zurich tells another story. The airline, often held up as the neatest and most precise arm of the Lufthansa Group, has found 2025’s air currents a touch bumpier than expected.
For the first nine months of the year, SWISS clocked an operating result of CHF 411.2 million, a tidy sum by most standards but a 19 per cent dip from last year’s CHF 505 million. Revenue held steady at CHF 4.2 billion, yet costs have climbed faster than a fully-laden A350 on take-off.
“It’s a reflection of the challenging market environment,” sighed Chief Financial Officer Dennis Weber, when unveiling the figures. “Our industry is presently contending with falling demand and still-rising costs.”
That’s business-speak for: we’re working harder for less.
Transatlantic chill
Switzerland’s flag carrier has had to pick its battles carefully for a nation famed for neutrality. The most painful front, says Weber, is across the Atlantic.
“Our North American routes are our most important and lucrative market have seen tangible declines in demand,” he said. “European travellers are showing a certain reluctance to fly to the USA, especially in Economy Class, where we’ve had to stimulate demand with lower fares.”
Translation: cheap seats are selling, but margins are shrinking.
Fuel prices have offered some relief. Kerosene costs dropped enough to keep the books from tilting into the red, but many other expenses quickly filled the gap. Higher airport charges, environmental levies, and increased staff costs all gnawed on the airline’s returns.
Then there are the aircraft engines, or the lack of them. Shortages of Pratt & Whitney units and a tight cockpit-crew market clipped the airline’s growth plans.
Treading air
By September, SWISS had operated just 1.7 per cent more flights than a year earlier and carried 14 million passengers, up by a slender 0.8 per cent. This was not the surge management had hoped for.
Yet amid all this, there’s a gleam of Swiss precision at work: punctuality.
A solid 68.1 per cent of flights pushed back on time this year, compared with 62.8 per cent last year. The improvement may sound modest, but in the clock-obsessed world of Zurich Airport, it’s practically a national victory parade. Short-notice cancellations have also been nearly halved. For weary travellers, reliability is back in fashion.
Third-quarter squeeze
Traditionally, the European summer delivers airlines their fattest margins. However, this year’s third quarter produced more of a lean picnic.
Adjusted EBIT between July and September landed at CHF 216.2 million, about 10 per cent down on last year’s CHF 240.8 million. Revenue slipped 5.2 per cent to CHF 1.48 billion.
“We’re proud of the improvements for our customers in punctuality and travel experience,” said Weber, ever the diplomat. “But financially, things are clearly moving in the wrong direction.”
One could hardly accuse him of exaggeration. Rising costs and declining revenue are the sort of combination that gives accountants heartburn.
With growth shackled by engine shortages and crew gaps, the airline is now in cost-containment mode. “We must ensure that our costs do not continue to increase,” Weber emphasised, hinting that every department will be asked to tighten its belt — perhaps literally, given inflation.
New metal, new mood
Still, SWISS is not content with simply circling the skies and waiting for fairer weather. This quarter, it welcomed the first of ten new Airbus A350s, each outfitted with the airline’s fresh ‘SWISS Senses’ cabin design — a name that sounds suspiciously like a luxury spa but promises sleek new comfort, mood lighting, and whisper-quiet flight.
The A350 fleet marks what the company calls “a new era”, introducing an in-flight experience that aims to rival the best of Emirates and Singapore Airlines. “The second aircraft will join the fleet by year’s end,” the airline confirmed, a touch of old-fashioned Swiss efficiency intact.
Inside the cabin, travellers can expect more than just fresh upholstery. The new product rollout extends across all long-haul classes, from the revamped First Class suites to Premium Economy, that sweet spot for those unwilling to remortgage their homes for a flatbed seat.
Eyes on 2027
Chief Executive Jens Fehlinger, a calm man who could steady a storm-tossed flight, insists that these investments are strategic rather than indulgent.
“Our clear aim is to grow again,” he told reporters. “Global demand for air travel will continue to outpace growth in most other sectors. At the moment, though, we at SWISS cannot play our part in it. That must and will change.”
Fehlinger describes 2026 as a “transitional year” industry code for “please be patient” but he expects results to lift in 2027 once the new aircraft and training programs drop. “We’re aligning our structures and processes for profitable and sustainable growth,” he said, echoing the Lufthansa Group’s larger push toward efficiency and lower emissions.
Training alone will absorb much of next year’s budget, as SWISS pilots and cabin crew acquaint themselves with the new A350 systems. Yet management sees this as money well spent — an investment in the airline’s long-term resilience.
A touch of old Swiss pragmatism
For a carrier once affectionately dubbed “the banker’s airline,” the current turbulence feels almost nostalgic. It reminds us that aviation has never been as stable as its flight schedules suggest.
SWISS’s ability to navigate through market headwinds has long been its hallmark. Its brand, anchored in Swiss precision and unflappable calm, remains potent even when profits dip. The introduction of the A350 and the SWISS Senses cabin marks a bid to restore a sense of elegance to the skies — a return to craftsmanship in an era of budget chaos.
For now, though, the numbers tell a sobering story: revenue is flat, profits are down, and costs are up. Yet there’s no panic in Zurich; only that quiet, clock-ticking confidence that things will return to balance sooner or later.
After all, in Switzerland, even the turbulence arrives on time.
By Karina Johnson – (c) 2025
Read Time: 4 minutes
About the Writer
Karuna Johnson has one of those rare careers that could only belong to someone who genuinely loves travel. A Thai national with dual citizenship, she’s as comfortable swapping stories over street food in Bangkok as she is discussing strategy in a Sydney boardroom.
Educated in Thailand and Australia, Karuna speaks several languages fluently, a skill that’s served her well across a career that’s taken her through the inner workings of three Destination Management Companies and a string of hotels. She’s done everything from sales to admin, always with the kind of quiet competence that keeps things moving while everyone else still finds the coffee.
Her travels have taken her far and wide across Asia, Europe, and the United States, yet she still finds joy in the details: the people, the culture, and the stories behind every journey.
She’s worldly, poised, and precisely the kind of voice Global Travel Media was made for.
