SWISS to increase number of flights in June

airplanes grounded — Parked planes of the airline Swiss at the airport in Dübendorf at the end of March Keystone / Ennio Leanza

Swiss International Air Lines says it will resume up to 20% of its original services in June after most of its fleet was grounded by the coronavirus pandemic.

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Keystone-SDA/SWISS/swissinfo.ch/ilj

The company, owned by Germany’s Lufthansa, expects an increased demand for air travel due to the easing of coronavirus restrictions in various European countries. The expansion of services will take place “in line with the respective entry requirements”, SWISS said in a statementExternal link on Friday.

The company has grounded dozens of aircraft since March and had only been flying 5% of its services.

“We plan to resume around 15-20% of our original services in June and are very pleased to be able to offer Switzerland greater connections to the world,” said SWISS CEO Thomas Klühr.

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SWISS plans to operate around 140 weekly flights from Zurich to 30 destinations in Europe, and some 40 weekly flights from Geneva to 14 destinations in Europe. The airline will still serve the three weekly long-haul flights to Newark in the US; further intercontinental destinations will be added in June.

In addition, SWISS and its Swiss WorldCargo division will continue to operate their cargo-only flights to various destinations globally, the statement added.

Credit

The news comes as mother company Lufthansa on Friday said it would start flying 80 more of its aircraft again in June.

SWISS is among the firms which will receive a credit of CHF1.875 billion ($1.92 billion) to support aviation companies that ensure vital transport infrastructure for the Swiss economy. 

Parliament approves funds to keep vital Swiss air links open

This content was published on May 6, 2020 Having lost its national airline, Switzerland is determined not to be deprived of international air connections as well.