Swiss International Air Lines had a “mixed” summer season as the carrier’s on-time performance rose slightly to 64.2% but remained below the company’s target of 70%.
The Zurich-based carrier, part of the Lufthansa Group, on 28 August blamed the vast majority of the punctuality issues on forces beyond its control, saying “travellers were affected by irregularities [mostly] attributable to exogenous factors such as thunderstorms, bottlenecks in Europe’s air traffic control system and associated knock-on delays”.
Swiss adds that it had “prepared itself thoroughly” for the peak travel season, which it defines as 1 July to 18 August. It implemented “more than 80 measures” to improve efficiency as it operated 20,797 flights during the period, up 6% year on year, carrying 2.8 million passengers, 8% more than last year.
“The summer season faced the entire air transport sector – including our Zurich airport hub – with challenges that were both exceptional and in many cases unexpected,” says chief commercial officer and interim chief executive Heike Birlenbach. “The many thunderstorms we experienced along with shortages of air traffic control resources and the resulting knock-on delays had a sizeable adverse impact on our operations.”
“As the last few weeks have shown, the global air transport system is not as robust as we would all want it to be,” she adds.
“Our target of 70% punctuality for 2024 as a whole remains as yet unachieved,” adds chief operating officer Oliver Buchhofer. “The individual events were significant.”
“But the actions we have taken are having their effects. Our ground operations in particular were better this summer. So we’re optimistic that we can further raise our punctuality in the months ahead,” he adds.
Swiss said the most-popular short-haul destinations during the summer travel season were London, Barcelona, Malaga, Stockholm, and Valencia, while long-haul customers preferred New York, Boston, Miami, Bangkok and Los Angeles.
The airline’s flights across the North Atlantic were “very full”, however additional capacity across that geography this past summer left yields lower, Birlenbach says.
The airline is holding to its expectation that the first of its new Airbus A350-900s will join the fleet next May, Buchhofer adds. The carrier already has space set up for a simulator and pilot training is due to begin in January. According to Cirium fleets data, the airline has five of the type on order.
Last month, Swiss said it earned CHF264 million ($313 million) in the first half of 2024, on revenue of CHF2.7 billion, slightly below 2023 levels as costs rose while capacity increased.
