Already thinking about the summer holidays? SWISS certainly are: in a statement on October 18, the flag carrier airline of Switzerland released its flight plan for summer 2023. The international company confirmed that it would be running more flights from Swiss airports this summer, including to some new destinations.
SWISS to expand flight services from Zurich and Geneva in 2023
In a statement, SWISS announced that it would be expanding its flight operations out of Zurich and Geneva next summer, to accommodate more travellers returning after years of COVID-related disruption. In summer 2023, a total of 112 destinations will be served by the airline from Zurich and Geneva - 85 percent of what flight capacity was in 2019.
“Our prime priority will continue to be maintaining a stable flight programme for our customers throughout the summer season. We have also put a specific focus here on our most popular destinations,” explained SWISS CCO Tamur Goudarzi Pour. He said the company expects air travel to continue to bounce back next summer.
Zurich gets direct flight to Bristol and more flights to summer destinations
In all, 86 destinations will be served from Zurich Airport during the summer, including, for the first time ever, a new direct flight from Zurich to Bristol in the United Kingdom. The brand-new flight will run three times a week. There will also be an increased number of services to North America, with hopes to also expand to Asia if travel restrictions are relaxed.
However, the particular focus for SWISS in Zurich will be on increasing services to popular tourist destinations like Amsterdam, Berlin, London, Rome and the "party islands" of Spain and Italy. Services will also be increased to Eastern Europe and airports in Germany to help connect with more services from other members of the Lufthansa Group.
Geneva to get four new direct flights in summer 2023
Geneva will see the most changes, with four brand-new destinations announced for summer 2023. Direct services from the Swiss city to Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo and Hamburg have been confirmed. Along with the daily service to New York, SWISS will serve 46 European destinations from Geneva, with particular emphasis on top holiday hot spots like Portugal and Greece.
Alongside the new timetable, SWISS announced it will be employing 800 new cabin crew in 2022, and 1.000 new workers in 2023 to help support the increase in services. Alongside offering jobs, SWISS said that it would be using planes from its sister and codeshare airlines to help ease the burden on SWISS staff, such as by using AirBaltic planes on routes from Zurich to destinations in Europe and using an Edelweiss Air plane on the Zurich to Montreal service.