Switzerland’s flagship carrier SWISS is slashing 1,400 flights until October 2025 because of an acute shortage of cockpit personnel and aircraft.
“On short-haul routes, we have enough Airbus A320 aircraft, but too few pilots. For the A220, we have enough cockpit crew, but there is a shortage of aircraft, partly due to the engine problem,” said Oliver Buchhofer, the airline’s Chief Operating Officer.
The technical problem that Buchhofer referred to stems from the emergency landing that a SWISS A220 aircraft from Bucharest to Zurich, with 74 passengers and five crew aboard, had to make in Graz Austria in December 2024.
One flight attendant later died from his injuries, and the cause of the problem was found to be a severe damage in the aircraft’s left engine.
Which flights will be affected by these measures?
On long-haul routes “we have currently reduced our flight services to Shanghai and Chicago by four flights per week,” SWISS spokesperson Michael Stief told The Local.
Concretely, this means that “instead of daily flights as planned, we will temporarily operate three flights per week to Shanghai until June 29th.”
As for Chicago, “we are currently operating two separate flights o every day – the midday flight from Zurich will continue to operate daily, while the morning flight will temporarily operate three times a week until June 30th. From the beginning of September until October 25th, we will only operate the daily connection with a departure time at noon.”
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What about short and medium-haul flights?
From Geneva Airport, SWISS will operate one less flight per week to Hamburg, Oslo, Pristina, Athens, and Málaga, during May and June, according to Stief.
During the same period, “we will temporarily reduce the weekly flight service to Stockholm, Copenhagen, Valencia, and Marrakesh in Morocco by two flights each. The two weekly flights to Hurghada, in Egypt will be temporarily suspended during this period as well.”
In July and August, the peak summer travel season, SWISS will operate one less flight per week from Geneva to Berlin, Hamburg, Mykonos, Santorini, and Porto.
Additionally, “we will reduce the number of flights to Copenhagen by two per week during this period. Flights to Alicante, Brindisi, Kalamata (Greece), Kos, and Menorca will be suspended completely during these two months, Stief said.
Then, in September and October, flights from Geneva to Hamburg, Oslo, Porto, and Pristina (Croatia) will be reduced by one per week.
Service to Copenhagen, Stockholm, Mykonos, Santorini, and Thessaloniki will be cut by two flights per week during this period, while flights to Hurghada will be suspended altogether.
On the other hand, short and medium-haul flights from Zurich will be far less affected, “with only minor reductions in frequency to various destinations,” according to Stief.
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‘We are doing everything in our power’
“The changes to the flight schedule will be made as early as possible in order to minimise inconvenience to our passengers and find the best possible alternative solutions for them,” Stief said, pointing out that “we are doing everything in our power to achieve this. Our priority is to rebook passengers onto the next best alternative SWISS flight. If this is not possible, we will switch to other airlines in the Lufthansa Group.”
If that is not an option either, SWISS will look for alternatives within the 25 airlines which, like SWISS and Lufthansa, are members of the Star Alliance.
And finally, if that too proves fruitless, “we will use all available airlines,” Stief noted.
“Our customers always have the option of rebooking their flight free of charge and independently to a date of their choice or canceling their ticket – in which case its price will be refunded in full.”
