SWISS airline cancels hundreds of flights from its summer schedule; Basel’s public transport is impacted by Germany’s new border policy; and more news in our roundup on Monday.
SWISS airline drastically cuts its summer schedule
The national flagship carrier is canceling 1,400 flights from its summer schedule.
The reason for this move is an acute shortage of cockpit personnel and some aircraft as well.
“On short-haul routes, we have enough Airbus A320 aircraft, but too few pilots. For the A220, we have enough cockpit crew, but there’s a shortage of aircraft, partly due to the engine problem,” said Oliver Buchhofer, the airline’s Chief Operating Officer.
In term of long-haul flights, the one from Zurich to Chicago will be particularly affected — their number will be halved in September and October.
Attempts to get help from the parent company Lufthansa or through leases from other codeshare airlines have also been unsuccessful.
“We’ve already exhausted all possibilities,” Buchhofer said.
Germany’s migration policy disrupts public transport in Basel
As Germany’s new government is taking a tougher stance against migrants, stricter border controls have a direct impact on Basel’s tram no. 8, which runs across the border to the German municipality of Weil am Rhein.
This tram usually runs every seven minutes, but because German customs officials now take time to check passengers, the trams are jammed at the border, disrupting the timetable.
According to Matthias Steiger, spokesperson for the Basel public transport company BVB, some trams are being rerouted to save time, so they no longer run via the central train station—arguably the city’s most important tram stop.
“This is obviously an inconvenience,” Steiger said. “It’s a very unpleasant situation for us and our passengers.”
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Shoplifting reaches record levels in Switzerland
Since the Covid pandemic, shoplifting has exploded in Switzerland,
In 2024, nearly 26,000 cases had been reported, compared to 15,600 a decade ago.
But “the actual number is probably much higher than the officially recorded cases,” said Dagmar Jenni, director of the Swiss Retail Federation.
That’s because not all the thieves get caught.
Police reports reveal that thieves are generally divided into two categories: those who operate in gangs, when shoplifters come specifically to Switzerland and quickly disappear across the border after their crime.
The second category are those who “forget” to scan the goods at self-check counters.
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Tenants’ association to launch a rent-control referendum
According to the Swiss Tenants’ Association (ASLOCA), renters in Switzerland are overpaying their rent by 360 francs a month on average.
In an effort to remedy this situation, ASLOCA launched a popular initiative on Friday aimed at controlling rising rents.
The “Yes to Protection Against Excessive Rents initiative” move requires that rents be based on actual, rather an inflated, costs; it also calls for automatic and regular rent monitoring mechanism.
For this issue to be brought to the ballot box, ASLOCA will begin collecting the necessary 100,000 signatures on June 3rd.
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