Swiss Grounds its Airbus A220-100s
Keystone-SDA
Faced with engine maintenance problems and a shortage of spare parts, Swiss International Airlines (SWISS) decided to take all nine of its relatively small Airbus A220-100s out of service with immediate effect for one and a half years.
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This was indicated by Chief Financial Officer Dennis Weber commenting on the airline’s quarterly results during a conference call.
Subsequently, the 18 engines of the A220-100 can be used for the larger A220-300: the SWISS carrier has 21 such aircraft. This approach will increase the operational availability of the A220-300 fleet; there will also be the advantage of having only one type of A220 in service, reducing operational complexity. The larger A220-300 is also considered more cost-efficient.
“In the past it was necessary to use the A220-100 mainly for the London City connection,” Weber explained. The steep approach was only possible using this type of aircraft.
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SWISS to reduce flight destinations from Geneva
In the meantime, however, Helvetic Airways has also obtained certification for the British airport. “This means that this route will be taken over by Helvetic and therefore there is no longer any operational reason to keep the A220-100 in service,” the CFO pointed out.
The decommissioning of the aircraft will begin in November and is expected to last until the summer of 2026. Details are currently being worked out. The measure will not reduce the operational fleet, as with this step it will be possible to use the larger A220s, which are currently grounded.
Due to difficulties with engines and spare parts, SWISS currently has more than ten aircraft that do not fly. This particularly affects Geneva Airport, where SWISS will cancel a quarter of its short-haul destinations in the 2026 summer schedule. Weber justified this decision by dissatisfaction with the economic performance in Geneva: At the moment it is a loss-making business. It is clearly behind market leader EasyJet.
Within the Lufthansa group, the possibility of serving some destinations with other group carriers, such as the low-cost airline Eurowings, is now being considered. “We are working hard to at least break even in Geneva in 2026,” said the CFO. The company is therefore focusing its scarce resources on its most profitable business in Zurich. But there are no plans to withdraw from Geneva: we still have to figure out how to achieve better results. “We cannot afford losses,” said the executive.
Excess cabin crew
In the coming months and into 2026, the pressure on SWISS will remain high, given that economic growth in Switzerland and Europe will remain relatively modest. In addition, the company faces a shortage of pilots, because the training costs for the new types of aircraft with which the fleet is being modernised are higher than in the past. One third of the men and women who will have to take the controls will undergo training next year and will therefore be missing in day-to-day flight operations. In addition, there are more long-term absentees and pilots with part-time working hours than expected.
The shortage of pilots is currently leading SWISS to have an excess of cabin crew. The figure of 400 redundant flight attendants “is not entirely wrong”‘”, Weber said. Recruitment of new flight attendants is currently on hold: training will probably only resume in the second half of 2026.
Translated from German by DeepL/jdp
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