In the middle of summer, from July 15 to August 15, 2023, SWISS has 1.7 million passengers. It draws up a very satisfactory balance sheet, with 98.9% of flights arrived at destination despite external factors such as difficult weather conditions or some staff shortages with partners.
The conditions in which the summer holidays took place posed a major challenge for Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS). An unusual number of windy days, strikes in various European countries and a lack of personnel, especially among air traffic controllers, have considerably disrupted European air traffic. To meet these challenges and ensure a stable flight plan, SWISS only offered around 85% of its capacity.
” We have provided additional reserves, kept more aircrew on alert and put in reserve planes. These efforts paid off: flight operations were exceptionally stable during this summer vacation period, which was precisely what we wanted. Goal achieved ! says Oliver Buchhofer, COO of SWISS. What we call the flight plan stability reached 98.9% during the summer vacation period, from mid-July to mid-August. SWISS carried out most of its flights as planned. “ We have thus been one of the most stable airlines in Europe “, continues Oliver Buchhofer.
1.7 million passengers transported
This year again, the call to travel was very strong during the summer vacation period. Over the past four weeks, SWISS has performed 12,870 flights and transported around 1.7 million passengers. The busiest day was Friday July 28 with nearly 60,000 passengers.
Oliver Buchhofer’s satisfaction, however, is not total: ” As a Swiss airline, we have the requirement to be punctual. However, we have not achieved this objective. We need to improve on this. We are already drawing lessons for the summer of 2024 and are in close contact with our partners on this. “.
Flights delayed by necessity
Since SWISS is currently focusing on the stability of its flight schedule and delaying its flights if necessary, the punctuality indicators for this summer do not correspond to the objectives. In the past four weeks, just over half of flights (56.7%) arrived on time at their destination. In 25.3% of cases, flights arrived more than 30 minutes late. These delays were for the most part the consequence of external factors such as bad weather and the resulting interruptions in ground handling, the sharp drop in the number of landings and take-offs in easterly winds (” kiss ”) at Zurich airport as well as the lack of personnel within European air traffic control.
During the first weeks of August, the trend in terms of punctuality started to rise again – SWISS employees continue to invest their heart and soul, both in the air and on the ground, to ensure that their passengers arrive at their destination as planned. In addition, strikes were less frequent and the weather was much milder.
