The airline company Swiss International Air Lines plans to hire a thousand additional air hostesses and stewards this year, as well as 70 pilots, in order to cope with the delays caused by traffic bounce.
Barriers to20% increase of the number of passengers of the Swiss national company this summer are numerous according to its director of operations Oliver Buchhofer, questioned by the local press: bottlenecks at the level of air traffic control, unfavorable weather conditions, personnel issues and infrastructure – not to mention the social conflicts.
However, SWISS has set itself the objective of reaching a delay on departure from 15 minutes ” for at least 80% of its flights “, whereas since the beginning of 2023, it has reached this average on 65% of flights. The strikes in Germany, Italy and at Geneva-Cointrin airport have contributed to ” 21% of flights depart more than 30 minutes late in May and June “, specified the leader.
Oliver Buchhofer, however, emphasizes how delays which are preferable to flight cancellations (“ 2% currently ”) practiced in the same circumstances by its rivals, particularly low cost. SWISS will therefore still strengthen its workforce : after recruiting 800 cabin crew last year, it expects to welcome 1,000 more this year – as well as 70 new ones pilots.
And the company of Star Alliance will not be the only one to make efforts: Swissportmanager of ground handling and reception at airports, will also intensify its recruitment efforts with 1,200 new employees expected, half of them at the SWISS base at the airport of Zurich-Kloten.
