Swiss International Air Lines is expanding its network for
summer 2022, with six new European destinations to be added from its bases in
Zurich and Geneva and services to popular North American destinations to be
restored.
From Zurich, Swiss will begin flying to Bologna, Nantes,
Sofia and Vilnius from the end of March, while Odessa will be added to the
network in July. According to the airline, the most frequently served
destinations in Europe from Zurich for the summer season will be Berlin,
Hamburg, Heathrow and Amsterdam, while the largest year-on-year capacity
increases will be seen on flights from Zurich to Porto, Palermo, Tallinn and
Billund.
For the international network from Zurich, Swiss will focus
on expanding frequencies to and from North America, with New York JFK, Boston
and Chicago each receiving twice-daily flights compared to once-daily this past
summer. The airline will also restore services to Delhi and Mumbai, which have
both been suspended throughout the pandemic. In addition, the twice-weekly
service to Beirut that was launched this winter will continue next summer, as will
twice-weekly flights to Buenos Aires via Sao Paulo.
Meanwhile, Swiss will launch a new service between Geneva
and Brussels to supplement the existing service on the route offered by its fellow
Lufthansa Group carrier Brussels Airlines. Heathrow, Athens, Lisbon, Porto and
Frankfurt will see the most frequent services for the season, according to Swiss.
Geneva will also see an increase in frequency on flights to
New York, with Swiss offering up to seven services per week during the summer
2022 schedule. The route was recently restored in partnership with Star
Alliance partner United Airlines. Both carriers operate four flights per week
each.
Swiss said it will publish its summer 2022 schedule in two
parts, with flights between 27 March and 31 May available to view on its
website from today. The schedule for 1 June to 30 October will be released on
12 January. However, tickets for the whole flying season are bookable from
today and any passengers whose flights are cancelled will be able to rebook
free of charge or have their ticket refunded in full, the airline said.
In total, Swiss expects to restore around 80 per cent of its
2019 capacity by the third quarter of 2022.
Tamur Goudarzi Pour, chief commercial officer at Swiss, said:
“While the pandemic situation is still tense, we remain confident that we will
be able to further substantially expand our range of services for next summer
under improved overall parameters. Our aim is to offer our customers a
comprehensive and varied choice of Swiss flights. At the same time, the
stability and the reliability of our schedules will remain one of our paramount
priorities.”