SWISS to increase capacity on North Atlantic routes

Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) will increase capacity on North Atlantic routes this summer by using larger aircraft. The Lufthansa subsidiary will also base its first Bombardier CS300—which it expects to receive in the 2Q—in Geneva.

From April 22, SWISS will increase Zurich-San Francisco services from 3X-weekly to daily using a Boeing 777-300ER. The carrier will also operate the 777-300ER on six of its 12X-weekly Zurich-Chicago O’Hare routes between June and October. As a result, the 777-300ER will be used on daily services over the summer from Zurich to five intercontinental destinations—Bangkok, Hong Kong, Singapore, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

SWISS—which took delivery of its fifth CS100 on Dec. 30, 2016—expects to receive a minimum of 12 CS100s and CS300s this year. It originally ordered 20 CS100s and 10 CS300s, plus 30 options. On June 5, 2016, the carrier announced it would convert five of 20 CS100 orders into CS300s.

As more CSeries aircraft enter into service, the Star Alliance carrier will operate CSeries aircraft from both Zurich and Geneva. The CS300 will operate to various European destinations and will transform SWISS’s Geneva-based fleet solely to an all-CSeries aircraft fleet.

In its summer 2017 schedule, SWISS will serve 102 (77 European and 25 intercontinental) destinations in 43 countries. The IATA summer timetable period runs from March 26 to Oct. 28 2017.

(Kurt Hofmann - ATWOnline News)